1
CARING for
the land
ALBERTA CHAMBER OF RESOURCES
Alberta’s mining industry
This is our industry’s land
is strongly committed to
use and reclamation story—
responsible land use and
what we’re doing, how we’re
reclaiming mined land to create
sustainable landscapes.
doing it and our aspirations
for the future.
2
A reclaimed coal mine at Teck’s Cardinal River Operations,
located south of Hinton. To date, over 75 per cent of the land
disturbed by coal mining in Alberta has been reclaimed.
Contents
Creating Sustainable Landscapes.............................................1
Alberta’s mining companies are fully committed to reclaiming all mine sites that
are no longer in active use and restoring all of them into sustainable landscapes.
Key Facts about Mining in Alberta............................................3
From its deep historical roots to the present day, the mining industry plays a .
major role in the economic health of Alberta.
Regulating Land Use and Reclamation.....................................4
All mines in Alberta must operate under approved plans and have ongoing .
progressive reclamation.
Doing Things Right and Doing the Right Things.......................6
Alberta’s mining industry is providing leadership in corporate social .
responsibility, research and development, and innovation.
Land Use and Reclamation in Alberta’s Coal Mines...............10
Reclamation operations are carried out concurrently with coal mining, .
thereby returning the land for other productive use in only a few years.
Land Use and Reclamation in Alberta’s Oil Sands.................12
The oil sands industry has extensive reclamation programs in place to .
return the land to equivalent capability.
Coal Mine Reclamation – Case Studies..................................16
Reports on reclamation initiatives by Sherritt Coal, Capital Power, Teck .
and TransAlta.
Oil Sands Reclamation – Case Studies...................................18
Reports on reclamation initiatives by Imperial Oil, Shell, Suncor, Syncrude, .
Canadian Natural and Total.
On the Cover: upper left – a reclaimed landscape at Sherritt Coal’s Gregg
River Mine southwest of Hinton; upper right – Teck’s award-winning Sphinx
Lake reclamation project; lower left – Syncrude’s Gateway Hill reclamation
project at its Mildred Lake oil sands mine site north of Fort McMurray; lower
right – Suncor’s Pond 1 reclamation project near Fort McMurray in June 2010,
prior to tree planting.
Creating
Sustainable
Landscapes
Mining operations have impacts on the land and, indeed, change the landscape. This is particularly true for open
pit mining, while in situ mining techniques create less land disturbance.
Alberta’s mining companies are fully committed to reclaiming all mine sites that are no longer in active use and
restoring all of them into sustainable landscapes.
The industry takes its responsibility for land use and reclamation very seriously throughout the life of a mine—well
before shovels are in the ground; during the active life of a mine; throughout the mine site reclamation process; and
right through to completing site reclamation and receiving a reclamation certificate from the Alberta government.
Alberta’s mining industry already has many reclamation success stories, and we are proactively developing new
technology and introducing new reclamation techniques that are putting us in a strong position to accelerate the
pace of reclamation.
Through this brochure, the Alberta Chamber of
Resources aims to inform Albertans about the facts
and important issues surrounding land use and
reclamation by the province’s mining companies. In
particular, this brochure focuses on the oil sands and
coal mining industries, as they account for the largest
mining operations in Alberta.
The thousands of people who work in Alberta’s mining
industry are proud to present this important story.
Together with all Albertans, we share a strong pride in
our land and our environment.
Alberta’s mining industry takes
its responsibility for land use
and reclamation very seriously
throughout the life of a mine—well
before shovels are in the ground;
during the active life of a mine;
throughout the mine site reclamation
process; and right through to
completing site reclamation.
About the Alberta Chamber of Resources
The Alberta Chamber of Resources (ACR) has
tens of billions of dollars worth of economic activity in Alberta
championed the orderly and responsible development of
every year and employs thousands of Albertans.
the province’s natural resources since 1936.
The ACR is expanding collaborative efforts within Alberta’s
Today, ACR members represent oil sands, coal, forestry,
resource industries, offering solutions and seeking
mining, minerals, power generation and transmission, oil and
balance to ensure the orderly and responsible development
gas, pipelines and service companies. The Chamber’s diverse
of Canadian resources. For more information about the
membership of approximately 200 companies generates
ACR and its activities, please visit www.acr-alberta.com.
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Coal and Oil Sands Deposits in Alberta
Fort McMurray
PEACE RIVER
GRANDE PRAIRIE
EDMONTON
CALGARY
Bituminous coal
Sub-bituminous coal
MEDICINE HAT
Oil sands recoverable
using in situ techniques
Oil sands mineable area
Coal
Oil Sands
Alberta’s sedimentary basins contain an estimated
70 per cent of Canada’s coal reserves and produce
about half of the coal currently mined in the country
each year. The coal mined in Alberta is primarily
bituminous or sub-bituminous.
Alberta’s oil sands lie beneath 142,200 square
kilometres of land, and deposits that are suitable for
surface mining are contained within 4,802 square
kilometres or about three per cent of the total area.
The remaining reserves that underlie 97 per cent
of the oil sands surface area are recoverable using
in situ methods, which create very little surface
land disturbance.
First, some
key facts about
mining in Alberta
From its deep historical roots...
Mining has played a significant role in Alberta since the earliest days of the province.
Coal was discovered in Alberta in 1792 and was first mined to supply domestic heating needs and later to fuel
steam-powered locomotives. Coal mining began near the future site of Lethbridge in the 1860s and the first
coal mine in Edmonton was established in 1883. Some of the earliest mining was carried out within what is now
Banff National Park but developers later moved east, establishing a mine near Canmore in 1887. Railways drove
coal mine development in both the Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta and an area known as the Coal Branch
in west-central Alberta south of Hinton. The towns of Nordegg and Grande Cache were also developed for the
purpose of coal mining.
