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Uranium Enrichment, Nuclear Fuels, and Fuel Cycles
Published in Robert E. Masterson, Nuclear Engineering Fundamentals, 2017
Some uranium ore deposits lie in porous materials such as sand and gravel, and these deposits can be mined by simply dissolving the uranium and pumping it out. A technique called in situ leach (ISL) mining is used for these deposits, and it is also known in North America as in situ recovery (ISR). This mining process requires an abundant supply of ground water that can be used to extract the uranium from the other surrounding materials. In general, this type of mining (when all of these criteria are met) can have the lowest overall environmental impact. In ISL mining, weakly acidified groundwater (or alkaline groundwater when the ground happens to contain a limestone deposit) is circulated through an underground aquifer where the uranium ore is mixed with loose sand and gravel. The leaching solution dissolves the uranium before being pumped to the surface, and then it is sent to a treatment plant. When additional oxygen is added to the water, the uranium can be recovered as a precipitate. Most of the uranium that is produced in the United States is mined in this way.
Nuclear Fuel Resources
Published in Kenneth D. Kok, Nuclear Engineering Handbook, 2016
Sandstone deposits constitute about 18% of world uranium resources. Ore bodies of this type are commonly low-to-medium grade (0.05%–0.4% U3O8), and individual ore bodies are small to medium in size (ranging up to a maximum of 50,000 t U3O8). The main primary uranium minerals are uraninite and coffinite. Conventional mining/milling operations of sandstone deposits have been progressively undercut by cheaper in situ leach mining methods. The United States has large resources in sandstone deposits in the Western Cordillera region, and most of its uranium production has been from these deposits, recently by ISL mining. The Powder River Basin in Wyoming, the Colorado Plateau, and the Gulf Coast Plain in south Texas are major sandstone uranium provinces. Other large sandstone deposits occur in Niger, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Gabon (Franceville Basin), and South Africa (Karoo Basin). Kazakhstan has reported substantial reserves in sandstone deposits with average grades ranging from 0.02% to 0.07% U.
Transformation of the Australian mining industry and future prospects
Published in Mining Technology, 2020
A possible mining method for future underground mining can be thought of as the in situ selective leaching method. Although the method can only be applied to leachable minerals, it is possible to develop this method, which minimizes environmental damage and reduces mining facilities at the surface. Some key technologies, such as near-real-time mineral exploration using coiled tubing drilling (CTD) with an AI-based data analysis system, autonomous unmanned excavators based on optimized mining plans, selective rock breakage technology, and in situ leach encapsulation technology, have to be studied and developed to realize the in situ selective leaching method. A conceptual demonstration of the in situ selective leaching method is shown in Figure 10, and a study of a similar method but slightly different approaches can be found in Batterham (2017).