Abstract Despite 60 years of effort, the Athabasca oil sands deposit, the largest of the Canadian oil sand deposits, is the only deposit for which a promising in-situ recovery process has not been developed. This paper reviews the many field pilots which have been attempted in this deposit, plus a number of pertinent pilots from related deposits. It then reviews the recovery processes put forward by a number of authors and sums up our current knowledge of this immense untapped Canadian resource and the state of our technology as related to its recovery, With this background in mind, the author gives his views on the state of the technology and indicates the most promising recovery processes for a number of different geological conditions found in the Athabasca deposit. The author concludes with a review of some of the key problem areas where progress must be made if commercial recovery is to occur. Introduction In 1930, Absher(1) wrote to his shareholders" I feel that we have overcome the technical difficulties and are able to produce (the Athabasca deposit) on a commercial basis". Absherwas the first to attempt to recover oil from the Athabasca bituminous sands by in-situ means. In the sixty years since his attempts and despite Absher's confidence to his shareholders and numerous subsequent attempts by others, the Athabasca deposit remains a formidable challenge. While commercial exploitation is occurring from the shallower parts of the deposit by surface mining, and promising in-situ methods have been developed for the Cold Lake and Peace River oil sands deposit and for the Grosmont carbonate deposits, the 90% of the thabasca deposit which is too deep for surface mining still remains a tempting motherlode just beyond our reach. This paper reviews the many field attempts which have been tried and some of the concepts which have been considered to unlock this immense resource. It also comments on our experience o date and indicates the author's views on some of the more promising technologies which warrant further testing. Review of Athabasca Field Tests The Bituminous Sand Extraction Co-Limited During the period 1926 to 1931, Absher as the principal engineer for the Bituminous Sand Extraction Co-Limited, attempted in-situ recovery from the Athabasca deposit. His early work using steam and superheated steam was at very shallow depth (10 m to 15 m). but in 1926, he sank several wells to a depth of 100 m (overburden 55 m), and produced some bitumen using superheated steam. The following year, and for the next few years, more wells were completed in the area and a type of downhole steam generator or in-situ combustion was employed, however, no attempt was made to drive between wells, but rather to produce back to another part of the same well. Although some bitumen was produced and Absher was enthusiastic about the results, difficulties with overheating of the wells and loss of tubing and casings where never completely overcome. The advent of the great depression seems to have cut short this pioneering effort.