In-situ uranium leaching efficiency improvement by way of in-process loss reduction

Priargun Mining and Chemical Association has been producing uranium on the Streltsovo ore field for more than 50 years. Over this period, the most of high-grade ore is extracted using the conventional physical technology. Low-grade crude ore reserves are large but the conventional technology fails to ensure wanted profitability. For this reason, wide introduction of physicochemical treatment using the methods of in-situ leaching and heap leaching can be a turning point in the further operation of this field. Heap leaching is widely applied at Priargun MCA. Commercial-scale introduction of in-situ leaching went wrong. The cause of the misfortune was inefficient blasting pre-treatment of ore before leaching; for another thing, mudding prevented speeding-up of chemical reactions in interaction of a leaching agent (sulfuric acid) and ore minerals. The research and development implemented jointly by the Transbaikal State University and Priargun MCA revealed the causes of in-situ leaching ineffectiveness in uranium production on the Streltsovo ore field. Furthermore, new ways are proposed for the wider application of in-situ leaching in uranium production from low-grade ore. This article discusses improvement of uranium recovery in solution by way of adjustment of a pH value in the medium, as well as by shrinkage of leached ore, with placement of higher grade ore at the bottom of a stope and lower grade ore at the top of the stope. The experiments prove that this approach can improve uranium recovery by 10–20%.

Zozulia A. M., Ovseychuk V. A. In-situ uranium leaching efficiency improvement by way of in-process loss reduction. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2021;(3-1):17—25. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2021_31_0_17.

Zozulia A. M., graduate student Underground Mining department;
Ovseychuk V. A., Dr. Sci. (Eng.), professor of Underground Mining department, Transbaikal State University, Chita, Russia.

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