In 1967, Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor Energy Inc.) started mining oil sands to produce crude bitumen,
when Fort McMurray was still a small trading post.
...to the present day...
Today, a wide range of commodities are mined in Alberta, including oil sands, coal, limestone, salt, shale,
dimension stone, ammonite shell, sandstone, sand and gravel.
Seven major coal mines currently operate in Alberta, primarily in the central plains region. They produce
between 30 and 35 million tonnes of coal annually, used mainly to generate electricity.
According to the Government of Alberta, there were 91 active oil sands projects in Alberta as of August 2010.
Of these, four are mining projects and the rest use various in situ recovery methods.
There are five major industrial mineral quarries in Alberta.
Many Alberta communities depend on mining for their livelihood, including Fort McMurray, Hinton, Edson,
Forestburg, Hanna and Grande Cache.
...the mining industry plays a major role in the economic health of Alberta.
The oil sands industry currently affects the jobs of 144,000 Canadians—directly, indirectly and induced—and will
generate $1.7 trillion in economic activity across Canada over the next 25 years. In 2009, Alberta’s coal industry
directly employed over 2,500 people and indirectly benefited over 7,000 others.
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Regulating
Land Use and
Reclamation
The Alberta government has taken multiple steps to reduce negative
environmental impacts from mining.
In 1993, the province consolidated all of its environmental legislation into one
comprehensive statute—the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act
(EPEA). This strict legislation obliges mining companies to reclaim Alberta’s
land to a productive state. Under the legislation:
• all mines must operate under approved plans and have
ongoing reclamation;
• cumulative environmental impact assessments must be conducted
for all major mine proposals;
• reclamation approvals are issued for up to 10 years, after which
a renewal is required, which entails a whole new process of public
notification, review, appeal and approval; and
• reclamation certificates for lands disturbed by mining must be
issued by the Alberta government before a company is relieved of
responsibility for the site.
Above: A Sherritt Coal surface mine
that has been returned to productive
agricultural land use.
The full text of the EPEA is available at www.environment.alberta.ca.
Who owns the resource?
Coal
The majority of the coal in Alberta is owned by the Alberta
Crown. However, there is also freehold ownership of
coal—by private individuals and companies, the federal
government in national parks, and First Nations. In a typical
year, 50 to 60 per cent of Alberta’s mined coal is extracted
from Crown leases and the rest from privately owned leases.
Oil sands
The Alberta Crown holds the oil sands mineral rights. A
lease gives an operator the right to extract bitumen from
the oil sands existing within the specified lease area. The
land must be reclaimed and returned to the Crown at the
end of operations.
Metallic and industrial minerals
Metallic and industrial minerals include: diamonds and other
precious stones; gold, iron and other precious and base
metals; limestone and other stone; and salt. Most mineral
deposits in Alberta are Crown owned. There is also a minor
amount of freehold ownership.
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Reclaimed land at TransAlta’s Highvale surface coal mine west
of Edmonton supports a variety of land uses—agriculture,
woodlands, wildlife habitat, recreation and wetlands.
HIGH
RECLAMATION
STANDARDS
Securing Mine
Reclamation
According to Alberta’s Environmental Protection and
related to reclamation and/or resolve any environmental
Enhancement Act, “the objective of conservation and
impacts that may arise during a site’s operation or after the
reclamation of specified land is to return the specified land
company has finished mining the site.
Regulators use various forms of financial security to ensure
mining companies meet all environmental requirements
to an equivalent land capability”.
In Alberta, reclamation security is currently collected
The Act stipulates that “equivalent land capability means
under the Conservation and Reclamation Regulation
that the ability of the land to support various land uses
(www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/1993_115.pdf)
after conservation and reclamation is similar to the ability
for coal and oil sands mines, coal processing plants,
that existed prior to an activity being conducted on the
sand and gravel pits, and oil production sites (the
land, but that the individual land uses will not necessarily
wells, pipelines, batteries and roads that feed into
be identical”.
heavy oil plants).
In February 2009, Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation
Board (ERCB) issued a new directive with aggressive
criteria for managing oil sands tailings. Named Directive
074: Tailings Performance Criteria and Requirements for Oil
According to Alberta’s Environmental
Protection and Enhancement Act,
Sands Mining Schemes, it includes a mandated reduction
“the objective of conservation and
in tailings and target dates for closure and reclamation of
reclamation of specified land is
tailings ponds. The ERCB directive also lays out specific
enforcement actions should targets not be met. Full text of
to return the specified land to an
the directive is available at www.ercb.ca.
equivalent land capability”.
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Doing Things
Right and Doing
the Right Things
There is a well-known saying that “management is doing
things right and leadership is doing the right things”.
When it comes to land use and reclamation, Alberta’s
mining industry aims to achieve not only responsible
management of the land but also provide leadership
by making strong commitments to corporate social
responsibility, research and development, and innovation.
Left: Land reclaimed for agricultural
purposes at the Genesee coal mine in
Leduc County south of Edmonton is
rented out and used as pasture for cattle
and to grow canola, barley, wheat, and
alfalfa. Capital Power and Sherritt Coal
are the mine partners.
Below: Suncor mines oil sands using
shovels with buckets that hold 100 tonnes,
loading huge 240- to 380-tonne trucks.
Living Up to Our Commitments
Mining companies operate according to comprehensive, provincially approved reclamation plans and follow
stringent standards regarding air quality, groundwater and surface water.
