Pierre River Mine Project

PIERRE RIVER MINE
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
PART 2: ERCB SIRS – ROUND 2
Question No. 3
MINING AND PROCESSING
ERCB SIRS 3 – 38
Section 4.1
Request Provide a preliminary assessment of the setback distance for the North
Overburden Disposal Area from the Lease boundary with UTS Energy (Lease
14). Use the available geological information and consider the open pit on the
UTS side.
Response 3 The Pierre River Mine Plan was developed to maximize ore recovery on Oil
Sands Lease (OSL) 740012009 (Lease 9). Consequently, most (60%) of the north
overburden disposal area is built in-pit after the ore has been mined out.
Additionally, in designing the north overburden disposal area, the available
storage space within the external outline of the dump was balanced with the
mining volume required to advance the mining sufficiently to enable the north
overburden disposal area to be extended in-pit.
Current mine plans show that the north overburden disposal area is offset 100 m
from the UTS/Teck OSL 014 (Lease 14) boundary, with a portion of the north
overburden disposal area initially being built on oil sands that are less than 12
TV:BIP. Based on Shell’s interpretation of the geology, a narrow ore band under
the dump in Lease 9 continues into UTS/Teck Lease 14 (see Figure ERCB 3-1).
As UTS/Teck has not publicly disclosed mine plans for Lease 14, Shell
considered two alternatives to provide a preliminary assessment of the setback
distance from the north overburden disposal area to the UTS/Teck Lease 14
boundary:
1. Maintain the current design of the north overburden disposal area, i.e.,
100 m from UTS/Teck Lease 14 in the Pierre River Mine Plan
2. Move the toe of the north overburden disposal area south to accommodate
an open-pit mine on the UTS/Teck side of the lease
The first alternative might result in sterilizing the UTS/Teck resource. This is
calculated based on a narrow strip (less than 750 m) of mineable oil sands located
north of the north overburden disposal area (see Figure ERCB 3-1). Here, an
estimated location of the ultimate mine crest from the UTS/Teck lease line has
been calculated and constrained within the resource delineated by the TV:BIP 12
limit. Shell also assumed a typical geotechnical design setback from the external
dump toe to a pit crest would be 150 m.
April 2010 Shell Canada Limited 4-1
CR029