Centralia Coal Mine is an open-pit

Surface mining

Surface mining , is a type of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit are removed...

 coal mine

Coal mining

The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

, owned by the Canadian based TransAlta Corporation. The mine is currently shut down. Also referred to as the TransAlta Centralia Mining (TCM) operation, the coal mine is located approximately 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the city of Centralia

Centralia, Washington

Centralia is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 16,336 at the 2010 census.-History:In pioneer days, Centralia was the halfway stopover point for stagecoaches operating between the Columbia River and Seattle. In 1850, J. G. Cochran came from Missouri with his...

, in Lewis County

Lewis County, Washington

Lewis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of 2010, the population was 75,455. The county seat is at Chehalis, and its largest city is Centralia....

, in the US state of Washington. Together with Centralia Power Plant

Centralia Power Plant

Centralia Big Hanaford power plant is a major coal-fired power plant supplemented with newer natural-gas-fired units. It is located east of Centralia, Washington, United States in Lewis County. As of 2006, it is the only commercial coal-fired power plant in Washington State...

, it was bought in May 2000 by TransAlta for $554 million dollars – $101 million for the mine and $453 million for the power plant.

The Centralia Coal Mine was Washington state's largest coal mine. The mined coal was supplied exclusively to the adjacent coal-fired Centralia Power Plant

Centralia Power Plant

Centralia Big Hanaford power plant is a major coal-fired power plant supplemented with newer natural-gas-fired units. It is located east of Centralia, Washington, United States in Lewis County. As of 2006, it is the only commercial coal-fired power plant in Washington State...

, which is operated by TransAlta Centralia Generation LLC and the coal mine was operated by TransAlta Centralia Mining. Prior to May 2000, the mine was owned and operated by PacifiCorp.

The Centralia Mine completed its 31st year of production in 2001, producing 4624245 short ton of subbituminous coal, 354,481 short tons more than it produced in 2000. The mine's average annual production over 1997–2001 was 4.4 million short ton

Short ton

The short ton is a unit of mass equal to . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S...

s per year; average annual production over the life of the mine was 4.3 million short tons per year. Officials of TransAlta Centralia were planning to increase annual production at the mine to more than 5 million tons per year and were looking at another 25 years of production from the mine.

Coal production in 2001 at the Centralia Mine came from 4 open pits. Coalbeds mined were the Upper and Lower Thompson, the Big Dirty and Little Dirty seams, and the Smith seam.

These coalbeds are part of the Skookumchuck Rock Formation, which is composed of nearshore marine and nonmarine sedimentary rocks. The Skookumchuck Rock belongs to the upper member of the Eocene Puget Group.

On November 27, 2006, TransAlta stopped operations at the mine, citing increasing operation costs, and is now using coal from the Powder River Basin

Powder River Basin

The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...

 to supply its power plant. The mine employed about 600 workers at the time of the closure. Parts of the mine are currently being reclaimed

Land reclamation

Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...

, with the aim of returning the land to its former forested state.