The Canadian oil sands resources present one of the world's most vast hydrocarbon deposits. The processing of oil sands to extract bitumen generates large volumes of mature fine tailings (MFT). The large volume, poor consolidation and water release ability of MFT have been causing significant economic and environmental concerns. Therefore, significant research efforts have been devoted to finding methods for the dewatering and densification of MFT. In the present paper, a novel approach which consists of the rapid dewatering of MET by using a super absorbent polymer (SAP) to produce dense MFT is proposed. A comprehensive laboratory investigation on the shear strength testing of MFT specimens dewatered with SAP by using a vane shear apparatus is conducted. Furthermore, the effect of freeze-thaw cycles on the undrained shear strength of the dewatered MET is studied. Finally, the ability of recycled SAP to dewater and densify MFT is also assessed. Promising results have been obtained. The results indicate that SAP has the ability to significantly dewater, densify and increase the undrained shear strength of MFT. Furthermore, when subjected to freeze-thaw cycles, the MFT dewatered with SAP shows an additional increase in strength and solid content. It is also found that it is possible to regenerate the polymer (still within sachets) through light thermal drying, and the regenerated SAP can still significantly dewater and thus increase the shear strength and solid content of MFT. Therefore, SAP regeneration and the use of regenerated SAP to dewater MFT in a cost-effective way should be assessed in further studies. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.