Oilsands Mining Not Polluting Athabasca Delta With Metals, Study Finds

A new study has concluded that oilsands mining is not polluting the Athabasca Delta, located 200 km from the oilsands.

An aerial view of the Suncor mine facility along the Athabasca river near Fort McMurray, Alta., in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

A new study from scientists at the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University has concluded that oilsands mining is not emptying metal concentrations into the Athabasca Delta, located 200 km away from the oilsands.

Funded by Suncor and published in Environmental Research Letters, the study found that the area doesn’t have higher concentrations of metals than what would be there naturally.

The researchers used lake sediment samples from a pre-industrial period to generate a baseline for metal concentrations in the Athabasca River that could be compared to present-day samples.

First Nations in the Athabasca region have expressed concern that oilsands development is polluting their food sources.

We didn't find evidence of metal concentrations being elevated above the natural baseline.

— Biologist Roland Hall, University of Waterloo