Development of the pemi site at Whitewood and the seismic testing done there in the 1980s have allowed geologists to establish the timeframe and geologic phases associated with the formation of the mine's coal bed.
Opened in 1962, the Whitewood mine operated on a "strip" model, harvesting approximately 2.8 megatonnes of sub-bituminous coal per annum.
The Whitewood mine covered approximately 4700 hectares of slightly hilly prairie, with locales of forest and wetland interspersed throughout.
As a strip-surface mine, Whitewood employed the use of heavy equipment — excavators, loaders/shovels, dumpers, and the like — to extract the coal in an efficient and cost-sensible manner.
Although the 2000s rate of extraction would have allowed the site's fifty-one million tonnes of reserves 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.