This Day in KMC History – November 17, 1973

What were you doing 41 years ago today? Many of you may not have any memory of this day at all! November 17, 1973 was a milestone date in KMC Mining history. It was on this day in 1973 that TA Klemke & Son started working in the oilsands sector for Bechtel Corp on the Syncrude site.

Previously, Klemke had already completed the last leg of Highway 63 to make it a year round access to Fort McMurray and then moved on to completion of the Dempster Highway and a mining scope of work at Anvil Mine in the Yukon Territories. The trucks, excavators and dozers used on the highway jobs were ideal for the initial clearing and site preparation of the Mildred Lake site for Syncrude Canada. The lessons learned while building Highway 63 were very useful in developing mining techniques for the removal of muskeg and the construction of the initial starter dyke at Syncrude.

Since its inception Syncrude has produced over 2.4 billion barrels of high quality, low sulphur crude oil. KMC continues to be a leader in developing efficient mining techniques for larger equipment, including 42 cu. metre capacity shovels and 320 Ton trucks. Every KMC employee can take pride in the fact that we had a part to play in this amazing story.