Lower Athabasca Region

Goals of the Tailings Management Framework for the Mineable Athabasca Oil Sands •. Establish fluid tailings volume triggers and limits to manage fluid tailings accumulation, manage long-term liability and environmental risk to the Province of having untreated fluid tailings on the landscape, clarify Government of Alberta expectations, encourage technological innovation to meet the environmental ch [...] Most recently, Directive 074 Tailings Performance Criteria and Requirements for Oil Sands Mining Schemes of the Alberta Energy Regulator seeks to minimize and eventually eliminate long- term storage of fluid tailings in the reclaimed landscape and ensure that the liability for tailings is managed through reclamation of tailings ponds; requiring reduction of fluid tailings, the capture of fines in [...] The volume of accumulated fluid tailings is identified as the primary indicator to be used in this framework to effectively manage and decrease liability and environmental risk resulting from the accumulation of fluid tailings on the landscape. [...] Effective use of the target, triggers, and limit will ensure the timely treatment of fluid tailings over the life of a project and minimize the amount of fluid tailings on the landscape at the end of mine life. [...] The expected general trajectory of the fluid tailings volume profile is such that the fluid tailings inventory peaks in Phase 1, stabilizes in Phase 2, and then declines to meet the objective of having all fluid tailings in a ready-to-reclaim state in Phase 3. The volume of fluid tailings still untreated at the end of mine life3 will influence the amount of time it takes to fully reclaim fluid tai