TransAlta’s Wabamun power plant needed coal
The Whitewood Mine landscape was transformed after reclamation of a 48 year old coal mine
Aerial seeding filling sack, preparing to heli-seed grass seed mixture at Whitewood Mine.
After 48 years of supplying coal to the nearby Wabamun power plant, TransAlta’s Whitewood Mine closed in 2010. The site is located north of Wabamun Lake, about 70 km west of Edmonton. All 1,900 hectares of the former mine site have been reclaimed into varying land forms and end-land uses. Today, a mix of agricultural, wildlife and wetland habitat are present within the Whitewood Mine footprint. What was once an active coal mine has been transformed to productive agricultural land where cattle graze, lush crops wave in the wind and anglers enjoy fishing and other recreational pursuits at East Pit Lake, which was formed from an end-pit in the mine.
Since 2010, TransAlta has spent close to $20 million completing one of Canada’s largest coal mine reclamation programs. More than 280,000 trees have been planted on reclaimed land since the closure of the mine. These trees include a variety of upland tree species such as aspen, balsam poplar, pine and spruce. Amid large tracts of agriculturally productive lands, there are three end-pit lakes and numerous wetland and wooded areas.