GLOBE-Net, June 25, 2012 - Syncrude Canada has hit the mother lode of fossils in its Mildred Lake operations north of Fort McMurray. Not the mother lode of fossil fuel bitumen - the company has unearthed a treasure trove of prehistoric marine fossils.

On Friday, May 11, Syncrude shovel operator Jason Young (pictured below) was digging into the mine face and uncovered something of a different colour.

Having taken Syncrude's fossil identification training, he realized it was fossil material when he got down for a closer look.  

"I remember being at the Tyrell Museum when I was younger and knew what a fossil looks like just from seeing them there. When I saw this one in the area I was mining, it was pretty amazing," said Young. 

It turned out to be a nearly complete elasmosaur, approximately 112 to 114 million years old.

The elasmosaurs were predatory marine reptiles that gave rise to extremely long-necked forms some 50 million years later. Another, less complete elasmosaur specimen was found on May 7.  

In November 2011, another fossil skeleton was discovered on the Syncrude site.

While the fossil remains are not complete, the November 2011 and May specimens appear to have 70 to 80 per cent of the skeleton preserved.

The May 11 specimen has a partial skull, making it extremely significant for research and study. 

The reason for the high number of fossil finds at Syncrude is not clear. Syncrude may be mining in the area of an ancient sea bed where wind and water currents concentrated carcasses of plesiosaurs.

This is not the first time such ancient fossils have been found at a Syncrude site. In 2009, a 100-million-year-old piece of cedar was uncovered at Syncrude's Aurora Mine, one of the most important geological discoveries to date at the site.

Unlike many discoveries, this old, rare metre-long piece of wood is preserved but not petrified. Syncrude passed the artifact to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. 

In a related story, a prehistoric marine reptile known as a plesiosaur discovered in 1994 in a Syncrude mine now has a name: Nichollsia borealis. It was named in honour of the late Dr. Elizabeth Nicholls, the former curator of Marine Reptiles at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

One of the most complete plesiosaurs ever recovered in North America, it's also one of the oldest yet found from the Cretaceous period, about 142 to 65 million years ago. The skull of the specimen is displayed at the museum, and a replica is displayed at the Oil Sands Discovery Centre, in Fort McMurray. 

Syncrude Canada has established a distinct operating practice to be a responsible steward of its obligation to protect and preserve any fossils discovered during the earth-moving process.

Dr. Donald Henderson, Curator of Dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, expects to know more about this most recent find once he and his team map the fossils' exact locations, vertically and horizontally, and conduct further research. 

Complete preparation of each of the specimens will require one to two years, but with the high number of fossil finds over the past two years, the latest Syncrude specimens may not be ready for display until 2015. 

 A collaborative relationship between Syncrude and the Royal Tyrrell Museum has led to the recovery of a number of significant fossils. As part of this relationship, Syncrude's shovel operators are briefed with a set of protocols for whenever they see anything unusual in the spaces they are digging.

"We can never find (the fossils) without the mine people," said Henderson, in an interview published in the Calgary Herald. "We need their eyes. The shovel operators have to spot it and pay attention. It's good that they tell us."

For more information on Syncrude's environmental and community relations policies, visit here.