Several years before a mine is approved, planning begins with baseline studies, cumulative environmental impact
assessments, public consultations and thorough reviews by regulatory agencies. Environmental specialists start
the process by performing comprehensive studies of existing ecosystems to identify sensitivities and potential
impacts. They establish baseline information for surface water, groundwater, soils, vegetation, wildlife, local land
use and existing social and economic conditions. This information is used to choose the best site for minerelated facilities and to inform the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. The iterative EIA process is
designed to enable proponents to incorporate appropriate mitigation measures, and to develop environmental
protection and reclamation plans for the area.
The key goal and regulatory requirement for a surface mine is to ensure the potential impact of the mine,
determined cumulatively, does not extend to the land, water or air beyond the project footprint both during the
operation of the mine and subsequently at closure.
As part of the planning process, local communities are consulted about the anticipated effects of mining on land
use, transportation systems and the quality of life in the surrounding area. Public consultation is undertaken to
obtain meaningful input from local residents so that their ideas and concerns can be addressed when developing
final reclamation plans.
Companies are required to develop a reclamation plan for the life of the project prior to project approval.
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The provincial government has departments that
work to ensure protection of air quality, groundwater,
surface water, land, fish and wildlife. The federal
government can also get involved in areas where it
has jurisdiction such as fisheries, toxic substances
and trans-boundary effects. These regulatory agencies
evaluate every reclamation plan, considering the
baseline environmental information and the long-term
interests of those likely to be directly affected by the
mining project. A company cannot proceed with mining
until it receives approvals based on strict environmental
standards for land reclamation, protection for wildlife,
and management of air and water quality. Regular
inspections throughout the entire mining process
ensure companies adhere to government standards.
Mining is a temporary use of the land. Companies
actually just “borrow” land for the time it takes to mine
the resource. Afterwards, all lands will be returned to a
self-sustaining condition. Ongoing research programs
provide information to evolve and advance reclamation
practices. These studies also identify areas where
corrections need to be made or where opportunities
exist for improvement, so further action can be taken.
Above: A gravel pit near the Red Deer River.
Mining of the gravel commenced in 1980
from the south end (top of photo), and has
progressed upstream to the current mining
area in the foreground. Ongoing reclamation on
a yearly basis has maximized the land available
for farming.
A company cannot proceed with mining until it receives approvals based on strict
environmental standards for land reclamation, protection for wildlife, and management
of air and water quality.
Coal is loaded into a largecapacity truck at one of Sherritt
Coal’s surface mines in Alberta.
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Land reclaimed for agricultural use
at a TransAlta-owned surface coal
mine located near the company’s
Sundance thermal generating
station west of Edmonton.
Progressive Reclamation
For coal and minerals mining, reclamation operations are
Disturbed areas are reclaimed as soon as they are no longer
carried out concurrently with mining operations. To date,
in active use in order to minimize the amount of disturbed
over 75 per cent of the land disturbed by coal mining has
area at any one time. The rate of land reclamation will be
been reclaimed.
dramatically accelerating over the next 10 years due to the
Over the last 15 years, oil sands mining companies have
progressive approach.
adopted the practice of “progressive reclamation”, through
which they manage reclamation on an ongoing basis.
Oil Sands
Technology
Roadmap
Meeting
International
Standards
The Alberta Chamber of Resources sponsored the Oil
Shell Canada Limited (Shell) is the first oil sands project to
Sands Technology Roadmap initiative, which has set a
receive ISO 14001 accreditation, an international standard
course for oil sands industry growth and established a
for environmental management that demonstrates the
vision of the industry that is competitive, economical
company’s commitment to continuous improvement.
and respectful of its environmental footprint.
Shell’s Scotford Upgrader and the Muskeg River Mine
Toward that end, the Roadmap is designed to drive
achieved the ISO 14001 standard for environmental
a review of research and development already under
management systems in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
way and facilitate the development of new technology
in the years ahead, including in the realm of land use
and reclamation.
To receive this internationally recognized designation,
an organization must demonstrate that it has a sound
environmental policy, an effective environmental
Full text of the Roadmap is available at
management system and is committed to complying
www.acr-alberta.com.
with environmental legislation.
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Land Use and
Reclamation
in Alberta’s
Coal Mines
Canada places within the top 15 countries in the world in total proven coal reserves. Alberta’s sedimentary
basins contain an estimated 70 per cent of Canada’s coal reserves and produce about half of the coal currently
mined in the country each year. The coal mined in Alberta is primarily bituminous or sub-bituminous.
Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board estimates there are about 33.6 billion tonnes of established
reserves of all types of coal in Alberta, an amount that will meet today’s level of demand for several centuries.
This coal contains more than twice the energy of all the province’s other conventional non-renewable energy
resources, including oil, natural gas and oil sands.
In 2009, Alberta produced 31 million tonnes of marketable coal. Around 73 per cent is used in electricity
generation facilities. The remainder is exported to Asia—mainly to Japan and South Korea.
Surface mining
COAL DEPOSITS
Most Alberta coal is produced by surface mining—either strip
mining or open pit.
Before mining begins, conservation activities are performed, with
cover soils salvaged and either directly placed on leveled land or
stockpiled for future reclamation.
Strip mining is only a temporary use of land and reclamation
operations are carried out concurrently with mining, thereby
returning the land for other productive use in only a few years.
When coal extraction is completed on one strip, the next strip’s
overburden is moved to the emptied strip, contouring is done,
cover soils are replaced and the appropriate revegetation is
established, including native trees, shrubs and grasses, thus
creating a planned end land use that is equivalent to the predisturbed land.
GRANDE PRAIRIE
EDMONTON
CALGARY
Open-pit mining is used most often in mountainous areas. When
a pit is mined out and the required backfilling from the adjacent pit
Bituminous coal
is finished, the reclamation that is carried out is done in the same
Sub-bituminous coal
thorough fashion as for strip mines, with recontouring, cover-soil
placement and revegetation activities. All reclamation activities are
designed to return the disturbed area to the ecosystem and terrain found in the area.
MEDICINE HAT
To date, over 75 per cent of the land disturbed by coal mining in Alberta has been reclaimed and by the end of
2010, the Alberta government had issued 19 coal reclamation certificates covering approximately 2,100 hectares.
Some coal that is too deep for economic recovery using surface mining technology employs underground mining
techniques. The coal mine at Grande Cache has underground operations.
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Land reclamation process in coal mining
1
Before mining begins, all suitable soils are salvaged and hauled to areas undergoing reclamation or retained in
stockpiles for future use.
2
The dragline removes the overburden to expose the coal seam. The overburden is placed in the adjacent
mined-out cut. The coal seam is uncovered.
3
Coal is loaded into large-capacity trucks for transport to destination.
4
Bulldozers re-contour the overburden removed by the dragline. This step is the first stage in land reclamation.
5
Soils salvaged prior to mining are replaced on the re-contoured overburden.
6
The land is re-vegetated and returned to agriculture production or other acceptable land use as defined in the
operating approvals.
Innovating for the Future
Alberta Innovates—Energy and Environment Solutions (AIEES),
the lead agency for energy and environmental research in Alberta,
works with industry, universities, and federal and provincial research
agencies to pursue the goal of identifying and adopting the best,
most environmentally sound technologies that may be employed
to produce and use Alberta coal and coal products.
AIEES has supported a number of projects with Sherritt
Technologies and is supporting coal research at the University
of Alberta by providing seed money to establish a coal research
group. You can learn more about AIEES’s major initiatives at
Coal mine reclamation at Teck’s Cardinal
River Operations south of Hinton.
www.albertainnovates.ca/energy/major-initiatives.
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Land Use and
Reclamation in
Alberta’s Oil Sands
Canada’s oil sands are a vital energy source for both
Canada and the world; and like all sources of energy,
oil sands development has an environmental footprint
associated with its production.
Oil sands are recovered by two main methods:
Syncrude’s 104-hectare Gateway
Hill reclamation project north of
Fort McMurray includes a rolling
forested area with hiking trails
and lookout points.
surface mining or drilling (in situ).
The vast majority of oil
sands reserves—80 per
cent—are recoverable
in place, or in situ.
As of August 2010, there
were 91 active oil sands
projects in Alberta. Of
these, four are surface
mining projects, while the
remaining projects are
using various in situ
recovery methods.
PEACE RIVER
DEPOSIT
Fort
McMurray
ATHABASCA DEPOSIT
PEACE RIVER
DEPOSIT
Fort
McMurray
COLD LAKE
DEPOSIT
ATHABASCA DEPOSIT
Edmonton
COLD LAKE
DEPOSIT
Jasper
Land Use
Source: Government of Alberta
The remaining 20 per cent
of the oil sands reserves are
close enough to the surface
(less than 70 metres or
200 feet) to be mined.
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Edmonton
Alberta’s boreal forest
Jasper
(381,000 km2)
Alberta’s oil sands lie
oil sands deposits recoverable
Banff Calgary
beneath 142,200 square
using in situ techniques
(137,398
km2)
kilometres of land, and
Banff
Calgary
oil sands surface
deposits that are suitable
mineable area (4,802 km2)
for surface mining are
oil sands mineable area
contained within 4,802
currently disturbed (662 km2)
square kilometres or about
Note: 1 km 2 = 1 square kilometre = 0.39 square miles
Note: 1 km 2 = 1 square kilometre = 0.39 square miles
three per cent of the total
area. The remaining reserves that underlie 97 per cent of the oil sands surface
area are recoverable using in situ methods, which require very little surface land disturbance. Only 0.02 per cent
of Canada’s 3.2 million square kilometres of boreal forest has been disturbed by oil sands mining operations over
the past 40 years.
By 2010, the active oil sands surface mining footprint totalled 662 square kilometres—an area about the size of
the City of Edmonton.1
Oil Sands Land Reclamation – Industry Practices
Oil sands developments are subject to strict government reclamation requirements and industry’s reclamation
programs are extensive.
Reclamation planning begins during the first phase of project design.
A conservation and reclamation plan covering the life of the project is required prior to project approval and it is
modified as the project advances to ensure it is realistic and will result in the desired end land use.
Oil sands producers perform reclamation on an ongoing basis as operations are completed in a given area. This
practice is called progressive reclamation and the objective is to return the land to equivalent capability as soon
as possible.
At the appropriate time, the operator will apply for a reclamation certificate from the government. Reclaimed land
is certified by government when it can be returned to public use.
1. Alberta Environment, July 2010
Alberta’s bo
(381,000 km
oil sands d
(142,200 km
oil sands su
mineable a
oil sands m
currently di
Surface mining
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Surface mining requires an open-pit mine operation, similar to many coal, iron ore, copper and diamond mine
operations.
Once construction begins, surface soil and subsoil are removed and stockpiled for future use. The overburden
soils above the oil sands are also removed and used for construction purposes or placed in a disposal area.
The oil sands are then extracted and moved by trucks to a cleaning facility where the material is mixed with hot
water to separate the recoverable oil from sand.
Once oil sands mining is complete in a given area, the pit is backfilled, and the overburden materials are brought
back and contoured to ensure proper drainage. The subsoil and soil are then replaced and the area is replanted
with appropriate trees, shrubs and other native species.
Soil, vegetation, moisture and wildlife are monitored to ensure the landscape achieves the goals of the original
reclamation plan. Remediation of tailings ponds, which contain a mixture of water, clay, sand and small amounts
of residual oil produced through mining, is also a key part of the process. (continued on page 15)
Oil sands mining method
Mining shovels dig into sand
and load it into huge trucks.
