Oilsands tailings ponds are a central part of the bitumen extraction process, but they are also one of the industry’s biggest problems. They occupy just under 180 square kilometres of the Athabasca oilsands region and, as mining production grows, so does the visibility and environmental challenge of tailings. Fortunately, mining project owners and their suppliers are well along the path to commercialization of the technologies that will help minimize the tailings challenge.

The year is off to a good start for Titanium Corporation, developer of a pre-commercial technology for recovering heavy minerals, bitumen and solvents from the oilsands tailings waste stream. Titanium recently “expanded its portfolio of intellectual property” and its coffers with the award of two new patents as well as new grants from the Government of Canada that bring federal and provincial funding to date beyond $10 million. The next step, says Titanium president and chief executive officer Scott Nelson, is to advance negotiations with oilsands producers to execute a commercial project.

According to the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA), there are 29 end-pit lakes currently planned for the oilsands mining region in the decades to come as operating and planned projects reach the end of their operational lives.

Thanks to its new tailings management technology, TRO (which stands for tailings reduction operations), Suncor Energy Inc. has been able to cancel plans for five additional tailings ponds—an impressive feat of innovation. But the full commercial implementation of TRO has not been as simple as flipping a switch. The daunting challenge of separating massive volumes of thickened tailings from their cages of water has demanded equally impressive tools.

For oilsands producers, investing in new projects is big business. But keeping those projects running over their lifespans of decades is much, much bigger, and the forecast for associated cash inputs continues to rise.

The speaker is Concordia University College of Alberta history professor Sandy Gow, talking about working in the oilpatch more than half a century ago, long before effective safety regulations were introduced. Conditions have improved almost beyond imagination since then, not only because of technical and equipment advances, but because oilpatch employers are pouring effort into the people factor.

For more than a century, Richmond Hill, Ont. –based Acklands-Grainger has made a business of providing various industries with the supplies they need to maintain uptime and productivity.