Proposed Facilities and Operation
Oil Sands Mine
The mine's design concept is similar to existing
oil sands mines in the Fort McMurray region. Plans are to use
state-of-the-art, large scale shovels, trucks, crushers and an oil sands
hydrotransport system.
The base mine will be developed in a
staged approach. The initial mine development (the first train) will involve
clearing and draining the surface area, removing the muskeg overburden before
mining the oil sands can begin, and stockpiling the muskeg for use in future
reclamation. The current planning basis includes an initial mine train with
production capacity of about 100,000 barrels a day. A second train will
follow. These developments would take place on Leases 6 and 87.
Bitumen Extraction
The mined ore will be crushed, mixed with water
for slurrying, transported and conditioned in a pipeline, and fed to a
bitumen-extraction facility. The bitumen will be separated as froth – a
mixture of bitumen, water and solids. The froth will be further treated in a
froth treatment plant to produce bitumen for sale
Bitumen
Upgrading
Current plans do not include any on-site upgrading
facilities for the first phase of development. To reduce the bitumen's
viscosity such that it can be shipped by pipeline, a number of blending
options are being considered. The product will be transported to market
through a pipeline system. Imperial and ExxonMobil own extensive refinery
infrastructure in Canada and the U.S. that could receive bitumen or upgraded
feedstock to make a variety of refined products. Production may also be sold
to third parties. Any future Kearl upgrading capacity or related pipelines to
support future mine phases would be the subject of a separate application.
Tailings Management
Tailings (a mixture of fine clay, sand and
water) are a by-product of the bitumen-extraction process. The application
includes an external tailings area in the northeast portion of Lease 6.
Conventional tailings-treatment technology is planned for use until tailings
can be stored in a depleted mine pit, at which time consolidated tailings
technology will be implemented. This will allow Imperial to minimize surface
disturbance, reduce the ultimate fine tailings volume and accelerate the
reclamation of the external tailings area.
Infrastructure
The project includes development of related infrastructure, including a water
intake and water pipeline (to allow water to be withdrawn from the Athabasca
River), water storage, an operations camp, and roads.
Given
the project's remote location and estimated commuting time of at least 90
minutes each way, Imperial is planning to have a camp-based operation with a
workforce on a rotating schedule. This will allow Imperial Oil to have a safe,
healthy, productive and efficient work environment with minimal impact on the
Fort McMurray infrastructure. Imperial is planning to fly operators to the
site, likely from Edmonton. For this reason Imperial is currently working with
other operators on a joint industry airstrip just south of the Kearl leases.
Fresh Water Source
The current design basis for the project has
the Athabasca River as the water source for this development and includes 30
days of on-site contingency water storage which would allow Imperial to reduce
withdrawals during low-flow periods that occur in the winter. Streams, small
water bodies and the upper reaches of the Muskeg River will be diverted from
time to time during the mine operations. These diversions will affect fish and
fish habitat in the area. The lost fish habitat will be more than offset with
created fish habitat by extending the northern part of Kearl Lake. The
extension will have a water depth greater than Kearl Lake providing better
over-wintering habitat and improving the fish resource in the lake.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is a key component of
Imperial's design basis and, as such, our application includes the low energy
extraction process and electrical cogeneration. Advanced energy management
processes will also be applied to continuously improve the energy efficiency
of the operation.
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