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process that follows. TransAlta had made provisions for renaturalisation to continue as far as 2013, three years after the
Whitewood mine is slated to close. Already, the coal-depleted portions of the site have been subject to rebeautification, with pits being reclaimed as
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five kilometres to the southwest; that mine produces 12.9 megatonnes of sub-bituminous coal per annum, has reserves pegged at over 200 megatonnes, and will be able to fuel the power plants now served by
Whitewood, in addition to the Genesee power station.
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to be mined for more than a decade, TransAlta ceased production in 2010, the same year the company completed the decommissioning of its coal-fired
Wabamun electrical generation facility nearby. The company continued mining coal at the massive
254:, ditches, and other mining infrastructure will be removed, and their lands reconverted to their original forms. After the seeded vegetation takes root and grows, the mining site will hopefully show little evidence of having hosted a mine.
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interspersed throughout. The 2,800,000 tonnes of coal mined there each year was enough fuel to fulfil approximately 13% of
Alberta's electrical energy requirements. As a strip-surface mine, Whitewood employed the use of heavy equipment —
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appear throughout the coal, most notably a three-metre seam near the uppermost portion of the late
Cretaceous zone. Above the twenty to seventy metre thick coal-bearing deposit lies a
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to establish the timeframe and geologic phases associated with the formation of the mine's coal bed. Analysis has shown that there are six distinct coal
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389:"Application of the Surface Reflection Seismic Method to Shallow Coal Exploration in the Plains of Alberta"
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several metres deep; this must be removed from the surface before mining of the coal below can begin.
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Although the 2000s rate of extraction would have allowed the site's fifty-one million tonnes of
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Reclamation of the mine completed in 2015. An important part of decommissioning a mine is the
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374:"NorWest Corp.: TransAlta Utilities Estimated Asset Retirement Obligations, 02-2249, pg. 2-4"
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Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
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Schindler, David W.; Greg Goss; Joseph Nelson; Vince St. Louis; et al.
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use; the other parts of the reclaimed land have been made into forests and
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The
Whitewood mine covered approximately 4700 hectares of slightly hilly
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407:"Lake Wabamun: A Review of Scientific Studies and Environmental Impacts"
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When the mine is fully out of service, the power lines, service roads,
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power plants, but a small amount of coal was sold to the residents of
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47:(Edmonton) since that company acquired the extraction contract from
439:"Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Earth Sciences Report 1959-01"
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in a way that is designed to reflect the pre-mining environment.
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346:"Alberta Energy and Utility Board Application No. 1271519"
360:"Alberta Environmental Appeals Board, Appeal No. 98-237"
231:. Much of the backfill land is now lain with local
105:" model, harvesting approximately 2.8 megatonnes of
109:per annum. Most of this thermal coal was used for
101:Opened in 1962, the Whitewood mine operated on a "
71:present at Whitewood, with deposits from the late
59:Development of the pemi site at Whitewood and the
321:"TransAlta Kilowatt Connection, August 2003 ed"
296:"TransAlta Kilowatt Connection, July 2004 ed"
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75:found at the deepest intervals, and with
51:(Calgary) in 2003 until closure in 2010.
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31:, about sixty-five kilometres west of
79:formations found closest to the top.
63:done there in the 1980s have allowed
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239:, which make the land suitable for
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424:"Alberta Environment: Coal Mines"
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485:1962 establishments in Alberta
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111:steam-driven power generation
387:Lyatski, H.V.; D.C. Lawton.
178:Environmental considerations
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195:This section needs to be
35:, Alberta. Owned by the
227:or being filled-in with
480:Surface mines in Canada
43:, the mine was run by
37:TransAlta Corporation
19:is a closed Canadian
465:Coal mines in Canada
333:on November 10, 2006
308:on November 10, 2006
252:sedimentation ponds
129:for personal uses.
107:sub-bituminous coal
136:, with locales of
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49:Fording Coal Ltd.
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470:Mines in Alberta
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272:"Whitewood Mine"
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82:A few layers of
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328:the original
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279:. Retrieved
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241:agricultural
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91:glacial till
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29:Lake Wabamun
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220:reclamation
45:Luscar Ltd.
459:Categories
444:2007-09-21
429:2007-09-21
415:2007-09-21
397:2007-09-21
379:2007-09-21
365:2007-09-21
351:2007-09-21
337:2007-09-21
312:2007-09-21
281:2019-09-06
258:References
147:excavators
84:bentonitic
73:Cretaceous
65:geologists
276:TransAlta
235:and rich
123:Keephills
21:coal mine
17:Whitewood
245:wetlands
237:topsoils
233:subsoils
229:backfill
166:reserves
119:Sundance
33:Edmonton
197:updated
155:dumpers
142:wetland
134:prairie
115:Wabamun
113:at the
97:History
55:Geology
41:Calgary
25:Alberta
138:forest
121:, and
87:gangue
410:(PDF)
392:(PDF)
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306:(PDF)
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225:lakes
103:strip
69:seams
140:and
39:of
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