Technique for in situ leach simulation of uranium ores

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5792335

Grant, D C; Seidel, D C; Nichols, I L

In situ uranium mining offers the advantages of minimal environmental disturbance, low capital and operating costs, and reduced mining development time. It is becoming an increasingly attractive mining method for the recovery of uranium from secondary ore deposits. In order to better understand the process, a laboratory technique was developed and used to study and simulate both the chemical and physical phenomena occurring in ore bodies during in situ leaching. The laboratory simulation technique has been used to determine effects of leaching variables on permeability, uranium recovery, and post-leach aquifer restoration. This report describes the simulation system and testing procedure in sufficient detail to allow the construction of the system, and to perform the desired leaching tests. With construction of such a system, in situ leaching of a given ore using various leach conditions can be evaluated relatively rapidly in the laboratory. Not only could optimum leach conditions be selected for existing ore bodies, but also exploitation of new ore bodies could be accelerated. 8 references, 8 figures, 2 tables.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Research and Development Center, Pittsburgh, PA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5792335
• Report Number(s): PB-85-145902/AS; OFR-192-80; ON: TI85901320
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050300* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Mining-- (-1987)
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACTINIDES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
DATA
DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
IN-SITU PROCESSING
INFORMATION
LEACHING
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS RECOVERY
METALS
MINES
MINING
NUMERICAL DATA
ORES
PERMEABILITY
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SIMULATION
SOLUTION MINING
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
URANIUM
URANIUM MINES
URANIUM ORES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING