| Frozen oil sands lumps cause significant problems for the mining and extraction operations during winter months at Syncrude Canada Ltd.'s North Mine. This thesis examines lump jams at the crushers and the related issue of increasing rehandle due to lump dump activity. The goals are to determine and quantify the effects that climate, geology and equipment have on the generation of frozen oil sands lumps as well as propose ways to minimize their impact. Production data was compiled from various Syncrude databases over a two-year period and a relational analysis was conducted. The causes of lump jams appeared to be random, but there were differences in crushers' handling of lump jams. Lump dump activity, however, was affected by geology and/or bench elevation, with differences in shovel type contributions. |
