New Research Chair Will Make Sands Oil Mining Safer and More Efficient
Ottawa, Ontario, April 2, 2004 – The Honourable
Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety
and Emergency Preparedness, and Member of Parliament for Edmonton West,
on behalf of the Honourable Lucienne Robillard, Minister of Industry
and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada
for the Regions of Quebec, today announced a new iCORE-NSERC-Syncrude-Matrikon
Industrial Research Chair at the University of Alberta. Information
and communications technologies will be central to the five-year program
of the new Chair.
The new Chair will tackle several challenges in oil sands mining by
using information and communications technologies to remotely monitor
and improve the performance of oil sands operations. A massive 50 megabits
per second optical network will stream live video footage from the Syncrude
mine in Fort McMurray into the Centre for Intelligent Mining Systems
(CIMS) laboratory at the University of Alberta. Researchers will analyze
oil sands fragments to develop accurate measurement of their sizes so
that equipment can be improved to produce less waste. Modelling designed
to improve and automate the safety of mining activities is planned.
The more problems that can be identified before they occur, the fewer
times someone has to climb onto the machines and potentially put his
or her life at risk.
“Mining the oil sands presents challenges that are far removed
from those faced by conventional drilling practices,” said Chairholder
Dr. Hong Zhang. “Our research will use new technologies
to enhance both the safety and efficiency of oil sands exploitation.”
“The Alberta oil sands are an important national asset,”
said Lucienne Robillard, Minister of Industry. “The Government
of Canada actively supports innovations that will raise the performance
and competitiveness of our key industries.”
“By investing in research initiatives to improve the performance
of oil sand operations, the Government of Canada is increasing the pool
of highly qualified personnel for the Canadian mining industry,”
said Minister McLellan. “This research will develop new, innovative
technologies to optimize production while lessening the environmental
impact.”
“Syncrude itself has been a great Canadian innovation and, over
the years, the company has successfully engaged in continuous innovation
to reduce the processing costs by a factor of three,” said NSERC
President Tom Brzustowski. “NSERC has been a partner in that
success, and I am sure that, through the new Chair, we will work together
to further innovation that will succeed in improving the exploitation
of the oil sands even more.”
The breakdown of the funding for this new $2.25 million research
chair is as follows: NSERC is contributing $800,000; iCORE (the Alberta
Informatics Circle of Research Excellence) $750,000; Syncrude $500,000;
and Matrikon $250,000.
NSERC, now also known as Science and Engineering Research Canada, is
a key federal agency investing in people, discovery and innovation.
It supports both basic university research through research grants,
and project research through partnerships among postsecondary institutions,
government and the private sector, as well as the advanced training
of highly qualified people.
For more information, contact:
Suzanne Godbout
NSERC Communications
Tel.: (613) 943-0310
E-mail: suzanne.godbout@nserc.ca
|
