The fly ash produced during the upgrading of the Alberta oil sands contains between 2.0 and 3.5 wt% vanadium, and represents a significant vanadium resource (3.6 million kilograms per year or 3.5% of total world vanadium production). Research was performed to move vanadium recovery from the oil sands fly ash towards commercialization. Salt roasting tests on Suncor ash samples collected over a 25 year period were performed to determine the effects of time, temperature, and roasting additions on vanadium recovery and the optimum salt roasting conditions for the Suncor ash. Other roasting reagents, and lixiviants, were also tested to try to improve the vanadium extractions achieved with salt roasting. Syncrude ash was treated under similar salt roasting and leaching conditions to quantify the differences between ash formation in Suncor and Syncrude's coking processes, and to optimize the roasting and leaching conditions for the Syncrude ash. Several solution purification and vanadium precipitation flowsheets were tested to determine the feasibility of producing high purity vanadium from water leach solutions. Finally, characterization of the fly ash, for the first time, allowed a good understanding of the mineralogy of the oil sands fly ash and the mechanism behind the salt roasting of the fly ash to be attained.