This chapter focuses on the Athabasca tar-sand deposit of northeastern Alberta, Canada, and the commercial developments going on there. The Athabasca tar sands are the major deposit of oil in a viscous-oil trend, stretching across Alberta, from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border near Cold Lake to a point near the town of Peace River. The Athabasca tar sands are divided into two zones: one where oil deposits are covered by oil-barren surface deposits of from 0 to 150 ft and one where these overburden deposits range from 150 ft to more than 2000 ft in thickness. A number of oil companies have undertaken several commercial projects in the area. The Syncrude project has been designed to produce 125,000 bbl/day of synthetic crude oil. In the Syncrude mining scheme, two parallel open-pit mining faces will be opened and actively mined, advancing away from each other, throughout the life of the project. Fina, representing a group of companies, has also submitted an application to the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) for a permit to produce 122,500 bbl/day of synthetic crude oil by means of a scheme based on mining wheels, hot-water extraction, and fluid coking.