In 1962, GCOS received a permit from the Alberta government to build a 31,500 barrels-per-day synthetic crude plant in the Athabasca oil sands.

The following year, Sun Oil acquired an 83 percent stake in the company and in 1964 construction of the plant began.

When GCOS opened its plant on 30 September 1967, it became the first company in the world to produce heavy oil commercially.

Inspired by the work of Dr Karl Adolf Clark (1888–1976) of the University of Alberta, Fitzsimmons turned his attention to surface extraction.

In 1927 he reorganised Alcan as the International Bitumen Company, and in 1930 set up an extraction plant at a site he named Bitumount.

The plant ran for a short time in 1937 before Everard left the company over payment disputes.