Highvale Mine is a surface coal mines, and Canada’s largest surface strip coal mine, covering more than 12,600 hectares.

Highvale has been in operation since 1970. Within this area seven pits are currently licensed and in various stages of mining (pits 03 - 09). TransAlta received a licence to develop, operate and reclaim a new mine pit (pit 09) from the Alberta Energy Regulator in the spring of 2015. Pit 09 is located south of pit 08 and northeast of the North Saskatchewan River.

Surface coal mining involves salvaging of topsoil and subsoil for later replacement, then removing overlying rock layers to expose and extract coal reserves, followed by reclamation of the mined area. Highvale operates four draglines for this purpose.

Approximately 13 million tonnes of low-sulphur-content thermal-grade coal are mined at Highvale each year.

Approximately 13 million tonnes of low­sulphur content thermal­grade coal are mined at Highvale each year and delivered to TransAlta’s Sundance and Keephills thermal generating plants. The Keephills 3 thermal plant began commercial operations in 2011 requiring an additional 1.8 million tonnes each year.

The Sundance power plant is the largest coal fired electrical generating facility in western Canada, with six generating units. A 53 megawatt uprate to Sundance 5 was completed in 2009 at a cost of $75 million. Additionally, a 44-megawatt uprate was completed on Sundance 6 in 2001 and a 53-megawatt uprate on Sundance 4 in 2007.

In May 2015, TransAlta completed a 15-megawatt uprate on Sundance 3.

Keephills 3, the 495-megawatt gross (MW) coal fired generating facility, the most advanced coal-fired plant ever built in Canada, began commercial operation on September 1, 2011.