Massive project gets started in oil sands

Total SA took the first step yesterday toward building a multibillion-dollar bitumen upgrader near Edmonton, a construction project that will require 4,000 workers – about what it took to build the iconic Hoover Dam.

Huge oil sands projects have become almost commonplace, but their enormous scale is still impressive. Each effort requires a work force that would populate a small town.

In the 1930s, it took an average of 3,500 workers – and a peak contingent of 5,200 – to build the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, one of the largest construction projects undertaken to that date.

GlobeandMail