Latest news with #tailings
Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Alberta to invest $50-million to help develop oil sands water, tailings technologies
Alberta has earmarked $50-million to boost technologies that can help reduce and manage the massive oil sands tailings ponds in the province's north. The cash for the new program, announced Tuesday, will come from the province's carbon price on large emitters. The program will be managed by Emissions Reduction Alberta through a competition for private companies to develop new and existing technologies that make tailings and water treatment cheaper and more effective. Successful applicants can receive up to $15-million per project, with a minimum funding request of $1-million. Emissions Reduction Alberta, which distributes government funds to help innovators develop and demonstrate Alberta-based technologies that lower emissions and costs for industries, will contribute no more than half to any single project. Tailings are a by-product of the process used to extract bitumen from mined oil sands, and are a mixture of sand, clay, water, silt, residual bitumen and other hydrocarbons, salts and trace metals. The issue of how to deal with them has bedevilled Alberta for years. There are roughly 1.4 million cubic metres of fluid tailings and more than 390 million cubic metres of water in ponds in the oil sands region. Although some ponds have been reclaimed, the volume of tailings continues to grow, in part because any water captured on a site must be kept there – even if it's snow melt or rain that hasn't been used in the mining process. Alberta fails to move needle on emissions reduction plan Remediating oil sands mines could cost $130-billion, according to a 2018 internal Alberta Energy Regulator memo, though in an official estimate the regulator puts the cost around $34-billion. Managing tailings is a complex problem, Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said at a Tuesday press conference at the University of Calgary, where she announced the $50-million program. Not only do they create an environmental and financial liability, she said, they also take water permanently out of the system, preventing it from being used by others who need it. Some companies use internal water recycling at their sites that surpass 90 per cent, saving millions of litres from ending up in a tailings pond. And the sector has invested billions of dollars into testing ways to adapt and develop new water treatment technologies, Ms. Schulz said. Oil sands CEOs optimistic for movement on $16-billion carbon capture project But that work needs to shift into overdrive: 'We need more advanced technologies to help reduce, treat and manage mine water,' she said. Justin Riemer, chief executive of Emissions Reduction Alberta, said at the press conference that the $50-million competition is designed to hasten pilot programs and deployment of the most promising solutions. It will be focused on technologies that treat oil sands waste water, accelerate and lower the costs of land reclamation, and reduce the use of fresh water in oil sands operations. Kendall Dilling, president of the Pathways Alliance, a group of oil sands companies that have pledged to bring production to net-zero by 2050, said at the press conference that the program will play an important role in addressing the tailings issue. But, he added, companies will continue to use a vast array of tools to deal with tailings, including sharing water between mine sites to minimize new withdrawals from the Athabasca River. The oil sands sector has been waiting for more than a decade for a treat-and-release regulation from the federal government, similar to policies that govern other mining industries. Ms. Schulz said she had some productive conversations with former federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault about the tailings issue, but she has not yet spoken with his replacement, Julie Dabrusin. Multiple cases of spills and leaks from tailings ponds have been reported by oil companies in recent years. At Imperial Oil Ltd.'s Kearl site, a long-running leak has resulted in an unknown volume of tailings leeching into the environment. A drainage storage pond at the site also overflowed, spilling roughly 5.3 million litres of industrial waste water laced with pollutants into the environment, and another incident sent thousands of litres of water from a settling pond into the Muskeg River. In April, 2023, almost six million litres of water with more than twice the legal limit of suspended solids was released from a pond at Suncor's Fort Hills oil sands project into the Athabasca River watershed. A recent study by an Alberta ecologist found that the province's energy regulator lacks the data required to assess and manage the environmental impact of tailings spills, and has underestimated the number and volumes of spills in the oil sands.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Alberta announces new challenge aimed at transforming tailings ponds
Rebecca Schulz, minister of environment and protected areas, speaks in Calgary on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Alberta has announced $50 million in funding to help entice companies to come up with new and improved technologies to reduce oil sands mine water and reclaim tailings ponds. The province announced the Tailings Technology Challenge at a news conference in Calgary on Tuesday. 'We look forward to seeing the innovative solutions that come out of this funding challenge,' said Rebecca Schulz, minister of environment and protected areas. Oil sands processing creates leftover water called tailings that need to be properly managed. In the oil sands, tailings are a mixture of water, sand, clay and residual bitumen that are the byproduct of the oil extraction process. 'Tailings and mine water management remains among the most significant challenges facing Alberta's energy sector,' said Justin Riemer, Emissions Reduction Alberta CEO. The Tailings Technology Challenge is open to oil sands operators and technology providers until Sept. 24. Eligible technologies include both engineered and natural solutions. 'Innovation has always played an instrumental role in the oil sands and continues to be an area of focus,' said Kendall Dilling, Pathways Alliance president. 'Oil sands companies are collaborating and investing to advance environmental technologies, including many focused on mine water and tailings management.' 'We're excited to see this initiative, as announced today, seeking to explore technology development in an area that's important to all Albertans.' The money for the challenge is from the industry-funded Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation (TIER) fund.
