Borehole Mining: An Environmentally Compatible Method for Mining Oil Sands

摘要

This report presents the results of a demonstration of the technical, economic, and environmental feasibility of hydraulic borehole mining of shallow oil sands. Borehole mining offers a method for extracting the oil sands with minimal disturbance to environmental quality. This project consisted of two concurrent tasks: mining operations and environmental monitoring. To generate the environmental impact, nearly 1,000 tons of oil sands were mined from two boreholes. Water quality and ground subsidence were monitored. No significant changes occurred in the chemical composition of the process water, indicating that the borehole mining process does not dissolve the mined material. The average subsidence in the immediate vicinity of the boreholes was about 1/2 inch, although some points were slightly elevated. In general, the amount of subsidence increased with time and decreased with distance from the borehole. A mining cost analysis was used to project an estimated cost for production mining of about $38 per barrel of oil.