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Sample Issue -- December 27, 2007
Jackpine Mine Expansion, New Mine Approvals Sought By Shell
Shell Canada Limited has applied to the Alberta
Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) and Alberta Environment (AENV)
for an amendment to the Jackpine mine Phase 1 project to increase bitumen
production by 100,000 bbls per day.
The proposed expansion will bring the mine’s total nominal bitumen
production capacity to 300,000 bbls per day. It will include additional mining
areas and associated processing facilities, utilities and infrastructure.
Shell also is seeking approval for the Pierre River mine, a new development
north of the Jackpine mine, which will produce 200,000 bbls per day of bitumen
and include a new mining area and associated processing facilities, utilities
and infrastructure
These two applications are supported by one Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) covering both projects. Shell said the combined assessment concluded that
there would be no unacceptable environmental or socio-economic effects from the
projects, provided that the proposed mitigation and monitoring are undertaken.
The single submission covers all of Shell’s currently defined resources
and presents a long-term, comprehensive picture of Shell’s development
plan for the area.
The Jackpine mine expansion project will involve:
• expanding the Jackpine mine – Phase 1 area on the eastern part
of Lease 13 and extending mining activities to additional northern leases;
• constructing ore handling, conditioning and bitumen extraction
facilities and a high-temperature froth treatment facility at the Jackpine mine
– Phase 1 site
• constructing a cogeneration plant at the Jackpine mine – Phase
1 site and adding new or augmenting existing utility systems
• constructing a new external tailings disposal area (the North ETDA)
at the southern end of Lease 88 to accommodate the additional volume of tailings
produced
The expansion ore preparation, extraction, tailings disposal, utilities and
froth treatment facilities will be located at the Jackpine mine.
The process facilities will include
• crushers and conveyors
• slurry conditioning and ore preparation
• extraction
• tailings handling and treatment
• froth treatment
• solvent recovery
• tailings solvent recovery
• asphaltene recovery
Clean bitumen will be transported to new facilities in the Scotford area near
Fort Saskatchewan. Market opportunities for the crude oil products from these
facilities will include synthetic crude oil and bitumen supply for Shell’s
Scotford and Sarnia refineries along with refineries in the United States
Midwest and emerging markets on the U.S. West Coast and offshore, including the
Far East, according to the application.
Construction of the new facilities could begin in 2010 with start-up of the
new train planned for 2012. Detailed engineering and procurement of
long-lead-time items will begin when Shell has received regulatory and financial
approvals. Construction of the new facilities could begin in 2010 with start-up
of the new train planned for 2012.
The Pierre River mine project will involve:
• establishing the mine operations on Lease 9 with some additional
facility construction activities on other leases;
• building site access infrastructure, including a bridge across the
Athabasca River;
• constructing ore handling, conditioning and bitumen extraction
facilities and a high-temperature froth treatment facility at the Pierre River
Mine site;
• constructing a new raw water intake facility• constructing a
new external tailings disposal area (ETDA) at the boundary of Lease 17 and Lease
351 to accommodate the initial volume of tailings produced.
The project facilities will be located in a single plant site area in the
northeastern corner of Lease 9. The process facilities will consist of two
similar ore processing trains. Other facilities will include administration
buildings, mine offices and utilities and infrastructure.
The process configuration and technology of the new facilities will be the
same as those proposed for the Jackpine Mine. Bituminous ore will be reduced in
size, conditioned and transported using hot water, so that the bitumen
extraction occurs in a primary separation cell (PSC) at a temperature between
40°C and 50°C. Primary and secondary flotation will be used to
increase bitumen recovery.
Water and heat will be recovered in the thickener overflow. Thickened
tailings will be pumped to the external tailings disposal area. The extracted
bitumen froth will be screened to remove solids and processed using a
high-temperature froth treatment process. The final product will be a partially
deasphalted bitumen that is virtually water and solids free, mixed with 30%
solvent to reduce its viscosity for transport. The solvent used for transport
will be removed at the Scotford upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan and returned for
use at the mine.
Solvent will be recovered from the froth treatment tailings using a tailings
solvent recovery unit (TSRU) similar to that used at the Muskeg River Mine.
Tailings from the froth treatment and extraction processes will be stored
initially out of pit in a combined tailings disposal area. When there is
sufficient space in the mined area and the first in-pit dyke has been completed,
tailings streams will be directed to the mine, primarily as a non-segregating
tailings (NST) mix.
Construction of the facilities required to gain access to the Pierre River
mine could begin in 2010 with start-up of the first ore process train planned
for about 2018.
In both projects the company plans to pursue opportunities for integration
and optimization with existing facilities throughout the remainder of the
project life.
The projects will over their approximate life of 40 years add 300,000 bbls
per day of additional bitumen production to Shell’s currently approved
projects.
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