CBC
13-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Alberta to explore injecting oilsands tailings deep underground as disposal option
The Alberta government says it is considering letting oil companies inject wastewater deep underground as a way to manage the toxic tailings that are accumulating in the oilsands. The idea is one of five policy recommendations being put forward by a government-appointed committee tasked with studying potential tailings management options. A new report from the committee, which was formed over a year ago and is chaired by United Conservative MLA Tany Yao of Fort McMurray, says injecting mine water underground is a practical solution — but considering over 1.4 trillion litres of tailings exist as of 2023, it can't be the only option. "The accumulation of [oilsands mine water] represents a management challenge, particularly in the absence of established water release standards," the report reads. "This approach helps to mitigate the continued accumulation of [tailings] and provides a buffer while longer-term water management strategies are being developed and implemented." The report doesn't say exactly how much of the existing tailings volume it recommends to be disposed of in this way, but that "regulated limits should be placed on the volume of water that can be injected." The committee's report says underground disposal of tailings — which are mixtures of water, sand, bitumen residue and chemicals — wouldn't ruin sources of drinking water as the wastewater would be disposed of underneath many layers of impermeable rock. However, the report says there are a number of factors that would make underground disposal at a major scale a costly and lengthy endeavour. New infrastructure and pipelines would need to be constructed since "there are limited geologically suitable deep well disposal sites" close to the oilsands, and if new underground wells are to be drilled the timeline for approval and consultation also "may not contribute towards an accelerated strategy to manage and reduce accumulated [tailings] on the landscape." The committee — which includes former Alberta environment minister Lorne Taylor and University of Alberta engineering professor and Canada Research Chair in sustainable and resilient wastewater treatment for reuse Mohamed Gamal El-Din — also wrote that this disposal method would be in direct competition with carbon capture and storage projects for underground space. Alienor Rougeot, the senior program manager of climate and energy with advocacy group Environmental Defence, said she's happy to see the Alberta government recognize the urgency of the tailings ponds, but she's skeptical underground disposal is as safe as the committee is making it out to be. "I don't know that we are at a stage where we could even say if we can safely inject anything down there," she said, adding that any tailings disposed underground would have to be treated completely. In a letter accompanying the recommendations, Yao wrote that the committee "is satisfied" that technology exists to treat and safely release tailings water. Rougeot said such a claim is news to her. "If they have a solution to fully treat the water to a quality that's good enough to be put into the environment, that water should be good enough to be back into the production process," she said, noting the committee's report states oilsands mining operations use about 220-billion litres of fresh water every year. Rougeot said if the government is serious about tackling the problem of tailings in the oilsands it should make a requirement that companies can no longer use fresh water in their mining operations, especially if the technology exists to treat it to a degree that's safe for environmental release as Yao wrote. "There's more than enough existing tailings volumes to meet all the needs of all the production on a given day," she said. "I want to see first a 100 per cent reuse rate of the existing tailings, and then we can talk about disposal." Another recommendation being made by the committee is for Alberta to make policy changes to encourage companies to share wastewater across different types of oil mining facilities in order to reduce the need for freshwater use, and therefore the production of further tailings. Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said in a government release Thursday that her ministry will evaluate the committee's recommendations over the next six months before implementing a new tailings management plan. "We need to start finding a path to more effectively manage oilsands mine water and tailing ponds," Schulz said. "Doing nothing while mine water continues accumulating is not a sustainable approach." NDP environment critic Sarah Elmeligi agreed with Rougeot, saying in a statement that injecting tailings underground would be "irresponsible because we don't know the risks involved to groundwater or geological stability." "Nothing in these proposed methods remotely comes close to addressing future environmental and health impacts and we have already seen many Indigenous communities living downstream continue to deal with these consequences," Elmeligi said.
