Athabasca Oil Sands
Commercial production since 1967, northern Alberta, the core of Canadian crude reserves.
Overview
The largest of the Alberta bitumen deposits, centred on Fort McMurray. Great Canadian Oil Sands, now Suncor, began commercial mining in 1967. Shallow deposits are strip mined while deeper ones use steam assisted gravity drainage. The sands give Canada some of the largest proven reserves in the world, at a high environmental cost.
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