NOT that I am counting or anything, haha. It's been too long since I was home so I'm anxious. I confess I haven't felt very inspired to blog since I got back, but yesterday I was able to go on a tour of the mine sites (well, as much as we're allowed to see) that was very interesting.
There are two separate mine sites, one is called Jackpine Mine, or the JPM site, and the other is Muskeg River Mine, or the MRM site. The JPM site is the newest one, the expansion part of Shell Albian Sands. The administration building is right across the walkway from the village here, and they do some refining at this site. ESS has a small cafe in the admin building, food is for purchase, and the medic office is over there as well. Then the MRM site is about a 10-15 min drive from here. It's not actually that far, but the roads are pretty bumpy and uneven from all the heavy equipment traffic, but the graders are out every day trying to keep them smooth and passable. This is the big mine, huge. It's an open pit mine so there is nothing underground. To try and get some perspective, take a look at that giant dump truck that we're standing next to. I saw a lineup of them in the mine waiting to dump their loads into the crusher, and they looked like little Tonka toys. So all day and all night the big giant shovels scoop up the earth, dump it into the trucks, and they drive to the crusher (in the mine) and dump the earth in there then drive back to pick up another shovel full. Once the earth is in the crusher, it gets, well, crushed, haha. Then it goes along a conveyor into another building where it is crushed further and the big rocks and stuff is filtered out. Not sure what all the processes are there, but at the MRM site there is a huge amount of piping and scaffolding around the piping. At some point the bitumen has something added to it, it's sent by pipeline to the froth plant where they do some further refining, and then it comes back as crude petroleum where it sits in those giant silo things until the pipeline can take it away to Edmonton or wherever the final refinery destination is. There are only 2 silos that I saw, as they don't store it for long. Over at the MRM site is where the majority of guys that stay at our camp work. They have great need for maintenance on the heavy vehicles, so that is non-stop. At the site ESS also maintains a cafeteria that sells limited hot meals and snacks for breakfast and lunch. Some of the workers there live in town, so don't stay at camp and therefore are on their own for meals. This is what we checked out on our tour, the actual kitchen/cafeteria building. Of course all the buildings on site (except for the JPM admin building) are trailers. They connect them up together like building blocks and there, you have an instant office/cafeteria/maintenance shops. When the oil is all sucks out of the earth, the big dump trucks take it out to the big dirt hill that surrounds the mine. I would have to say when I first got here the dirt pile has grown at least 2-3 times it's size. They used to drive on top of it, but they can't now. So the long-term plan for the big huge open pit mine is in 20 years or whenever they figure they've gotten all the oil it they will put all this earth back into the hole and the area will be just as it was. We also saw a bear trap along the way, as the camp apparently still has visit now and then from the bears. I guess they have gone right into the truck shop on site, and even into a ware house when the door was left open. They get really spoiled when they've eaten garbage and human food, and they prefer that instead of their normal diet. I guess it's like getting hooked on McDonalds, haha.
It's still daylight until at least 10 pm, and the sky is still light past 11 pm, even though the days are now getting shorter. You can tell by the angle of the sun, but still bright skies.
Yes, Aimee is leaving Albian. She tendered her resignation a couple of weeks ago, and her last day here will be July 26. She's packing up and moving to Calgary to explore some options there. Just finally had enough of camp life after almost 3 years and ready to get back into the "real" work world. It will be strange to not have her here, although we hardly see each other even though we work AND life together, haha.
Oh my, it's only 7:30 pm and I am SO ready for bed. Worked 13 hrs today and I'm pooped!
