Technology for In Situ Uranium Leaching

Introduction In situ leaching (ISL) is an alternative method of mining uranium from deposits that are low-grade, deeplying, and water-saturated. ISL recovers uranium by transporting fluids through rock rather than by moving rock, a concept the Chinese developed over 2000 years ago for water production. This technique eventually evolved into production systems for oil, gas, sulfur, and salt. More recently, in situ methods have been developed to produce shale oil, gasified coal, geothermal energy, uranium, and copper. ISL uranium operations began in the early 1960s with Sabine Production Co. in south Texas. About the same time, Utah Construction and Mining Co. (Anderson and Richie, 1968) started similar operations in Wyoming's Shirley Basin. During the 1970s, six commercial operations were started in south Texas, (USBM, 1978) and a number of pilot operations were in various stages of development in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. This paper reviews some of the technical and economic aspects of the ISL process and briefly discusses key subsurface engineering functions as¬sociated with well pattern design and operation. While flow characteristics of a deposit are of prime importance, the following information is also needed: Depth, ore grade, total contained metal, ore thickness, flow conductivity (permeability), void space in rock (porosity), mineral type and distribution, natural groundwater flow, and structural features. Solvent selection, which is important to the economic success of the operation, takes these factors into account: Composition, rate of metal solubilization, interaction with gangue minerals, impact on rock permeability, impact on materials of construction, trace metal solubilization, cost, availability, and handling problems. Overview of ISL An ISL operation consists of these functions (Fig. 1): 1. Chemicals to dissolve and maintain uranium in solution are prepared at the surface extraction facility. 2. A set of injection wells forces the solvent into rock pores of fractures using pressure in excess of the deposit's hydrostatic pressure. 3. Solvent travels through the rock and reacts with uranium minerals to dissolve them. The solvent usually consists of an oxidant and a complexing agent in an acidic or alkaline medium. 4. A set of production wells creates a low-pressure sump where metal-enriched solution is collected for transport to the surface. 5. The enriched solution is processed to recover uranium and to separate the leaching solution for recycling through the system. The economic performance of an in situ operation may be estimated by integrating these related factors: (1) the flow rate of solution processed through the system, (2) rates of fluid injection and production from wells, (3) the rate of mineral solubilization in the liquid phase, and (4) the volume of rock swept by the fluid. As these factors reveal, ISL involves the technical disciplines of petroleum engineering, ore deposit geology, and hydrometallurgical processing. Wellfield Design Just as mineral engineers use drillhole information to plan a conventional mine, in situ engineers use similar information to design a well field. A thorough knowledge of deposit geology and reservoir properties is required. Early application of pressure transient testing, such as