They are known as Athabasca Oil Sands, Cold Lake oil sands, and Peace River oil sands. The Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) has 19 tailings ponds.

What fills the tailings ponds in the Alberta tar sands?

Since oilsands mining operations started in 1967, 1.3 trillion litres of fluid tailings has accumulated in these open ponds on the Northern Alberta landscape (Figure 1). This is enough toxic waste to fill 400,000 Olympic swimming pools.

Why are tailing ponds bad for the environment?

There are several environmental concerns that are associated with the existence of tailings ponds. The main problem with the ponds is that they include toxic and harmful chemicals such as ammonia, mercury, and naphthenic acids. The water containing these chemicals is toxic to animals, particularly aquatic organisms.

What happens to tailing ponds?

Water from the tailings ponds is recycled back into the extraction process, reducing the use of fresh water from the Athabasca River and other sources. Oil sands mining operators recycle 75% of water used.

How are tailing ponds created?

These ponds are massive earth structures, initially constructed from overburden hauled from the mine site. Tailings ponds are normally located in a part of the lease that has little or no bitumen. Tailings produced in Extraction and Froth Treatment normally contain about 50% water.

Oilsands Tailings Ponds a Growing Problem

45 related questions found

How many tailing ponds are in Canada?

In Canada there are three major oil sand deposits, primarily located in the province of Alberta, with some also located in the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan. They are known as Athabasca Oil Sands, Cold Lake oil sands, and Peace River oil sands. The Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) has 19 tailings ponds.

Are tailings ponds safe?

Research from Canada's environmental agency has shown that tailings ponds in the tar sands region have leached potentially deadly toxins into land and groundwater, and First Nations tribes and environmentalists have blamed those leaching chemicals from the tar sands on rare cancer clusters.

What can be found in tailings?

Tailings from oilsands can contain napthenic acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenolic compounds, ammonia, lead, mercury, and other metals.

What happens to tailings after mining is finished?

Because tailings originate in slurry form they are dumped in or near water, contaminating the water and destroying aquatic life. Tailings also can be transported by wind or water to contaminate other areas. Mine wastewater containing metals and chemicals can also leach into nearby waterways.

How do you dispose of tailings?

Besides conventional dams, there are other tailings disposal methods, including: Backfilling: tailings are usually combined with a binder like cement, then used to fill voids in underground operations. This is widely considered the safest form of tailings disposal.

Do tailings ponds freeze?

Fluid tailings are warm when disposed of, so tailings lakes don't freeze in the winter. Because of this, wildlife are attracted to the toxic lakes in cold weather.

What chemicals are in tailing ponds?

TAILINGS PONDS CONTAIN:

These are: arsenic, benzene, lead, mercury, and air pollution.

Can tailings be recycled?

Especially, the recycling of gold mine tailings is indispensable for mining and brings about additional income. ... These wastes are partially reutilized as construction materials, red tide remover, lower grade pigment, etc.; however, most of them are not recycled (Lee, Hwang & Bae, 2006, 2009).

Why are the Alberta oil sands bad?

In fact, oil from tar sands is one of the most destructive, carbon-intensive and toxic fuels on the planet. Producing it releases three times as much greenhouse gas pollution as conventional crude oil does. ... In fact, it has become one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions in that country.

How much oil is left in Alberta?

Alberta's oil sands' proven reserves equal about 165.4 billion barrels (bbl).

Who owns Canadian oil sands?

On March 21, 2016 Suncor Energy completed acquisition of Canadian Oil Sands with the support of the Boards of Directors of both companies. The total aggregate transaction value was approximately $6.6 billion including company's estimated debt of $2.4 billion Their former website now redirects to Suncor Energy's site.

Can we live without mining?

We need to start from a basic statement: The modern world simply can't function without mining; Mineral products are essential components for cell phones, cars, energy towers, solar panels, wind turbines, fertilizers, machinery and all kinds of construction. ... Mining: If it can't be grown, it has to be mined.

How much does it cost to reclaim land after mining?

According to OSMRE, the states and tribes have estimated total unfunded costs for the reclamation of eligible sites of approximately $10.7 billion to date.

Do gold miners have to reclaim the land?

What it means is that mining companies must restore the patch of land that they mined. ... Both have to be approved by the state Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Natural Resources before the mine can move forward.

What are flotation tailings?

The minerals that do not float into the froth are referred to as the flotation tailings or flotation tails. These tailings may also be subjected to further stages of flotation to recover the valuable particles that did not float the first time. This is known as scavenging.

How many tailing dams are there in the world?

This waste material is stored in tailings dams^*, which are among some of the world's largest engineered structures. It has been estimated that there are approximately 18,000 mine tailings storage facilities globally, of which 3,500 are currently active.

How are tailings produced?

Tailings consist of ground rock and process effluents that are generated in a mine processing plant. Mechanical and chemical processes are used to extract the desired product from the run of the mine ore and produce a waste stream known as tailings.

What are tailings used for?

Tailings ponds are used to store the waste made from separating minerals from rocks, or the slurry produced from tar sands mining. Tailings are sometimes mixed with other materials such as bentonite to form a thicker slurry that slows the release of impacted water to the environment.

Why are tailings so controversial?

What are tailings and what are they so controversial? They lead to much of the pollution associated with mining. Where does mineral processing usually begin? at the mining site.

What tailing means?

/teɪl/ to follow and watch someone very closely, especially in order to get information secretly: That car has been tailing me for the last ten minutes.