Oil boom in the Canadian sand

Oil goes into a tailings pond at the Suncor tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

In 1967 Suncor helped pioneer the commercial development of Canada's oil sands, one of the largest petroleum resource basins in the world.

Oil from sand

New pine trees grow at reclaimed land that was once mined by Suncor at their tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Oil from sand

The top layer of muskeg and earth, left, is removed at the Syncrude tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014. Syncrude currently produces 350,000 barrels per day of high quality light, low sulphur crude oil according to company reports.

Oil from sand

A tailings pond near the Syncrude tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

A log lays in a tailings pond at the Suncor tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

Giant dump trucks haul raw tar sands at the Suncor tar sands mining operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens was working Alberta's traditional oil rigs back in the '60s and remembers how he and his colleagues thought mining for oil sands was a joke.

"Here we are sitting there having a drink after work and somebody said this isn't going to, it isn't possible. It'll all have to be subsidized to a level, said, before they'd make money you'd have to have $5 oil," Pickens told "60 Minutes" in 2006. "We never thought it would happen."

But then $40 a barrel happened and the oil sands not only made sense, they made billions for the people digging them.

Oil from sand

Heavy equipment works on a tailings pond at the Suncor tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

Giant dump trucks dump raw tar sands for processing at the Suncor tar sands mining operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

Water ponds at the Suncor tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

Oil at the first phase of separation from the sand at the Suncor tar sands processing plant near at their mining operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sep. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

The processing facility at the Suncor tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

Worker camp housing projects at the Suncor Firebag in-situ oil sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Oil from sand

The Suncor tar sands processing plant near the Athabasca River at their mining operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

A Suncor oil worker checks an oil tank at the Suncor tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

Oil at the second phase of separation from the sand at the Suncor tar sands processing plant near at their mining operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Oil from sand

A water treatment pond at the McKay River Suncor oil sands in-situ operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

The city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014. Fort McMurray is home to one of the world's largest oil reserves and the Alberta tar sands operations.

Oil from sand

Pipes which are part of the processing plant at the McKay River Suncor oil sands in-situ operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

Pipelines run at the McKay River Suncor oil sands in-situ operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Oil from sand

Scarecrow dressed up on sticks to keep birds away from landing on oil ponds at the McKay River Suncor oil sands in-situ operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Oil from sand

A employee works in the operations room at the McKay River Suncor oil sands in-situ operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Sept. 17, 2014.

Oil from sand

An oil sands worker checks the oil during the first step of separation at the Suncor processing plant at their tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.