Trucks take oil sands to crushers,
where it is prepared for extraction.
Hot water is added to
the oil sands and then
transported via
hydrotransport to
the extraction plant.
Bitumen is extracted
from the oil sands in
the separation vessels.
The tailings are pumped
to the settling basin,
where the water is recycled
and reused in the process.
Government Issues
First Oil Sands mining
Reclamation
Certificate
In March 2008, the Alberta government issued its first
oil sands mining reclamation certificate to Syncrude
Canada Ltd. (Syncrude) for the 104-hectare parcel of
land known as Gateway Hill, north of Fort McMurray.
Oil Sands: Key Facts
It includes a rolling forested area with hiking trails and
•170 billion barrels of proven recoverable reserves
Syncrude has mined its Mildred Lake site for about
•The second largest source of crude oil reserves
in the world, after Saudi Arabia
• 2009 production: 1.35 million barrels per day
•Projected production by 2025: 3.5 million
barrels per day
lookout points.
30 years and about one quarter of its footprint has now
been reclaimed. Reclamation is an ongoing process as
land becomes available.
Syncrude is also progressively reclaiming at its Aurora
site, with vegetation being planted as early as three
years after disturbance.
Tailings Ponds
In open-pit oil sands mining, companies use hot water to
the rate of reclamation. The first tailings pond to be
separate very heavy oil (bitumen) from the sand and clay.
reclaimed to a solid surface suitable for revegetation was
The oil is then sent for further processing and the leftover
completed in 2010 by Suncor Energy Inc. (Suncor).
mixture of water, sand, clay and residual oil (referred to as
tailings) is transported for storage in large ponds—often
built in mined-out pits.
Oil sands operators employ numerous mitigation
measures to limit and manage seepage from
tailings ponds, including construction of ditches and
Once in the tailings pond, the sand separates rapidly and
groundwater interception wells around tailings facilities to
sinks to the bottom. Clarified water from the upper three
capture seepage and runoff, which is then pumped back
metres of the pond is recycled to the oil sands extraction
into the tailings pond; and construction of cut-off walls to
process. Eighty per cent or more of the water used in the
prevent seepage migration. No untreated tailings waters
extraction process is recycled. The bottom layer of the
are released into waterways.
tailings pond consists of a combination of clay and water
known as fine tailings, which take a long time to settle.
The proposed design and location of tailings ponds are
thoroughly reviewed and approved by the regulator to
Industry continues to develop better technologies and
ensure they are suitable from environmental, resource
approaches to tailings management in order to reduce
conservation and economic points of view. Effective bird
the environmental impact. There are several technologies
deterrence is an important part of government’s approval
that have been implemented and more that are being
requirements for tailings ponds.
tested to reduce the volume of tailings and increase
Bird deterrent systems in place
Groundwater
monitoring wells
Fine tailings
Water for reuse
Coarse sand
Dyke wall
Seepage collection ditches
Low-grade oil sands
Source: Shell
(continued from page 14)
Since oil sands mining
operations began in the
1960s, approximately
10 per cent of the active
mining footprint has been
or is being reclaimed by
industry. To date, millions
of tree seedlings have
been planted for oil sands
land reclamation.
New Direction For Tailings
reclamation Research
Canadian Natural Resources, Imperial Oil, Shell Canada,
Suncor Energy, Syncrude Canada Ltd., Teck Resources
and Total E&P Canada announced plans in December
2010 to work together in a unified effort to advance
tailings management.
Each company has pledged to share its existing
tailings reclamation research and technology and to
remove barriers to collaborating on future tailings
research and development.
Right: For its Pond 1 reclamation project near Fort
McMurray, Suncor Energy collected rat root seeds from a
nearby marsh and grew them in a greenhouse for planting
in the wetland that forms part of the reclaimed area.
Source: Shell
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Case Studies
16
Coal Mine
Reclamation
Genesee Mine
Environmental work at Genesee Mine has returned
600 hectares to productive farm land and wildlife habitat,
earning the mine partners, Capital Power (formerly EPCOR)
and Sherritt Coal, the 2009 Alberta Chamber of Resources’
(ACR) Major Reclamation Award.
current reclamation research initiatives, and ongoing
communication and involvement with the community.
The primary objective is to reclaim areas and give them
multiple end-use capabilities similar to those that existed
prior to mining, including self-sustaining and naturally
maturing wildlife habitats through reforestation and
reestablishing wetlands.
The Genesee mine is located about 80 kilometres west
of Edmonton, and provides 5.5 million tonnes of coal per
year for the Genesee Generating Station, which produces
electricity for about 500,000 people.
Coal Valley Mine
Sherritt’s coal business in Alberta includes the Coal Valley
Mine, which is located approximately 100 kilometres
south of Edson in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
In operation since 1978, the mine sells the majority of its
production on the world export market.
Reclaimed agricultural land at the Genesee Mine.
“Capital Power is committed to ongoing research to find
ways of increasing the biodiversity of the lands that we
reclaim,” says George Greenhough, Manager of Land and
Environment Services at Capital Power. “As one example,
we’ve been working in partnership with the University of
Alberta and other industrial partners to conduct aspen
seedling research on reclaimed mine land. By planting
different types of aspen seedlings in various stages of
growth and planting conditions, we can use the results of
the research to facilitate our reforestation efforts in the mine.”
Once the coal in a particular mining area has been
depleted, reclamation plans are set into action. The main
thrust of reclamation has been creation of agricultural lands
for cattle grazing, hay and cultivated crops. The partners
have also taken on the challenge of re-creating a diverse
boreal forest by using new reforestation practices to create
natural treed areas within the agricultural landscape.
