In the early 1960s, when Sun Oil Company mined bitumen could total over two is mainly due to cost and efficiency. The
chairman J. Howard Pew announced his million barrels per day within a decade. shovels can move more easily to select the
company was investing $250 million to richest oil sand and ignore low-grade ore.
build an oil sands mine in the boreal Mining the oil sands is a process that works Truck-and-shovel mining is more mobile,
forests of northeastern Alberta, it was on a giant scale, with the theory holding requires less maintenance and has much
called “the biggest gamble in history” by oil that to be economic an operation has to less effect on general production if there is
industry insiders. produce at least 100,000 barrels per day. an equipment breakdown.
Fast forward almost four decades and that The first step in the process is removing
gamble has proven a wise investment. the overburden covering the oil sands. Oil
Suncor Energy, the progeny of Pew’s Great sands leases with less than 50 metres of
Canadian Oil Sands Project, produced its overburden are considered mineable.
billionth barrel of oil in late 2005.
Open-pit mining is done in benches or
steps. These benches are approximately 12
to 15 metres high. Giant shovels dig the oil
sand and place it into heavy-hauler trucks
that range in size from 240-ton capacity to
The removal of overburden, which consists the largest trucks, which are 400-ton
“Our entry into the oil sands was deemed a of boreal forest, muskeg, soil and rock is capacity. The trucks dump the oil sand into
daring venture into an unknown field,” said done using giant trucks and shovels. sizers or crushers, which break up the big
Suncor president and CEO Rick George in chunks of oil sand to prepare it for
marking the occasion. “Now, almost 40 Once the overburden has been removed, transport into the plant. The sizers are the
years later, that pioneering spirit of the mining of the actual oil sand can largest of their kind ever manufactured.
innovation, hard work and vision is seen as begin. This process has undergone
a hallmark of our success.” significant technological change since The oil sands companies have had to adapt
1967, when the Great Canadian Oil Sands some equipment to meet the unique
Company began operations. The company needs of the industry. For example, a
used huge bucket-wheel excavators that crawler tractor used to build up the walls
In 1998, Syncrude reached a significant
milestone when the billionth barrel of
The oil sands are mined in benches approximately Around 90 per cent of bitumen is recovered at Oil sand is dumped into crushers to eliminate any
12 to 15 metres high mining operations large lumps before hydrotransport to extraction
Syncrude Sweet Blend oil was shipped dug directly into the open-pit mine. The oil facilities PHOTOS BY Joey Podlubny
down the pipeline. Syncrude, Suncor and sand was picked up by the buckets and
the Albian Oil Sands Partnership mines in deposited on conveyor belts that
the Athabasca deposit will have the transported the oil sand from the mine
potential capacity to deliver more than a into the extraction plant.
million barrels per day of synthetic crude
to the marketplace. The three oil sands
miners combined will be producing a
billion barrels every four years.
of tailing ponds (settling basins used
during extraction) has its radiator and
cooling fan on top of the cab. This prevents
oil particles, water and sludge from getting
When Syncrude opened in 1978, they used into the radiator, causing the engine to
draglines (the largest walking machines on overheat.
Earth) and bucket-wheel reclaimers. The
dragline would deposit the oil sand into a Len Flint of LENEF Consulting Ltd. played a
The story of oil sands mining is one of pile called a “windrow.” The bucket-wheel lead role in developing the Oil Sands
continuous improvement. Supply costs reclaimer would then scoop up the oil Technology Roadmap, a project developed
have dropped from $40 per barrel in the sand from the windrow and deposit it onto by the Alberta Chamber of Resources. In
1980s to around $23 per barrel of synthetic a conveyor belt system that would move the Roadmap, Flint points out mining of oil
crude in 2005. Mining and extraction costs the oil sand into the extraction plant. sands is now a mature business with little
are down to around $8 per barrel. And with room for improvement.
an estimated 113 billion barrels of bitumen Today, Suncor, Syncrude and Albian Sands
available to be mined, the oil sands mining all use the same mining technology—truck “The recovery rate of bitumen from mined
industry can do nothing but grow. If and shovel. The move from draglines and sand today is about 90 per cent with good
planned projects move to completion, bucket wheels to truck-and-shovel mining quality ore, with extraction processes
