Oil sands - Canada's black gold
Extreme demands in mining
Canada has the largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia. But it's not in liquid form, it's in the form of oil sands - a mixture of bitumen, sand, water and clay. The cost-efficient production of oil from oil sands has only been made possible in recent years by the use of innovative materials and technologies and the size of the equipment. ThyssenKrupp Canada, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Födertechnik GmbH, is a key player in this industry. In the Horizon Oil Sands project, the company is responsible for the design, supply and installation of ore crushers, stockpiling systems, conveyors and oil sludge processing equipment for two production plants. Each of these facilities can crush 6,000 tons of oil sands per hour - and thanks to the use of advanced steel alloys for the excavator and crusher teeth their service life has been extended to up to six months. This statistic is even more impressive given that just 25 years ago the excavator teeth used for mining were worn smooth after only eight hours. It takes two tons of oil sands to produce one barrel (159 liters) of oil.