Bigger operators don't have the luxury of halting production: Many of the newer oil sands projects are not the typical open strip mines, rather they inject steam into the ground to slowly melt the bitumen out of the sands.

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The big prize here is a 20% stake in the Fort Hills oil sands project, an open-pit mining operation targeting 3.4 billion barrels of bitumen.

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Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has been honoured with an open-topped bus tour in his home town of Woburn Sands, near Milton Keynes.

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The Sands Cotai Central, a casino resort, is scheduled to open in 2012 with 300, 000 square feet of gaming space and 5, 800 rooms from Holiday Inn, Sheraton and Conrad, said Mabel Wu, senior press officer at Sands China.

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Now part of the White Sands Missile Range, Trinity remains a secretive place: It is open to the public just two days of the year, on the first Saturday of October and April.

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Bigger is better at open-pit mines at the top of the Andes or on the vast oil sands of western Canada, since miners spend up to 30% of their budget hauling.

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But just as most big oil sands projects get going, a serious labor crunch will hit, as construction jobs open for the 2010 Winter Olympics in nearby Vancouver.

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