Edmonton: TransAlta To Close 1 Of Its 3 Coal Mines At End Of 2021; Switching To Natural Gas

[hatrack]

TransAlta will end operations at Highvale thermal coal mine by the end of 2021 as it switches to natural gas at all of its coal-fired plants in Canada. The announcement brings with it hundreds of job losses and comes four years earlier than TransAlta originally planned.

After Highvale's coal mining ends, 40 to 50 people will continue at the site in reclamation work, which is expected to take about 20 years, TransAlta CEO Dawn Farrell said Wednesday on a conference call.

That's a far cry from the workforce of 1,500 at the mine's peak. Roy Milne, president of United Steel Workers Local 1595 representing Highvale miners, said workers knew this was coming but the end date has changed several times. "The membership is already resigned to the fact that those jobs are disappearing," Milne said.

Highvale near Wabamun Lake, about 70 km west of Edmonton, is one of three surface coal mines owned by TransAlta. The percentage of power in Alberta generated from coal has fallen from more than 80 per cent in the 1980s to less than one-third now, partly due to rising provincial government prices on carbon that began in 2007.

EDIT

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/transalta-coal-mine-highvale-1.5789197

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Switching from cyanide to arsenic