This project is to perform systematic studies to better understand key recovery mechanisms of mixture solvent CSI process and provide fundamental parameters for field-scaled prediction. For mass transfer, a methodology of measuring diffusion coefficients for multiple components simultaneously dissolving into heavy oil systems under bulk volume and porous medium conditions will be established. For foamy […]

The proposed research project focuses on the development of a novel model for the computation of sea ice parameters in near real- time relying on satellite data. The interdisciplinary team will investigate solutions for high performance computing to monitor sea ice and calculate ice parameters with the high spatial resolution. This project includes R&D activities […]

Electrochemical corrosion is the most common source of plant downtime in the Chemical Processing Industries (CPI); in the Province of Saskatchewan, the Mining Industry plays a very significant role in CPI. Mineral processing plants handle electrolytic and abrasive materials that can cause very significant structural damage due to electrochemical corrosion and wear. The objective of […]

Canada possesses vast resources of heavy oil, which is oil that is too thick to flow through porous sandstone reservoirs and into production wells at economic rates when conventional operating practices are used. Since the mid 1980’s, heavy oil operators have demonstrated their ability to increase heavy oil production rates by encouraging the creation of […]

One of the major issues facing potash mining in Saskatchewan is the potential for water to enter the mine from water-bearing rocks above mining operations. Rocks near-mine are normally considered dry and low risk. However, under some conditions, in localized areas, there is the potential for unsaturated water to have been introduced into the rock […]

Unconventional oil and gas resources are currently a significant portion of global oil and gas production and it is anticipated to continue its growth as production from conventional resources decline. Unconventional oil and gas resources include low permeability (“tight” resources e.g. shale), heavy oil and oil sands reservoirs amongst others. Economic and responsible development of […]

Compound semiconductors are widely used in a variety of consumer products such as TVs, smartphones, lighting modules, as well as in high-performance applications, e.g. medical imaging. The reliability and performance of such devices strongly depends on the purity of the base materials. This project proposes a systematic investigation of the impact of the level and […]

Recently at one of its mines, the partner has experienced a period of unprecedented production. Through its automated production data gathering systems, huge volumes of data are generated on a moment by moment basis at the mine. The goal of this project is to see whether data from this period hold an understanding of the […]

Over the past 25 years researchers at the UBC Geophysical Inversion Facility (GIF) have generated forward modelling and inversion codes that deal with most types of data of interest to a consortium of mining companies. This proposal moves the research to applications in their corporate environments, and to advance the tools and understanding about how […]

La région de Baie James au Québec est une zone où l’exploration est en plein essor car elle l’a peu été et présente un potentiel minier florissant notamment dans le secteur de l’Or. Afin de faciliter l’exploration il est nécessaire de mieux comprendre l’environnement géologique de la région et le contexte de mise en place […]

Western Canada has vast heavy oil deposits in many thin heavy oil reservoirs with less than 10-m main pay zones. The cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) is the primary production process for the heavy oil reservoirs. However, a typical CHOPS process can recover only 5?15% of the initial oil-in-place and waterflooding has had […]

En exploration minérale la mode est à la recherche des gros gisements aurifères mais à faible teneur. Or, aucun des gisements en exploitation en Abitibi n’a été découvert selon une telle approche. En fait, il n’y a pas d’approche spécifique à ce genre de cible en exploration minérale en raison des contextes géologiques variés. Néanmoins, […]