[8] Situated to the west of the northern Flinders Ranges, the current town is 13 km further south than the original town—it was moved in 1982 to allow for the expansion of the mine.

The premier Thomas Playford saw the need to be seen not to rely on interstate energy if he was to attract business to South Australia.

[12] It was transported 250 km by rail to power stations outside Port Augusta on the east side of Spencer Gulf.

Alinta Energy also operated the power stations at Port Augusta which were the only remaining coal-fired generators in South Australia, and the only users of coal from Leigh Creek.

Rehabilitation was done by destroying rabbits and feral goats and by undertaking erosion control works, such as disk pitting and the construction of water velocity reducers.

Over 1 million trees and shrubs emerged in the degraded area and silting of waterways and Aroona Dam was drastically reduced.

[citation needed] In 1995, the Government of South Australia declared the area around Aroona Dam a Flora and Fauna Sanctuary.

Within less than 10 years, an extremely badly degraded area had recovered to a situation where it could again support a diverse range of native plants and wildlife.

[citation needed] In the meantime, a captive breeding programme of yellow-footed rock-wallabies at Monarto Safari Park in South Australia had become too successful.

The Royal Zoological Society of South Australia and scientists from the SA Department of Environment and Heritage were looking for a suitable site for the world's first free release of captive yellow-footed rock-wallabies.

Monitoring was undertaken with the help of a large range of people, such as local school students, mine workers and scientists from many other Zoos around Australia and the United States of America.

Land degradation is also one of the biggest factors contributing to silting of rivers and creeks in Australia and subsequent water shortages in many areas.