regulatory and policy expectations for reclamation and closure of oil sands tailings dr. brett...
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Regulatory and policy expectations for reclamation and closure of oil sands tailings
Dr. Brett Purdy, Clean Energy Policy Branch
Alberta Environment & Sustainable Resource Development
Photo courtesy of Suncor Energy Inc.
… reclaim so that soils and landforms are capable of supporting
• a self-sustaining, locally common boreal forest
• integrated / sustainable surface drainage
• natural appearances
Tailings reclamation objectives are not unique …
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 …
... do “ready for reclamation” tailings technologies / criteria support “reclamation and closure” objectives” ?
While innovation and commercialization pathways are identified in the roadmaps … we need to ask the question …
Unique challenges for reclamation of tailings …
Landform cap & soil placement
Ecosystem development
Landform design
Surface water & groundwater interactions
CTMC Tailings Roadmap OverviewTailings 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 scopeIn 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.
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
Project objective
Component 1Compile state of practice, describe existing technology suites, & compile full list of technologies
Component 3Evaluate opportunities, technologies, identify data gaps
Component 2Develop assessment criteria
Component 4 Highlight & prioritize technologies through a development roadmap
Methods: Component 1Seek out the widest range of potential tailings technologies
Summarize technologies
Define technology categories
MiningExtraction
Tailings deposition
and capping
Tailings processing
Certification
Water treatmentReclamation
Exploration
Assign stage of development
Research
PilotPrototype
Commercial
Development
Create master list of technologies549 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 2Identify 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 3Define 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 4Highlight 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
Centrifuging MFT with conveyor / stacking
“New” Technology Suites
In-pit tailings treatment and deposition
Non-water based extraction methods
Low-cost
Improvement to water-based extraction
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 technologiesDeposition and capping
T-032: Accelerated Dewatering
T-062: Co-mixing MFT & Overburden*
T-090: Vertical Drains
T-099: Stacker Hydro-cyclones
T-188: Under-Drained Tailings*
T-510: Tailings Discharge Tremmie
Reclamation
T-138: Water Capped MFT Lake
T-550: Tailings Surface Sealants**
* restricted application
** very limited use
Extraction
T-024 / T-548 Alberta Taciuk Process / Retort Based Extraction
Tailings processing
T-060: MFT Spiked Whole Tailings*
T-069: Solid Bowl Scroll Decanter Centrifuge
T-085: Thermal Drying*
T-197: Super CT
T-208: Paste thickener
T-267: Froth Treatment Tailings Thickening*
T-529: Oleophillic Sieve
A description of the technology suite
Improvement opportunities and gap-filler technologies
Technology deployment table for each technology
Tailings Technology Deployment Roadmaps
Instead, highlighted is the need for …
different suites of technologies for
different operators with
different conditions with
different legacies at
different times
ConclusionsThere is no silver bullet…
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
Operations / management
Review water management practices and opportunities
Remove roadblocks between companies
Examine regional opportunities for waste treatment, including solids, fines, water and byproducts
CTMC recommendations
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
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.
Moving on
CTMC Leads
Aaron Sellick, Richard Dawson (Norwest )
Bill Chin, Brett Stephens (Klohn)
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)
Secondments
Al Hyndman, Bill Shaw (Total)
Blair Penner, Sean Wells (Suncor)
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
Expert participants
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Tailings Roadmap Study Follow-up Plan
August 28th News Release Event
Alan Fair
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Develop and deploy Tailings solutions faster
Oil Sands Tailings Consortium
Formation of the Oil Sands Tailings Consortium –OSTC - December 2010
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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
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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
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Final Comments
Industry is committed to:Sharing the information necessary to progress the
development of oil sand tailings technologiesWorking 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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