OIL SANDS TAILINGS: Suncor gets okay for TRO technology

ALBERTA - The provincial Energy Resources Conservation Board has approved Suncor Energy's use of a new approach to tailings management called TRO^TM. The company has been researching, developing and testing the TRO technology since 2003 and is ready to implement it at all its existing operations.

"This is great news and a significant milestone in addressing one of the greatest reclamation challenges in oil sands mining," said Kirk Bailey, executive VP of oil sands. "We are confident that our TRO technology will help us meet the expectations of stakeholders around accelerating the pace of reclamation, while also reducing our costs over the long term.

"We expect to invest more than $1 billion to implement our new TRO technology, potentially reducing tailings reclamation time by decades," he said. "Suncor's commitment to restoring natural habitats is also illustrated by our plans to complete the reclamation of our first tailings pond to a solid surface later this year."

To view a video explaining the TRO (tailings reduction operations) technology, please visit www.Suncor.com/tailings.