Genesee Mine’s comprehensive land reclamation plan
includes reestablishment of wetlands and natural creek
bodies, and the development of wildlife corridors.
Genesee Mine was nominated for the ACR award
by Alberta Environment. The award recognizes the
mine’s reclamation goals and achievements, past and
Coal operations disturb land as part of the mining process.
Therefore, a significant component of the Coal Valley Mine’s
environmental program involves returning disturbed land to
productive use.
Sherritt Coal created Silkstone Lake from a mined-out pit.
The reclamation process provides an opportunity to apply
innovative methods and practices to create landforms
that are equivalent to those that existed prior to mining.
Determining the best utilization of reclaimed land is
made in consultation with government authorities and
local stakeholders.
One example of innovative reclamation at the site was the
creation of sport fishing lakes from mined-out pits in areas
where such fishing opportunities did not exist previously.
Reclamation work included the construction and
development of Lovett and Silkstone lakes, re-sloping and
leveling of the shoreline and bottom configurations, with
additional topsoil replacement and vegetative seeding.
A fisheries habitat was incorporated into the planning, and
rainbow trout has been stocked successfully at the two
lakes since 1995.
The area is now a valued recreational destination for the
people living near the Coal Valley mine.
Cardinal River Operations
important values, including a functioning ecosystem,
healthy water, valuable wildlife habitat, and places for
recreation.” Most recently, Teck has been working with
communities of interest on land-use planning for the Luscar
MSL, and here too, reclamation is a tool that can be used
to conserve water and wildlife values.
With a long history in the mining industry, Teck learns from
the experience of past reclamation efforts—continuing to do
what works and adopting new practices. For example, Teck
is practicing progressive reclamation at its Cheviot project.
In the past, reclamation did not happen until mining was
complete. Symbaluk adds, “At the Cheviot project, we try
to reclaim areas soon after they are mined. We are targeting
the re-establishment of healthy, natural ecosites in our
reclamation. Hunters, naturalists, First Nations and others
have told us it is very important that native plants are used.
This makes sense and we are taking this approach.”
Highvale Mine
Located south of Lake Wabamun, about 70 kilometres
west of Edmonton, Highvale Mine is one of three TransAltaowned surface coal mines, and Canada’s largest surface
strip coal mine, covering 12,140 hectares.
Highvale has been in operation since 1970. Currently, five
pits are actively licensed and mined. Surface coal mining
involves removing overlying rock layers to expose and
extract coal reserves.
Teck’s award-winning Sphinx Lake reclamation project.
Teck’s Cardinal River Operations is located 45 kilometres
south of Hinton. The area has a rich coal mining history
dating back to the early 1900s. The original underground
and open pit mines operated from the early 1900s to 1956.
In 1970, mining resumed at Cardinal River’s Luscar mine
and continued until 2004.
Today, Teck’s active mine at the Cardinal River Operations
is the Cheviot project, located approximately 20 kilometres
south of the Cardinal River coal plant. The first load of steelmaking coal was produced from Cheviot in 2004, following a
decade of planning and regulatory review. The Cheviot project
has 25 years of coal reserves, making it an important part of
the regional economy.
Teck is responsible for reclamation at both the Luscar
mineral surface lease (MSL) and at its Cheviot project.
Approximately 50 per cent of the area disturbed at the
Luscar MSL has been reclaimed, including the awardwinning Sphinx Lake reclamation project, initiated in 2005.
“Mining is an interim land-use,” says Marc Symbaluk,
Superintendent, Environment at Teck’s Cardinal River
Operations. “The Sphinx Lake project demonstrates
reclamation is critical to sustainable mining. Through good
planning and reclamation, we work towards conserving
A reclaimed wetland area at TransAlta’s Highvale Mine.
Approximately 13 million tonnes of low-sulphur-thermalgrade coal are mined at Highvale each year and
delivered to TransAlta’s Sundance and Keephills thermal
generating plants.
Since 1970, TransAlta has reclaimed 1,310 hectares of the
4,362 hectares of land that have been mined at Highvale.
The reclaimed land supports a variety of land uses such
as agriculture, woodlands, wildlife habitat, recreation
and wetlands.
17
Case Studies
18
Oil Sands
Reclamation
Planning Reclamation First
Imperial Oil
Imperial Oil Resources (Imperial Oil) has started
construction of its Kearl Oilsands open pit mining project
northeast of Fort McMurray.
It has also mapped out a thorough reclamation process,
which, while exact, also has plenty of room to evolve.
“Kearl is an incredibly complex undertaking,” says Stuart
Nadeau, environmental and regulatory manager for the
project. “We think we’ve got a comprehensive reclamation
plan based on what we know today, but we will have to
adapt and change as new practices and technologies
emerge and as we continue to work hard to meet
regulatory requirements.”
Part of the reclamation plan for Kearl is to build three small
lakes connected to the existing Kearl Lake. These lakes will
replace the fish habitat that is lost as the mine progresses.
While replacing the streams is not feasible, the new lakes will
be deeper, allowing more fish to survive the freeze over winter.
Kearl will also channel water through a series of man-made
wetlands and lakes to further filter the water before it is
discharged back to the natural watershed.
Nadeau says there are two key words about Kearl’s
reclamation plans. “First, it’s progressive—we want to
get in and begin the environmental work earlier. Second,
it’s adaptive, which means this plan will change as new
technologies and learnings emerge, and as societal
expectations about the desired end point of reclamation
continue to shift.”
Total
Total E&P Canada Ltd (Total) is planning to implement
innovative new tailings management and reclamation
processes at its new Joslyn North Mine Project that
will result in less impact on the environment and earlier
reclamation of the land.
