Name of the Project
Fort Hills oil sands mining project.

Location
The project is located about 90 km north of Fort McMurray, in the Athabasca oil sands region of north-eastern Alberta, Canada.

Client
Suncor Energy (53.06%), Total E&P Canada (26.05%) and Teck Resources (20.89%).

Project Description
Fort Hill has best contingent resources of about 3.3-billion barrels of bitumen, with a mine life estimated at more than 50 years at the current planned production rate.

The project will be developed as an openpit truck-and-shovel mine.

The mine plan envisages two main pits and a mine fleet capable of sustaining production of 14 500 t/h of oil sand.

The mine has a nameplate capacity of 194 000 bbl/d.

The oil sands feed will be delivered to two ore-crushing plants, where oil sand material will be crushed and processed.

Ore from the crushing will be mixed with warm water and conditioned to create a slurry, which will be transported to the primary extraction using three hydrotransport lines.

In primary extraction, the conditioned oil sands slurry will be fed to two trains of separation cells. These cells remove the bitumen from the sand, which yields a froth mixture of bitumen, water and clay.The froth is sent for further treatment in the secondary extraction, where it is mixed with a solvent and undergoes two stages of countercurrent settlers to remove asphaltenes and excess sand and water. The bitumen is then sent to a solvent recovery unit to remove the solvent and prepare the bitumen for shipping.

The project has been designed to optimise and protect land use by applying the latest technology and approaches to tailings management and reclamation processes. Existing and future water-quality standards and environmental regulations will be met or exceeded throughout the life of the project. The project will aim to return all disturbed land as close as possible to a natural state.

Potential Job Creation
At peak construction, Fort Hills employed an average of 7 900 people. Now in operation, Fort Hills employs an estimated 1 400 direct employees and the majority have been hired from Alberta.

Value
The estimated cost to develop the project is estimated at C$17-billion.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
First oil was achieved at Fort Hills on January 29.

The project was sanctioned by the Fort Hills partners in 2013. The project was designed in stages to level load resources through construction and development. This phased approach provided for a progressive turnover of assets to operations over time, avoiding a commissioning bottleneck in the final stages of the project, and allowing for early testing of the mine, primary extraction and utilities facilities. The project has completed five test runs of the plant, producing 1.4-million barrels of froth.

The second and third trains of secondary extraction are being insulated and are expected to start up in the first half of 2018, as planned. Fort Hills remains on track to reach 90% capacity by the end of 2018.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Suncor, email forthills@suncor.com.