Ontario’s fabled Ring of Fire was reported in the Globe and Mail on Apr. 19, 2016 as attractive to Chinese investment because it holds “…$60 billion in minerals and 100 years of mining activity.” See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/china-shows-renewed-interest-in-developing-resource-rich-ring-of-fire/article29671821/

"...resource-rich"?

Both the Alberta energy regulator and Natural Resources Canada conservatively hold Alberta’s oil sands as having ultimate potential production of more than 300 billion barrels - equivalent to 165 years at a production rate of five million barrels per day.  See: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/oil-sands/18085

 

At a modest C$50/barrel that is $15,000 billion, or $15 trillion, in mineral value -or 250 times greater than the ballyhooed Ring of Fire.  And that figure includes no added value from upgrading, refining, or production of petrochemicals which could potentially more than double that figure.

 

Not to mention 5,500 trillion cu. ft. of shale gas resources in just four of about a dozen shale formations so far adequately evaluated in western Canada.  At a conservative recovery of ten percent and $3 per thousand cu. ft, that is value of $1,650 billion, or $1.65 trillion, - not including the value of billions of barrels of natural gas liquids and shale oil that will be produced from those formations.

 

Western Canada’s mineral wealth, from just oil and gas, makes the Ring of Fire look more like a spark from a Zippo lighter in comparison. 

 

Yet eastern media and many Laurentian politicians, never mind radical or aspirational environmentalists, simply do not accord the attention, respect, or understanding that the economic value of western Canada’s vast mineral wealth deserves. It is an old story, and still true today. 

 

Mike Priaro, P.Eng. 

Calgary  

403-281-2156

AUTHOR BIO

"Mike Priaro, B.Eng.Sc.  (Chem. Eng.), U.W.O. '76, P.Eng., Lifetime Member Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), worked in facilities, production, operations and reservoir engineering, as engineering consultant, area superintendent, and engineering management in Alberta's oil patch for 25 years for companies such as Amoco and PetroCanada.”

“He increased oil production from the historic Turner Valley oilfield and brought in under-balanced drilling and completion technology to drill out, complete, and test several of the highest producing gas wells ever on mainland Canada at Ladyfern.  He co-authored ‘Advanced Fracturing Fluids Improve Well Economics’ in Schlumberger's  Oilfield Review and developed the course material for the ‘Advanced Production Engineering’ course at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.”

"Mike has presented his work to Canada’s House Committee on Natural Resources in Ottawa and had work published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in the March and April, 2014 and February, 2015 editions of Inside Policy magazine, by U.S. energy industry websites such as RBN Energy, in the July 17, 2014 edition of the Oil and Gas Journal, in Petroleum Technology Quarterly, Q3 2014, and in several columns in the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, and Montreal Gazette.”
“Mike has no formal connection to any oil company, environmental organization, think tank, labour organization, lobbying or special interest group, academia, or to provincial or federal politics.”

“In 2015 Mike was retained by Alberta Sulphur Research Limited to conduct "A Preliminary Engineering, Economic, and Environmental Evaluation of ASRL's Partial Upgrading Process" which he presented to 80 representatives of ASRL's member companies.  ASRL partial upgrading subsequently obtained Alberta government funding and industry support.  On Jan. 29, 2016, the Alberta Government made partial upgrading a priority based on its Royalty Review Panel’s recommendations.  As of April, 2016 an ASRL partial upgrading flow test pilot is running at CANMET/NRCan’s research facility in Devon, AB."

“Mike is the author of “A ‘Canada-First’ Canadian Energy Strategy” (see https://www.behance.net/portfolio/editor?project_id=5808629) and is available for special projects, and speaking engagements.”