 Profitability was improved after a 9 km branch line was built from the nearby broad-gauge railway line, enabling transport directly to Port Adelaide.Lochiel itself is said to have "developed slowly with the industry, its survival in the 20th century being almost totally dependent on the salt harvesting".In 2011, about 270 million tonnes of lignite (brown coal) were estimated to be in a deposit north of Lochiel in seven seams from 70 to 110 metres underground.