Integrated Mine Planning for the Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
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Page No. 147-1 Rock the Foundation Convention, June 18-22, 2001 Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Integrated Mine Planning for the Fort Hills Oil Sands Project Virginia Odegaard NorWest Mine Services Ltd., 400, 205-9 th Ave. SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0R3 [email protected], Peter MacFarlane and Burns Cheadle Koch Petroleum Canada, L.P, 1400 111-5 th Ave. SW, Calgary, AB T2P 3Y6 [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT The proposed Fort Hills Oil Sands Project is located 90 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, in the Athabasca Oil Sands region and comprises Oil Sands Leases 5, 8, and 52 (Figure 1). TrueNorth Energy L.P. is the operator and majority interest owner of the project. In May of 1998, TrueNorth Energy acquired a 78 percent interest in Oil Sands Leases 5 and 52. UTS Energy Corporation, TrueNorth Energy’s partner in the project, holds the remaining 22 percent. In December 2000, Oil Sands Lease 8 was acquired, bringing the total area of the Fort Hills Oil Sands Project to approximately 18,700 hectares. The mineable oil sands in the project area are found in the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) McMurray Formation of the Mannville Group. The McMurray Formation has been informally subdivided in the project area into a lower fluvial member, a middle estuarine member and an upper marginal marine member. All three members contain mineable oil sands, and are further subdivided into distinct facies associations for the purpose of improving resource delineation and characterization (Figure 2). Drill programs of ever-increasing size and scope have followed review of previous leaseholders’ data. This has resulted in a 3D geological block-model being developed using a very large database of core, borehole geophysical logs and core analyses data (Table 1). Assessment and modeling of data from over 400 drillholes within the project area has resulted in the delineation of approximately 2.4 billion barrels of surface mineable reserves. Over 400 additional core holes are currently being assessed and integrated into the geological model (Figure 3). Characteristics of the ore, which are critical to mining and ore processing, are also managed within the geological model to facilitate mine planning. The 3D block-model enables the mining engineers and planners to discriminate between ore and waste material more effectively, and thus predict volumes of material to be mined. The geological model also facilitates associated efforts, such as geotechnical, hydrological, hydrogeological, environmental, reclamation and ore process planning. The Fort Hills Oil Sands Project is planned to initially mine and process
Transcript of Integrated Mine Planning for the Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
Page No. 147-1
Rock the Foundation Convention, June 18-22, 2001Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists
Integrated Mine Planning for the Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
Virginia OdegaardNorWest Mine Services Ltd., 400, 205-9 th Ave. SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0R3
[email protected],Peter MacFarlane and Burns Cheadle
Koch Petroleum Canada, L.P, 1400 111-5 th Ave. SW, Calgary, AB T2P [email protected] [email protected]
ABSTRACTThe proposed Fort Hills Oil Sands Project is located 90 kilometres north of FortMcMurray, Alberta, in the Athabasca Oil Sands region and comprises Oil SandsLeases 5, 8, and 52 (Figure 1). TrueNorth Energy L.P. is the operator andmajority interest owner of the project. In May of 1998, TrueNorth Energy acquireda 78 percent interest in Oil Sands Leases 5 and 52. UTS Energy Corporation,TrueNorth Energy’s partner in the project, holds the remaining 22 percent. InDecember 2000, Oil Sands Lease 8 was acquired, bringing the total area of theFort Hills Oil Sands Project to approximately 18,700 hectares.
The mineable oil sands in the project area are found in the Lower Cretaceous(Aptian) McMurray Formation of the Mannville Group. The McMurray Formationhas been informally subdivided in the project area into a lower fluvial member, amiddle estuarine member and an upper marginal marine member. All threemembers contain mineable oil sands, and are further subdivided into distinctfacies associations for the purpose of improving resource delineation andcharacterization (Figure 2).
Drill programs of ever-increasing size and scope have followed review ofprevious leaseholders’ data. This has resulted in a 3D geological block-modelbeing developed using a very large database of core, borehole geophysical logsand core analyses data (Table 1). Assessment and modeling of data from over400 drillholes within the project area has resulted in the delineation ofapproximately 2.4 billion barrels of surface mineable reserves. Over 400additional core holes are currently being assessed and integrated into thegeological model (Figure 3).
