Syncrude Site, Fort McMurray
A video clip from of a flight over Syncrude Canada's Mildred Lake plant, about 20 miles north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. (Here's a map https://goo.gl/maps/zfWZS) Syncrude is one of the world's largest producers of synthetic crude oil from bitumen (also known as tar sands or oil sands). This plant, which processes bitumen from adjoining mines, is rated for 350,000 barrels a day, nearly half of the capacity of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Sulfur is a bi-product of the process of producing synthetic crude. The yellow truncated pyramids at the far end of the plant are huge piles of waste sulfur. The nearest one has a base slightly larger than that of the Giant Pyramid of Giza. The middle pyramid has a base about twice as large. The photo was shot with a GoPro camera on a photo shoot with the aerial photographer Alex MacLean.