Regulatory and policy expectations for reclamation and
closure of oil sands tailings
Photo courtesy of Suncor Energy Inc.
Dr. Brett Purdy, Clean Energy Policy Branch
Alberta Environment & Sustainable Resource Development
Tailings reclamation objectives are not unique …
… reclaim so that soils and landforms
are capable of supporting
•
a self-sustaining, locally common boreal forest
•
integrated / sustainable surface drainage
•
natural appearances
Tailings have already been reclaimed …
… more tailings have been
reclaimed than any other part of
the mine footprint to date …
… the Roadmaps identify pathways
to make the “challenging” tailings
ready for reclamation …
While innovation and commercialization pathways are
identified in the roadmaps … we need to ask the question …
... do “ready for reclamation” tailings technologies / criteria
support “reclamation and closure” objectives” ?
Unique challenges for reclamation of tailings …
Surface water &
groundwater interactions
Landform cap &
soil placement
Ecosystem
development
Landform design
CTMC Tailings
Roadmap Overview
Tailings Technology Project Roadmap Update
OSTC/COSIA AI-EES / CTMC
GE Innovation Centre
August 28, 2012, Calgary
Presentation outline
Project scope
Project process
Project results
Project scope
In 2011, Alberta Innovates – Energy and
Environment Solutions & the Oil Sands
Tailings Consortium awarded a contract to
the Consortium of Tailings Management
Consultants (CTMC) to produce “The
Technology Deployment Roadmap and
Action Plan for ‘End-to-End’ Solutions for
Oil Sands Tailings.”
The CTMC summarized and assessed 549
technologies and produced a set of
roadmaps for the most promising of these
technologies & suites.
This presentation is a summary of the
CTMC June 2012 final report.
Project objective
To create a technology deployment
roadmap and action plan that will
assist regulators and industry to
create and implement technology
solutions that will meet specific
tailings management and
reclamation goals
Component 1
Compile state of
practice, describe
existing technology
suites, & compile full list
of technologies
Component 2
Develop assessment
criteria
Component 3
Evaluate
opportunities,
technologies, identify
data gaps
Component 4
Highlight & prioritize
technologies through a
development roadmap
Methods: Component 1
Seek out the
widest range
of potential
tailings
technologies
Summarize
technologies
Define technology categories
Exploration
Mining
Extraction
Tailings processing
Water treatment
Certification
Reclamation
Tailings
deposition
and capping
Assign stage of development
Research
Commercial
Development
Pilot
Prototype
Create master list of technologies
549 Technologies
101 Unique Technologies
+15 Chemical Amendments
+18 water treatment technologies
Detailed log of fate of every
technology and all vendor
communications
State of practice:
Commercial tailings practice review
Individual tailings technologies are
combined to form feasible commercial
technology suites specific to each mine
Current state of practice and
existing technology suites well
documented in report
Captured the major constraints
and influences on tailings
management – every site at every
point in time is unique
Methods: Component 2
Identify End Goals
•
Desired tailings management and reclamation end goals
•
Related constraints and assumptions
Identify Assessment Criteria
•
Stage of technology
•
Technical feasibility
•
Reliability
•
Ability to scale up
•
Reclamation potential
•
Other practical indicators
Methods: Component 3
Define assessment guidelines
for each of the seven tailings
categories
Develop tool to assist in data
analysis of technologies
Assemble multi-disciplinary
teams of experts to evaluate
technologies
Evaluate technologies against
C2 criteria, recording comments
and ideas for improvement too
Methods: Component 4
Highlight technologies that
would improve existing
technology suites
Highlight promising new
technologies
Prioritize highlighted
technologies
Develop roadmap
Establish big picture context
for roadmap
PROJECT RESULTS
An information packed report
Technology framework and database
State of practice captured
Highlighted / prioritized technologies
Roadmaps
Conclusions
Recommendations
7 + 5 Suites identified
Pre-commercial and
commercial suites
Conventional tailings
Composite tailings
Thickening
In-line thickening with thin lift
evaporative drying
In-line thickening with
accelerated dewatering
Water capped end pit lake
“New” Technology Suites
In-pit tailings treatment and deposition
Non-water based extraction methods
Low-cost
Centrifuging MFT with conveyor / Improvement to water-based extraction
stacking
Separate high-fines ore and low-fines ore
streams
Priority assessment
Comparison of benefit/risk ratio
to cost – to set priority for
technology development
(Lower capital and operating
costs result in a high cost
rating)
High priority technologies
Extraction
Deposition and capping
T-024 / T-548 Alberta Taciuk Process / Retort
Based Extraction
T-032: Accelerated Dewatering
T-062: Co-mixing MFT & Overburden*
T-090: Vertical Drains
Tailings processing
T-099: Stacker Hydro-cyclones
T-060: MFT Spiked Whole Tailings*
T-188: Under-Drained Tailings*
T-069: Solid Bowl Scroll Decanter Centrifuge
T-510: Tailings Discharge Tremmie
T-085: Thermal Drying*
T-197: Super CT
Reclamation
T-208: Paste thickener
T-138: Water Capped MFT Lake
T-267: Froth Treatment Tailings Thickening*
T-550: Tailings Surface Sealants**
T-529: Oleophillic Sieve
* restricted application
** very limited use
Tailings Technology
Deployment Roadmaps
A description of the technology suite
Improvement opportunities and gap-filler technologies
Technology deployment table for each technology
Conclusions
There is no silver bullet…
Instead, highlighted is the need for …
different suites of technologies for
different operators with
different conditions with
different legacies at
different times
Every site is unique
There are significant opportunities to refine existing technology suites,
including through more focussed management activities
New technologies take time to develop:
Research (2 to 3 years)
Development (2 to 5 years)
Commercial implementation (5 to 10 years)
Nine tailings technology deployment
roadmaps were developed….
