CIM on oil sands mining

I skipped the CIM sessions on hard technology and opted instead for the session on oil sands mining–what is happening north of Fort McMurray beside diving ducks?

The four presentation were as entertaining and informative as conference presentations come.  First the story of the Axe Lake project which when it comes into production will be Saskatchewan’s first oil sands operation–all on the far east side of the Athabasca Basin just where, about 110 million years ago, the rivers poured down into an inland sea.  So the “oil” is trapped in nice clean sands.  Unlikely to be any fine tailings from that operation; no MFT to bedevil the covering of the ponds.

Two papers went into great detail about the Kearl Oil Sand Project and the Horizon Oil Sands Project respectively.  The shear scale of size, number of people, and dollars invested support the fact that this is the driver of the Canadian economy.  The plans for further development and expansion are so vast, that thousands of workers from all part of the world, net alone Canada, will be required to bring them to fruition.  And to judge from the presenters this can be done without irreversible environmental impact.  Although I could not but wonder about the proposals to create vast new impoundments of MFT tailings. 

Finally all kudos to N Camarta who spoke about Petro-Canada’s development and future under the rubric: Great dirt, great people.  He left us with some simple rules: never let miners near anything that can burn; never let process engineers move dirt; faced with a choice between you’re damned if you do and you are damned if you don’t, always choose the second option;  the easy part of oil sands is the environmental part, the hard part is the people part (getting them mainly); use existing technology in preference to new technology–at least you know it works.  And so on.  On the basis of his energy and enthusiasm this is the company whose stock I would buy first given a choice. 

This was a session for those who are working hard, bouying up a country, producing a necessary product, and facing new and difficult issues.  They must succeed if every Canadian and every US driver is to succeed.  Go for it.  If you can find the money, the people, and the water.