Photo by Lucy Izon

Fort McMurray, Alberta - Saturating the sand in three massive deposits covering an area about the size of Florida, this region of northern Alberta has more oil than Saudi Arabia. The oil sands are in three deposits (Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River) with the majority of the oil deep in the ground, which makes its recovery and separation from the sand a challenge. At Fort McMurray on the Athabasca deposit (about a 4 1/2-hour drive north of Edmonton) you can see the giant mining equipment at work because 20 per cent of the oil sands are near the surface. The world's largest land machines (including trucks with tires 12 metres high) remove and transport chunks of the oil sands to nearby extraction plants. Summer tours are available for visitors (arrange 24 hours in advance and carry photo ID.) About 175 billion barrels of oil are estimated to be recoverable with current technology.

More Alberta Cool: World's largest known oil reserve l million-dollar hwy overpasses for wildlife l world's first UFO Landing Pad l aircraft carrier made of ice l saddle-shaped stadium l shopping mall with submarines l Shanghai Noon l testical festival l largest dinosaur graveyard l java inventor l chinnoks l trekkie town l world's first peace park l first Bloody Caesar l Brokeback Mountain l Head-Smashed-In-Bufflao-Jump l wind-powered computers l world's most dinosaur skeletons l town grouch l Legends of the Fall l 9 km-disappearing lake l ice worms l Aurora Borealis l World Cup 1st Stop l ride an Olympic Bobsleigh l the most bison l only whooping crane nests l Hoo Doos l 200,000 free pancakes l Plus 15 l highway past 100 glaciers l

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