Surface Mining Operations in Oil Sands

The creation of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) – commonly known as the Brundtland Commission – and the publication in 1987 of its report, "Our Common Future", marked a turning point towards finding the balance among society, economy, and environment.

Since then, governments have improved regulations; new standards have been developed; management and process practices have addressed potential gaps; public and private organisations have taken initiative through the creation of committees and programs; and research covering all areas of sustainable development has become a priority for academics and practitioners. These different sources serve as the basis for a pre-selection process of sustainable development indicators (SDIs).

While some sources do not specifically address certain industries, the pre-selection process suggested in this book studies and analyses each SDI’s resource and the possible applicability of already-identified indicators. An assertive set of SDIs is not solely based on regulatory systems, as measuring sustainability cannot become a bureaucratic process, and neither can any other SDI’s source single-handedly determine or mandate the final set of indicators, as the real objective is to assist decision-makers and effectively engage stakeholders.

This book presents an analysis of six different sources for pre-selecting SDIs, accompanied by a methodology to then finalise with a set of SDIs for the surface mining operations in oil sands projects. Surface mining projects are complex operations with several social, economic, environmental, and health impacts. As the government and oil sands developers are turning towards increasing productivity with a more conscious sustainable development approach, a pre-selection of SDIs is required to assist further formal multi-criteria selection processes.

Michael Lipsett

Michael Lipsett is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta. His research interests are the design, operability, monitoring, diagnostics, and reliability of complex mechanical and energy systems, particularly for oil sands bitumen production, and more sustainable energy production methods. Dr. Lipsett holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University, and he also pursued graduate studies in the Division of Applied Systems Science at Kyoto University.

Prior to joining the University of Alberta, Dr. Lipsett worked in industrial research, most recently as Senior Research Associate at Syncrude Canada Limited, where he worked in mining automation and reliability studies, and led an extraction process research group. Dr. Lipsett also worked as a Senior Research Engineer with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, developing robotic systems, remote tooling, and machinery diagnostic techniques for condition-based maintenance programs. He serves on a number of boards and committees for organization that include the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Society for Machinery Failure Prevention Technologies, Precarn Inc., and the International Society for Condition Monitoring.

Dr. Lipsett is a licensed Professional Engineer in Alberta.

Cesar Poveda

Cesar Poveda is a professor in the School of Construction at the SAIT Polytechnic. He combines practical and academic work experience throughout his career of 17 years. His research interest can be grouped in five areas: sustainable development & environmental engineering, project, construction & engineering management, building science & green contraction, business development, management & leadership, and operational research in the areas of multi-criteria decision making and simulation. Currently, his area of research interest is sustainability assessment and management of oil & gas, energy, heavy industrial, and mining projects.

Dr. Poveda holds a PhD in Engineering Management from University of Alberta in 2014. Prior to joining the SAIT Polytechnic, Dr. Poveda held different management positions in a variety of projects for national and international companies in South and North America. In academic, he started as lab professor at University Industrial of Santander in 1995, while he was still a student in the Faculty of Engineering. In his senior years in the civil engineering department, he was a founder and member of the SAP90 research group. From 2006 to 2014, he was a teaching and research assistant at the University of Alberta in the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

Dr. Poveda has also been lecturer for different courses in the areas of engineering, management, business, and sustainable development. He serves as member for several editorial boards of different international journals, and currently participates as members of numerous international scientific advisory committees for conferences around the world.

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Surface Mining Operations in Oil Sands

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