Illustrated on the cover of this edition of Your McMurray Magazine are Alberta’s oil sands and the oil sands leases.

Lying beneath 142,200 km² of land in Athabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River, it’s only within the Athabasca oil sands area where reserves up to 75 meteres deep are shallow enough to mine. About 4,800 km² of surface mineable area make up roughly 3.4% of all Alberta oil sands.

Developing oil sands responsibly is a key driver of Alberta’s economy, and the economy of Canada as a whole. The oil sands process occurs in four stages:

  • Stage 1 – Resource assessment and rights
  • Stage 2 – Scheme and project approval
  • Stage 3 – Royalties, refining and sale
  • Stage 4 – Shutdown and reclamation

For more information, the Government of Alberta has put together Oil Sands 101 which can be found at alberta.ca/oil-sands-101.aspx. 

In this edition you’ll see Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) mentioned throughout. COSIA is an alliance of oil sands companies working with scientists, academics, and innovators to make Canadian energy part of a sustainable environment. Learn more about COSIA at cosia.ca. 

Oil Sands Community Alliance (OSCA) builds shared value and healthy communities to enable the sustainable development of Canada’s oil sands and the region where they operate. They identify issues from the perspective of those potentially impacted by projects, predicts and anticipates change, and develops strategies to proactively respond to the consequences of development. 

A special thank you to Oil Sands Community Alliance (OSCA) for partnering with us on the Underground, Overland, and on the Sea section. Read our Q & A with Perry Berkenpas, Executive Director of OSCA where we chatted about the challenges and opportunities that come with market access. 

And thank you to Hines Health Services for partnering with us on the Women in Industry section. Read our Q & A with Kristi Hines, Founder and Director of Hines Health Services to learn more about what Hines Health Services does in our region, and why supporting women in industry is so important to them.