The Oil Sands Discovery Centre wishes to congratulate Suncor Energy on the opening of its Steepbank Mine on Sept. 30/98.This is a milestone in the history of Suncor Energy and the event was launched when a 240-ton truck broke through a banner that stated how the company sees this new minesite: "Realizing our Future."

The Steepbank project includes a seven building mining facility, a 300-ton capacity bridge over the Athabasca River and an innovative process for ore preparation. Instead of using conveyor belts to get the ore to the existing extraction plant, the new mine uses a hydrotransport pipeline system which is less costly and more energy-efficient. This pipeline system completes the first step of the extraction process - mixing ore with water to create an oil sand slurry.

This new project comes with the added environmental benefits of utilizing less energy to do the same job as before. As well, carbon dioxide emissions per barrel will be significantly reduced.

As the current minesite will be depleted by the year 2001, the Steepbank Mine, a $320 million project, will carry on supplying Suncor's contributions for fueling Canada's energy needs into the next millenium. It will also act as a prototype for the Project Millenium mine, slated toopen in the year 2002.

The Oil Sands Discovery Centre would also like to acknowledge Suncor's success in winning an international award for its Environment, Health & Safety Report which was considered the best in the world.

On July 28, 1998, Suncor was honored for producing the finest of all the environment, health and safety reports at the International Annual Report Competition (ARC) Awards held in New York.

This award came upon the heels of having won two gold awards in the petroleum company category just prior.

The judges base their selections on various design elements, quality of writing, presentation and integration of financial information.