Located northwest of Fort McMurray and covering
7,000 hectares, the Joslyn North Mine is scheduled to
commence operations in 2017 and will reach a production
rate of 100,000 barrels per day over the 20-year life of
the project.
Total’s tailings management program and progressive
reclamation processes will result in 60 per cent of the
Joslyn North Mine site being reclaimed by the mine’s
closure date of 2037 and the remaining area being
reclaimed within seven years of the end of the mine’s life.
Total’s tailings management plan offers a new and
improved process that reduces the size of tailings ponds
by segregating the tailings into three streams according to
their ability to consolidate and release water:
• Coarse tailings will be deposited into an external
disposal area called “the sand beach”. Some of the
fines particles will be trapped by the coarse sand and
the beach will be trafficable after a matter of weeks.
Stuart Nadeau,
environmental and
regulatory manager for
Imperial Oil's Kearl oil
sands project.
As for tailings, Kearl will use proven procedures and
technologies to manage and reclaim the mixture of fine
clay, sand, bitumen and water. Initially, the fine tailings will
be stored in an external tailings area that is surrounded by
an extensive network of monitoring and collection wells to
capture and return any potential seepage. As mined-out
areas become available, the fine tailings will be treated to
release water and create a solid material. Then, the solid
material will be placed in mined-out areas and covered with
overburden, topsoil and other materials to reclaim the land.
• A second tailings stream containing half coarse sands
and half fines will be enhanced by a thickening process
to release water for recycling, followed by beaching
in a dedicated area. This stream is also referred to as
thickened tailings.
• The third tailings stream will be froth treatment
tailings containing mostly water, fines and residual
hydrocarbon. This stream will be deposited in a
dedicated pond consisting of runoff water collected
from the thickened tailings and sand beach areas.
Fluid fines tailings settling in this pond will be treated
and centrifuged to release water for recycling. A cake,
formed from residual, dewatered fines, will then be
deposited on the sand beaches.
Total’s approach will result in less river water intake, more
economic use of land space, as well as quicker reclamation
of the land to a natural state that meets the objective of the
Energy Resources and Conservation Board’s Directive 074
to achieve a trafficable surface within five years after the
last deposition.
Tailings Ponds Reclamation
Suncor
Suncor marked an industry milestone in 2010 by becoming
the first oil sands company to have a tailings pond with a
trafficable surface that has progressive reclamation under way.
The plan is to ultimately transform Suncor’s 220-hectare
Pond 1, established in the 1960s, near Fort McMurray
into mixed wood forest and a small wetland capable of
supporting a variety of plants and wildlife.
Suncor pioneered Consolidated Tailings (also known as
Composite Tails or CT) technology in the 1990s. By adding
gypsum, the company was able to accelerate the release
of water from the tailings and achieve a solid surface in
years rather than decades. The released water is recycled
in Suncor’s operations.
In the summer of 2010, Suncor received approval to
implement new tailings management technology—called
the TROTM process—across its existing operations.
The company expects to invest more than $1 billion
to implement the TROTM technology over two years,
potentially reducing tailings reclamation time by decades
and speeding the return of oil sands mining sites to
natural habitat.
TM
Trademark of Suncor Energy Inc.
Syncrude
Syncrude has developed methods that will help it
incorporate tailings into its reclamation program and use
them in the construction of new landscapes.
Bradley Wamboldt, General Manager,
Tailings, Suncor, with oil sands mine
tailings solidified by the company’s TROTM
tailings management process.
Suncor is highly motivated to accelerate the pace of
tailings reclamation. The company’s eight tailings ponds
cover a total of 31.5 square kilometres and contain
approximately 259 million cubic metres of mature fine
tailings (MFT). Active tailings ponds account for nearly
18 per cent of the 17,161 hectares of disturbed land
Suncor is currently working to reclaim.
Syncrude is currently implementing a multi-pronged
approach to manage tailings and comply with government
regulations as specified in the Energy Resources and
Conservation Board (ERCB) Directive 074. The ERCB has
approved Syncrude’s plan, which, after 2015, is expected
to exceed the requirements of the directive. Toward this,
Syncrude is developing and deploying three technologies:
Water Capping
Syncrude is successfully demonstrating how water can
be layered over a deposit of fine tails to form a lake. This
is called water capping. Syncrude’s research with test
ponds has shown that these lakes will evolve into natural
ecosystems and, over time, support healthy communities
of aquatic plants, animals and fish.
Nestled deep in Syncrude’s reclaimed landscape is Bill’s Lake—a beautiful,
reclaimed wetland area. The wetland boasts a dense larch forest to the north, willowlined shores, and grassy upland areas to the south. Monitoring schedules have been
adapted to provide privacy for nesting waterfowl along the shoreline.
19
Composite Tails
20
Composite Tails combines fine tails with gypsum and
sand as the tailings are deposited. This mixture causes
the tailings to settle faster, enabling Syncrude to develop
landscapes that support grass, trees and wetlands.
Technologies like Composite Tails give Syncrude the ability
to create broadly diverse landscapes that help fulfill its
commitment to reclaim the land to a stable and biologically
self-sustaining state.
Centrifuge Technology
Syncrude has committed to regulators that it will implement
centrifuge technology as an additional method to manage
its tailings. This technology involves putting tailings through
vessels where a spinning action separates out the water.
Released water will be recycled for plant operations. The
soil product of the centrifuge process has sufficient density
and strength to be placed in deposits, then capped and
reclaimed. Extensive field tests have been done on this
technology with the support of CANMET (Canada Centre
for Mineral and Energy Technology).