Improvement opportunities for new and existing technologies
Applicable technologies identified
Development status mapped to identify future steps for R&D
CTMC recommendations
Operations / management
Review water management practices and opportunities
Remove roadblocks between companies
Examine regional opportunities for waste treatment,
including solids, fines, water and byproducts
Technology assessment
Implement a formal assessment
framework for new technologies
Standardize testing methods
Evaluate the range of chemical
amendments
Research
Develop enhanced
monitoring techniques
for slurries in pipelines
and deposits
Development
Evaluate methods to reduce the mass of fines delivered to
extraction by mining operations
Evaluate the potential for creating separate extraction
processes for high fines and low fines ore streams
Revisit retort-based and solvent-based extraction methods
Revisit the processing of froth tailings to reduce its potential
environmental impacts
Roadmaps
Assess roadmaps for individual
operations, and generate detailed
R&D plans where required
Expand to include mining,
extraction and reclamation
technologies
Plan and budget to keep the
roadmaps and technology database
current
Moving on
Having delivered our report, the CTMC’s mandate
is complete and the consortium has disbanded.
The OSTC/COSIA and AI-EES now how the task to
evaluate the results, and develop plans. CTMC
member companies and individuals are available to
support this next phase of development.
The document provides both a snapshot in time of
the oil sands industry, through the lens of tailings
management. It is a valuable resource not just to
the industry, its regulators and stakeholders, but to
also has application to the mining industry
worldwide.
Expert participants
CTMC Leads
Secondments
Aaron Sellick, Richard Dawson (Norwest )
Al Hyndman, Bill Shaw (Total)
Bill Chin, Brett Stephens (Klohn)
Blair Penner, Sean Wells
(Suncor)
Gord McKenna, Phillip LeSueur (BGC)
Darcy Cowan, Irwin Wislesky, Les
Sawatsky, Sue Longo (Golder)
Dave Sego (University of Alberta
Geotechnical Group)
Mickey Davachi (AMEC)
Jeremy Boswell, John Sobkowicz (Thurber)
Rick Sisson (CNRL)
Ted Lord (ERCB)
Plus very importantly…
Expert discipline participants in
the C3 sessions
Junior engineers, drafters, and
admin staff at each of the
organizations
Illustrations by Derrill
Shuttleworth
Tailings Roadmap Study Followup Plan
August 28th News Release Event
Alan Fair
39
+ Formation of the Oil Sands Tailings
Consortium –OSTC - December 2010
Oil Sands Tailings Consortium
Develop and deploy Tailings solutions faster
40
+ Tailings Roadmap Study
 The
Study identified 549 technologies with potential use
for oil sands.
 Included 89 vendor technologies
 Reduced to 101 unique technologies (plus technology
variations and enhancements)
TRS Vol. 2, Table 2.1
41
+ Follow-up Action Plan for 48 Highlighted
Technologies
 16 Technologies
are included in current or planned
OSTC/COSIA projects
 14 Technologies
will be considered by Technical Working
Groups
 8 Technologies
will be considered by OSTC/Member
companies
 8 Technologies
are out of the current scope of the
OSTC/COSIA Tailings EPA
 2 Bitumen Recovery Technologies
will be evaluated
through a joint industry AI-EES initiative
42
+
Final Comments
 Industry
is committed to:
 Sharing the information
necessary to progress the
development of oil sand tailings technologies
 Working with government and Third Party
Technology Developers to develop and implement
tailings technologies that will ensure that oil sand
tailings are successfully reclaimed on a timely basis.
 The Tailings Roadmap
Study report can be accessed
at: www.cosia.ca and www.ai-ees.ca
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+ Questions?
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