Alberta oil sands systems guide

How Alberta regulates fluid tailings

Alberta’s Tailings Management Framework and AER Directive 085 require operators to manage fluid tailings toward approved targets and reclamation readiness.

TailingsRegulation

Editorial review: August 11, 2026 · Colin T. Ashcombe

Process role

Operators submit tailings plans, milestones and annual performance reports.

How the system fits together

AER publishes sector and project information that allows actual progress to be compared with plans.

Environmental and reclamation context

The framework requires treated deposits to progress toward reclamation, helping create accountability.

What to keep in mind

Regulation is not the same as completion: large existing tailings inventories still require decades of management and reclamation.

High-level industrial education only. Oil sands mines, thermal wells, extraction plants, upgraders and tailings facilities are hazardous regulated operations; this site does not provide operating setpoints, chemical recipes or equipment procedures.