Canadian Natural
Canadian Natural Resources Limited (Canadian Natural)
is commercializing promising new ways to manage the
tailings pond at its Horizon Oil Sands facility, 70 kilometres
north of Fort McMurray. These new methods will require
less storage space for fluid tailings, accelerate the process
of reclamation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Currently at Horizon, waste carbon dioxide (CO2) is being
injected into the tailings slurry lines before the tailings
enter the pond, where it reacts to form carbonic acid. This
reaction changes the pH of the tailings mixtures and allows
the fines clays, silts and sand to settle quickly and leave
clearer water, which can be immediately recycled for reuse
in the bitumen extraction process.
During the next phase of Horizon development, Canadian
Natural will implement another new tailings treatment
process. As part of this new process, cyclones will
remove the water from the coarse sand and thickeners
will remove the water from the fine clays, silts and sand.
The dewatered streams will then be combined with waste
CO2.The resultant tailings will be deposited in the tailings
disposal area where even more water will be released and
reused. Additionally, the CO2 will react with the minerals in
the tailings to form mineral carbonates.
These new processes will reduce the footprint of the
tailings pond and, by increasing the amount of water
available for recycling, decrease the amount of river water
needed to process bitumen. Canadian Natural expects
this process of sequestering CO2 into tailings will eliminate
about 219,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.
Compensating for Disturbed
Fish Habitat
Shell
Shell broke new ground in the spring of 2010 when it
completed a lake to compensate for fish habitat disturbed
by its Jackpine Mine oil sands development. Shell’s
compensation lake, now named Jackpine Lake by the Fort
MacKay Elders Advisory Group, was filled with water from
Muskeg Creek in early 2010.
Jackpine Lake is a half-square-kilometre body of water
adjacent to Shell’s Jackpine Mine leases, which border
Syncrude’s leasehold and reserve lands belonging to its
First Nations neighbour, Fort MacKay. The lake is uniquely
located in the watershed, as Muskeg Creek feeds it with
high-quality water year round and it lies right next to the
Muskeg River.
Shell chose to build the lake 11 metres deep, nearly twice
the depth required as indicated by modeling, in order to
increase the probability that fish could live in it year-round.
This helps the surrounding watershed by providing an
increase in high-quality wintering habitat, which is limited in
this area.
Shell used a conventionally constructed channel for the
inlet to the lake from Muskeg Creek. However, for the outlet
Shell pioneered a natural-paradigm approach by providing
a very small channel, allowing the water to erode its own
channel. This will gradually result in a channel that perfectly
fits the lake and matches natural channel characteristics,
stays in compliance with all water quality requirements and
requires no reclamation. This also serves as a pilot project
that will help Shell design future stream realignments in the
most environmentally friendly manner.
Shell is reclaiming the lake’s shoreline entirely with
indigenous species, including water-loving willows and rat
root. Surrounding areas near the lake are being reclaimed
with species that prefer drier ground. For this reclamation,
Shell directly placed the surface layer of roots, soil and
seeds that had been preserved during construction of
the lake, as well as additional reclamation soils removed
and stockpiled from salvage activities on the Jackpine
Mine, resulting in one of the largest direct placements of
reclamation material in the oil sands region to date.
To read more case studies on technology
and innovation in oil sands land use and
reclamation, please visit:
www.capp.ca/energySupply/innovationStories/Land
Canadian Natural
Canadian Natural created this
80-hectare fisheries compensation
lake as part of its Horizon Oil Sands
project located 70 kilometres north
of Fort McMurray. Fisheries that will
be lost during the life of the Horizon
Project are fully compensated for
with the deep-water lake. In 2008, the
lake was blessed by Aboriginal elders
of Fort MacKay and Fort Chipewyan
and named Wapan Sakahikan, which
translates to Horizon Lake. The lake is
now a gathering place for the elders
to meet and discuss the development
of Horizon Oil Sands. In 2010, the
elders participated in the planting of
traditional medicinal plants around the
compensation lake to begin returning
the social values of the land.
Photo Credits:
The Alberta Chamber of Resources wishes to thank those
member organizations that provided images for this
brochure: Border Paving (page 8); Canadian Natural (inside
back cover); Capital Power (pages 6 and 16); Imperial Oil
(page 18); Shell (page 15); Sherritt Coal (cover, and pages
4, 8, 11 and 16); Suncor (cover, and pages 7, 15 and 19);
Syncrude (cover, and pages 12, 14 and 19); Teck (cover,
inside front cover, and pages 11 and 17); and TransAlta
(pages 5, 9 and 17).
Links to More Information
Government of Alberta
Alberta Energy
www.energy.alberta.ca
Alberta Environment
www.environment.alberta.ca
Energy Resources Conservation Board
www.ercb.ca
Industry associationS
Alberta Chamber of Resources
www.acr-alberta.com
Canadian Association of
Petroleum Producers
www.capp.ca
Centre for Energy
www.centreforenergy.ca
The Coal Association of Canada
www.coal.ca
The Oil Sands Developers Group
www.oilsandsdevelopers.ca
Other resources
Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
www.abmi.ca
Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions
www.albertainnovates.ca/energy
Canadian Energy Research Institute
www.ceri.ca
Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA)
www.cemaonline.ca
The Alberta Chamber of Resources wishes to thank
the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
for its significant contribution in the development
and production of this publication.
Contact Us
For more information about mining and mine land use and reclamation in Alberta, as
well as the Alberta Chamber of Resources and its programs, please contact us at:
Alberta Chamber of Resources
1940, Manulife Place
10180 – 101 Street
Edmonton, AB
T5J 3S4
Tel: 1 (780) 420-1030
Email: [email protected]
www.acr-alberta.com
January 2011 Printed in Canada