Planting trees

Since 2010, 277,000 tree seedlings have been planted at Whitewood


SunHills Mining is committed to successful land reclamation, returning mined land to its natural beauty and state. Reclamation began in 1962 at the Whitewood Mine, north of Lake Wabamun where TransAlta led the way in Alberta in developing and implementing land reclamation practices prior to legislation. At the Whitewood Mine, land reclamation is 100 per cent complete on 1,913 hectares. TransAlta applies for reclamation certificates from the Alberta Energy Regulator on the fully reclaimed land. Reclamation certification takes about five to seven years as during this period end-land use and suitability needs to be established.  The newly reclaimed area at the Whitewood Mine will have the potential to accommodate a variety of end-land uses including agriculture, recreation, commercial and wildlife/wetland habitat. These many options will be explored as time elapses during the certification process. At the Highvale Mine, 1,455 hectares of the 5,865 hectares of disturbed land have been reclaimed. We reclaim land to a state that is equivalent to or better than it was before our mining activities, or restore it for other uses. When complete, the reclaimed land supports a variety of land uses such as agriculture, woodlands, wildlife habitat, recreation and wetlands.