Characteristics of the ore, which are critical to mining and ore processing, arealso managed within the geological model to facilitate mine planning. The 3Dblock-model enables the mining engineers and planners to discriminate betweenore and waste material more effectively, and thus predict volumes of material tobe mined. The geological model also facilitates associated efforts, such asgeotechnical, hydrological, hydrogeological, environmental, reclamation and oreprocess planning.
The Fort Hills Oil Sands Project is planned to initially mine and process
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approximately 56 million tonnes per year of oil sand, yielding 95,000 barrels ofbitumen per day starting in 2005 in its proposed South Mine (Figure 4). This willbe increased to 190,000 barrels per day by 2009, through the introduction of asecond production train. The total life of mine is projected to be in excess of 30years, and it is anticipated that during the construction phase alone, 5,000person years of employment will be created. During the operating phase, 1,000full-time jobs are envisioned.
The open-pit truck and shovel mine will deliver oil sand feed to the crushing plantwhere oversized material will be crushed. The oil sand will then be conveyed to aslurry preparation unit where it will be mixed with water and subsequentlytransported through a pipeline to an extraction vessel. A low temperatureextraction process will be used to conserve energy. A thickened tailings processis planned which will allow reclamation of tailings to proceed much more quickly(Figure 5). A co-generation unit will be included in the project to supply thermalenergy requirements for the process while efficiently generating power for siteneeds as well as surplus electrical energy.
The Fort Hills Oil Sands Project will produce a bitumen blend that can betransported through the common carrier pipeline system to refinery markets inCanada and the Midwest United States.
The mine permit application and associated environmental impact assessmentsare planned for filing in the second quarter of 2001.
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Figure 1 Location Map - Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
FORT McMURRAY
FORT MacKAY
BITUMOUNT
A L B E R T A
INDEX MAP
C A N A D A
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Figure 2 Stratigraphic Chart – Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
ERA PERIOD AGE (Ma)
0.01
1.65
97.5CLEARWATER
WABISKAW Member113
UPP
ER
ESTU
ARIN
E
119
LOWERC
ON
TIN
ENTA
L M
ARSH
AN
D
FLU
VIAL
374 PALEOSOL
ARGILLACEOUS LIMESTONE
380LIMESTONEPA
LEO
ZOIC
DEV
ON
IAN
GLACIAL LACUSTRINE
GLACIAL TILL
MID
DLE
D
EVO
NIA
N
CR
ETA
CEO
US
QU
ATE
RN
AR
Y
CEN
OZO
ICM
ESO
ZOIC
MAR
INE
BEA
VER
HIL
L LA
KE
GP
LOW
ER
ESTU
ARIN
E -
MAR
GIN
AL
MAR
INE
Cretaceous/Devonian Unconformity
ALB
IAN
MAR
INE
CLEARWATER
McMURRAY MIDDLE
UPPER
APT
IAN
FLUVIAL
EPOCH /STAGE
HOLOCENE
PLEISTOCENE
WATERWAYS
Quaternary/Cretaceous Unconformity (Bedrock Surface)
FORMATION
MA
NN
VILL
E G
P
GIV
ETIA
N
LOW
ER C
RET
AC
EOU
S
DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT or UNIT
SWAMP
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Figure 3 Drillhole Location Map – Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
Bitumont Airfield
Bitumount
������
TRUENORTH DRILLHOLESLEGACY DRILLHOLES
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Figure 4 Site Plan – Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
BitumountBitumount
Bitumount
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Figure 5 Process Flow Diagram – Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
Shovel/TruckFeeder/Crusher
Slurry Preparation
Feed Surge
Hydrotransportto Extraction
BitumenFroth
Low Energy Extraction
Thickener
ThickenedFine Tailings
Sand Tailings
Warm WaterReturn
ParaffinicSolvent
FrothTreatment
SolventRecovery
Bitumento Pipeline Terminal
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Table 1 Core Hole Summary – Fort Hills Oil Sands Project
Core HolesLegacy*Geological Model
InsideLease
OutsideLease
TrueNorth TOTAL
August 2000 37 3 182 222October 2000 156 24 238 418March 2001 (est) 156 148 384 688June 2001 (est) 156 148 636 940
* Legacy drillholes outside the Fort Hills Oil Sands lease boundary are included forgeological modeling purposes.
