1930: Max Ball, with his group (Basil Jones, James McClave) applied for oil sands leases. The proposal was accepted and Bituminous Sands Permit No. 1 on properties at the Horse River and farther south on the Athabasca were granted to Canadian Northern Oil Company, later called Abasand Oils Ltd.

1930: Fitzsimmons makes the first sale of commercially produced bitumen in Edmonton.

1933: The site of the International Bitumen Company is officially called Bitumount by Fitzsimmons.

1936: Bitumount plant improved, expanded, and a new refinery constructed. By late summer the Abasand Oils plant was complete and was ready to operate at a rate of 250 tons per day. The Abasand process combined a solvent extraction with hot water extraction in two stage operation. Based on the previous work at the Abasand Oil plant, it was redesigned for a capacity of 400 tons per day. Work progressed over 3 years, there were delays due to technical problems.

1941: Abasand Oils began operating on a regular basis, production was quite extensive. Production at Abasand Oils ceased when the separation plant burned down on November 21.

1942: Lloyd Champion purchased International Bitumen from Fitzsimmons. It was later renamed Oil Sands Ltd. By 1948 the Bitumount plant had commenced operations.

1944: There were many delays in the refurbishing work at Abasand Oils. Nonetheless, progress was being made. The separation plant was completed in the summer of 1944 and was operating by autumn, albeit spasmodically. Construction on the refinery was complete by December 9, and began operating on December 16.

1945: On June 16 a welder's torch accidentally ignited some oil at the feeder of the original separation plant at Abasand Oils Ltd. The resulting fire consumed the separation plants, the warehouse, the machine shop, the fire hall, and other equipment. Basically the whole plant was destroyed.

1948: In late summer the Bitumount plant commenced operations.

1949: The Province of Alberta takes over the Bitumount site as Oil Sands Project.

1951: Alberta hosts its first Athabasca Oil Sands Conference.

1953: Oil Sands Ltd. reconstituted itself by late 1953. The Great Canadian Oil Sands consortium was formed in 1953 from Abasand Oils, Canadian Oils Ltd., Champion's Oil Sands Ltd., plus the prevailing force of the dynamic American oil firm, Sun Oil Co. of Philadelphia.

mid 1950s: The provincial government tried to sell the Bitumount plant. In 1954 a Calgary company, Can-Amera Oil Sands, took over the plant and used it for testing.

1957: CanAmera sells the Bitumount plant to Royalite Oil Company.

1958: Royalite closes down operations at Bitumount.