The Poplar River Mine is a 7,488 Ha. surface strip mine located in South Central Saskatchewan near the Town of Coronach. The mine operates two active pits and supplies lignite coal to the two generating units at the Poplar River Generating Station which is owned and operated by Saskatchewan Power Corporation. The mine has been supplying coal to the station since 1978.

Coal is uncovered using the two draglines (2 – BE 2570W). The exposed coal is hauled from the pits to a loadout and then railed 20 kilometres to the generating station. Current annual production of the mine is 3.3 million tonnes.

Topsoil Removal
Prior to mining through an area, all of the topsoil is salvaged. Cat 637G scrapers remove the topsoil, taking it to a stockpile for use later or directly replacing it on an active reclaim area nearby. The primary job of the scrapers is topsoil salvage and replacement. The Poplar River Mine currently has 3 scrapers.

Overburden Removal
Everything below the topsoil and above the coal is called overburden. Overburden is removed by our two Bucyrus Erie 2570-W draglines. Lot 15 was commission in 1979, and was the 15th BE2570-W to be built. It is the brown and tan dragline. Lot 38, the orange and white dragline, was commissioned in 1982 and was the 38th BE2570-W to be built. Each dragline works in its own pit, several kilometers away from each other. Draglines operate by removing the overburden above a new strip of coal and “sp ........