When drilling in southern Alberta near the town of Strathmore operators have historically encountered unpredictable lost circulation during cementing operations on many wells. With the surface casing set above ground water, operators are required to bring cement to surface on all production casings. Costly remedial cement treatments are often required. Openhole logs in the area have shown the presence of numerous coal seams at depths ranging from 20 to 250 m (66 to 820 ft.) below surface. Post-cementing temperature logs indicate that the cement top may be found at any one of these coal seams. The presence of the coal seams alone does not, however appear to definitively indicate the potential for a problem, as evidenced by wells separated by less than a mile that may react completely differently. Currently, there is no way to determine which wells will experience problems so the normal approach has been to bring cement to surface before dropping the top wiper plug and displacing the casing. Unfortunately, this methodology has not proven to be 100% successful, and wells with no losses require the disposal of a significant amount of cement at a substantial cost. Recently, the introduction of specifically sized silicic fibres to the cement blend in conjunction with a revamped cementing procedure has proven to be a cost-effective solution to the problem of low cement tops. This paper will take a look at previous efforts at solving the problem along with alternatives that have been considered and rejected. It also includes data showing the efficacy and economics of the new approach.