CTV News
13-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Alberta to explore injecting oil sands tailings underground as one management option
A highway loops around a tailings pond at the Syncrude facility as seen from a helicopter tour of the oilsands near Fort McMurray, Alta., on July 10, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh The Alberta government says it is considering letting oil companies inject wastewater deep underground as a way to manage the toxic tailings that are accumulating in the oilsands. The idea is one of five policy recommendations being put forward by a government-appointed committee tasked with studying potential tailings management options. A new report from the committee, which was formed over a year ago and is chaired by United Conservative MLA Tany Yao of Fort McMurray, says injecting mine water underground is a practical solution -- but considering over 1.4 trillion litres of tailings exist as of 2023, it can't be the only option. 'The accumulation of (oilsands mine water) represents a management challenge, particularly in the absence of established water release standards,' the report reads. 'This approach helps to mitigate the continued accumulation of (tailings) and provides a buffer while longer-term water management strategies are being developed and implemented.' The report doesn't say exactly how much of the existing tailings volume it recommends to be disposed of in this way, but that 'regulated limits should be placed on the volume of water that can be injected.' The committee's report says underground disposal of tailings — which are mixtures of water, sand, bitumen residue and chemicals — wouldn't ruin sources of drinking water as the wastewater would be disposed of underneath many layers of impermeable rock. However, the report says there are a number of factors that would make underground disposal at a major scale a costly and lengthy endeavour. New infrastructure and pipelines would need to be constructed since 'there are limited geologically suitable deep well disposal sites' close to the oilsands, and if new underground wells are to be drilled the timeline for approval and consultation also 'may not contribute towards an accelerated strategy to manage and reduce accumulated (tailings) on the landscape.' The committee — which includes former Alberta environment minister Lorne Taylor and University of Alberta engineering professor and Canada Research Chair in sustainable and resilient wastewater treatment for reuse Dr. Mohamed Gamal El-Din — also wrote that this disposal method would be in direct competition with carbon capture and storage projects for underground space. Aliénor Rougeot, the senior program manager of climate and energy with advocacy group Environmental Defence, said she's happy to see the Alberta government recognize the urgency of the tailings ponds, but she's skeptical underground disposal is as safe as the committee is making it out to be. 'I don't know that we are at a stage where we could even say if we can safely inject anything down there,' she said, adding that any tailings disposed underground would have to be treated completely. In a letter accompanying the recommendations, Yao wrote that the committee 'is satisfied' that technology exists to treat and safely release tailings water. Rougeot said such a claim is news to her. 'If they have a solution to fully treat the water to a quality that's good enough to be put into the environment, that water should be good enough to be back into the production process,' she said, noting the committee's report states oilsands mining operations use about 220-billion litres of fresh water every year. Rougeot said if the government is serious about tackling the problem of tailings in the oilsands it should make a requirement that companies can no longer use fresh water in their mining operations, especially if the technology exists to treat it to a degree that's safe for environmental release as Yao wrote. 'There's more than enough existing tailings volumes to meet all the needs of all the production on a given day,' she said. 'I want to see first a 100 per cent reuse rate of the existing tailings, and then we can talk about disposal.' Another recommendation being made by the committee is for Alberta to make policy changes to encourage companies to share wastewater across different types of oil mining facilities in order to reduce the need for freshwater use, and therefore the production of further tailings. Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said in a government release Thursday that her ministry will evaluate the committee's recommendations over the next six months before implementing a new tailings management plan. 'We need to start finding a path to more effectively manage oilsands mine water and tailing ponds,' Schulz said. 'Doing nothing while mine water continues accumulating is not a sustainable approach.' NDP environment critic Sarah Elmeligi agreed with Rougeot, saying in a statement that injecting tailings underground would be 'irresponsible because we don't know the risks involved to groundwater or geological stability.' 'Nothing in these proposed methods remotely comes close to addressing future environmental and health impacts and we have already seen many Indigenous communities living downstream continue to deal with these consequences,' Elmeligi said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2025. Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Somerset International Installs Six Tailings Dewatering Units at Warrior Met Coal's Blue Creek Mine, the Largest U.S. Coal Facility Without a Tailings Dam
PITTSBURGH, May 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Somerset International has completed the installation of six advanced Tailings Dewatering System (TDS) units at Warrior Met Coal's Blue Creek longwall mine in Alabama. The Blue Creek Plant is the largest coal preparation plant in North America constructed without a tailings storage dam. This milestone strengthens a longstanding partnership between Somerset and Warrior, a leading producer of high-quality metallurgical coal, and reflects both companies' shared commitment to innovative and sustainable tailings management. The Blue Creek deployment follows the successful operation of five Somerset units at Warrior's #7 Plant. Together, these eleven systems create one of North America's most advanced tailings dewatering networks. The Blue Creek TDS installation is engineered for rapid expansion as mine output increases, enabling future capacity growth within the existing structure. Somerset's patented TDS technology improves recovery, reduces moisture content, and blends dewatered fines with coarse refuse, eliminating the need for new tailings ponds while reducing water usage and environmental impact. With eleven TDS systems already operating and more expected as production ramps up, Somerset continues to play a strategic role in Warrior Met Coal's strategy to modernize coal processing and commitment to operational and environmental excellence. The Blue Creek installation underscores Somerset's role in advancing sustainable solutions across the U.S. metallurgical coal industry. Learn more about Somerset International's patented recovery systems and sustainable tailings solutions: About Somerset International Founded in 2014, Somerset International is a global leader in sustainable tailings management, processing optimization, and resource recovery. With operations in the United States, Canada and Australia, Somerset delivers patented technologies and expert services that help mining companies improve efficiency, recover valuable minerals, and minimize environmental impact across the mining lifecycle. View source version on Contacts Media Contact:Attn: Marketing DepartmentSomerset International, 412-576-4000Email: Press@ Website:
