Hydraulic underground mining of oil sands - The next big step?

This paper presents a mining concept for oil sands called "hydraulic underg round mining of oil sands" or HUMOS. While this mining method is still at t he conceptual stage, it has promise to allow extraction of bitumen from are as that are currently uneconomical or technically infeasible using surface mining or steam injection technologies. HUMOS is founded on a combination o f recently proven technologies such as directional drilling, water-jet cutt ing of oil sands, slurry transportation, cold water extraction of bitumen, and thickened tailings. One key component in the mining concept is the cavi ng of oil sands and the creation of an underground cavern. Scaled-down phys ical models need to be designed and built to demonstrate water-jet cutting, cave development, and in situ primary bitumen separation. These can be use d as a "proof of concept. ".