The Albian Sands mine at Muskeg River has been temporarily shut down following a number of explosions early Monday morning.
About 12:30 a.m. there were several minor explosions in the oilsands mine’s froth-treatment area, said Allen Barber, Albian’s vice-president of external affairs. All 15 people in the area at the time have been accounted for and the only injury reported was a bruised ankle by a woman on the mine’s emergency team.
The froth-treatment area is where the bitumin is cleaned, so the diluted product can be shipped to an upgrading facility, which then sells the synthetic crude oil to a refinery.
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| Photo courtesy Shell Canada |
| The Athabasca Oil Sands Project will boost Shell Canada’s total production by more than half. |
Barber said they’ve instituted a controlled shut down of the mine, about 75 km north of Fort McMurray, while they investigate the cause of the explosions. He doesn’t know how much damage the fire caused or when the mine, which has about 430 full-time employees, will begin operating again.
The Albian Sands mine is part of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP) that marked a major milestone late last month with startup of bitumen production. The AOSP is the first new fully integrated oilsands project in 25 years.
It is a joint venture of Shell Canada Limited (60 per cent), Chevron Canada Limited (20 per cent) and Western Oil Sands L.P. (20 per cent), was expected to ramp up toward full production in anticipation of supplying the equivalent of 10 per cent of Canada’s oil needs.
