Suncor's oil sands tailings pond plan approved under tougher rules
Oil sands operator second miner to receive similar approval
Sludge spews into a tailings pond at the Syncrude plant site in Fort McMurray, Alta.
Photograph by: ., .
CALGARY - Suncor Energy has become the second oilsands miner to have regulator approval of its tailings pond management plan for working operations under tougher new rules imposed last year.
The Energy Resources Conservation Board announced Thursday it had conditionally approved Suncor’s proposal, which includes the first commercial application in the oilsands of a new technology called tailings reduction operations or TRO.
In April, Syncrude Canada obtained conditional approval that was criticized because it provided extra time above the original deadlines, although it also called for greater than the minimum tailings reductions percentages.
The plan for Suncor’s delayed Fort Hills proprosed mine was also accepted in April.
Suncor’s TRO proposal will enable the company to reduce the volume of fluid tailings remaining on at its working mines at the end of the project life by 33 million cubic metres (about 30 per cent), the ERCB said in a news release.
No new tailings ponds are to be created. Suncor has agreed to operate five fewer tailings ponds and use less space for fluid tailings storage than originally applied for. Four of its existing tailings ponds are to be decommissioned in 2017, 2029, 2032 and 2035.
According to the ERCB, Suncor has committed $450 million to TRO technology and other measures.
“Thus far, oilsands operators have committed more than $1 billion in upgrades to comply with the directive,” the news release stated.
The ERCB conditions are related to coke conservation and sand disposal.
Tailings plans submitted by Albian Sands Energy Inc., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Imperial Oil, and Shell Canada Inc. are being reviewed by ERCB staff.
Directive 074 requires operators to prepare tailings plans and report on tailings ponds annually, reduce fluid tailings through fine particles captured in dedicated disposal areas, and convert fines into trafficable deposits which are ready for reclamation five years after deposits have ceased.
Mining projects use tailings ponds to store water for reuse and to allow particles captured in the mining and upgrading process to settle out. Syncrude is currently on trial in connection with an incident where 1,600 ducks perished in a tailings pond.
dhealing@theherald.canwest.com
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