Uranium mining ISR is responsible for almost all uranium mining in the United States (with the exception of phosphate production). More than 20 percent of global uranium mining now comes from in situ recovery, primarily through the In Situ Leach (ISL) mining industry in Kazakhstan and Australia.
Due to the large number of uranium ISR projects on the horizon over the next ten years, both in the United States, Kazakhstan, and Australia, the in situ uranium mining method (ISR) will provide tens of millions of pounds of newly mined uranium to American and global utilities by 2020 .
We discussed the basics of uranium mining ISR with Bill Boberg, the head of the executive directorate of UR-Energy, which plans to mine the Wouming uranium deposits and the lost Lost Woloming mine in 2008 using the on-site uranium mining method in 2008 in 2008. We discussed many environmental issues that our readers wanted more information.
StockInterview: How did uranium really hit the sandstones and become front-end deposits?
Bill Boberg: Natural processes forced the uranium deposit to be in an aquifer in the first place. Uranium was precipitated by natural groundwater flow, when natural oxygen in groundwater was exhausted due to natural chemical reactions with minerals and organic material contained in the sands of the aquifer itself. Uranium is still transported by groundwater entering the field. Passing groundwater also naturally leaches parts of the field and re-precipitates it at a short distance. This is indeed a very common natural process that occurs in many aquifers.
StockInterview: When you use the ISR method, do you destroy or pollute the aquifer where you work?
Bill Boberg: Probably thousands of uranium deposits in the world are distinguished by their quality in sandstones, which are also aquifers. Only a few hundred of them will contain sufficient uranium for the event. There, and if it is mined, much of the uranium that was in the aquifer will actually be removed from the aquifer instead of remaining there. The in situ mining process (ISR) simply cancels the natural process that first placed uranium. This is a very simple process. The recovery process after the completion of production actually returns the aquifer back to pre-mining conditions. It is impossible for the aquifer to be polluted or destroyed (by ISR mining).
StockInterview: Many environmentalists say that by removing uranium, you change the aquifer. Is the aquifer significantly different than before extraction?
Bill Boberg: Probably not. The formation of uranium deposits in sandstones is the result of oxidized groundwater that comes from the surface, with uranium that precipitates when oxygen is depleted or finally depleted. The deposit is located in sandstone. As fresh oxygen is brought to this point, it dissolves again and moves the uranium further.
StockInterview: How do you know where to deposit fresh oxygen?
Bill Boberg: On one side of the field, we call the altered or oxidized sands. On the underside of the sediment are recovered sands. There is no oxygen in these sands. Any liquid containing uranium in the reconstituted sands will use oxygen and immediately deposit uranium in natural processes. The extraction process adds extra oxygen to the water in the field itself to force the uranium to go into solution. Then it can be pumped up to the surface. The area of reduced sand that is downstream of the field still exists. This is the contact between modified or oxidized sand and reduced sand, which causes the deposition of uranium in the sand. Because the natural flow of groundwater transfers uranium to recovered sands, natural processes cause the precipitation of uranium from groundwater, if there are some that do not fall to the surface and are not extracted during mining.
StockInterview: How do you control the flow of water during the ISR mining process?
Bill Boberg: fluid flow is controlled by pumping a production well at a faster rate than injection wells that inject the fluid. In other words, we create a stream into a production well, because it is pumped at a faster rate than the fluid injected into the surrounding injection wells. By doing this, we get a certain amount of "bleeding." Most groundwater regularly returns to the aquifer. About half to one percent of the water used in the system is actually “because we pump the production wells at a faster rate — from half to one percent more than what we inject. This is how we control the flow from the injection wells to the production wells. wells.
StockInterview: What is the solution you will use during the ISR process in Wyoming?
Bill Boberg: This will be an alkaline solution - basically just adding carbonate and oxygen to normal groundwater. The carbonate may be in the form of simple soda bicarbonate or carbon dioxide gas itself. The solution used was described as slightly different from Perrier® water. The solution is not something outside the scope of normal groundwater and will not cause any problems. The combination of carbon dioxide or bicarbonate soda and oxygen in groundwater is indeed a fairly benign solution. But it changes its chemical character accordingly, which leads to the fact that uranium goes into solution. It really just reverses the process that caused uranium to be deposited in the first place. Uranium precipitates in a reduced form. The alkaline solution simply cancels the sediment formation process, using the water already in the sediment. Adding oxygen to it allows uranium to enter the solution and then unload to the surface. There, the uranium is removed on a polycarbonate resin in an ion exchange column.
StockInterview: But in other regions of the world, such as Kazakhstan, we are talking about sulfuric acid in the method of uranium mining uranium at the mining site.
Bill Boberg: Sulfuric acid will not be used as part of our in situ mining process. Sandstone deposits in the Wyoming area are very suitable for in situ alkali metal mining. The use of acid for in situ mining is considered feasible only in certain geological conditions, especially in areas with very low water quality. Where we received good water quality in Wyoming areas, where we will mine, alkali is a much more suitable means of in situ mining. When using alkalis, it is much easier to clean and restore the aquifer later. Acids can react to many things between uranium. They can dissolve pyrite, sulphides and other minerals in sandstone. The acid can release much more undesirable things into the reservoir, which can make it difficult in some cases to recover uranium and make it difficult to perform proper restoration work. The alkaline process is a much cleaner process, and it is much easier to restore the aquifer.
StockInterview: Tell us about creating an ISR well field for uranium mining.
Bill Boberg: The wells are installed similarly to the most common water wells - with PVC pipelines. The PVC casing will be cemented on site, and then a pipeline similar to that used for irrigation will be used to transport water to injection wells. Similar pipelines will receive the same water coming out of the production well, moving it to the ion exchange column. When you get to it, it’s basically a water factory. You are dealing with pipelines, water and oxygen and bicarbonate soda. There is not much that can cause anyone a problem.
StockInterview: In some parts of the United States there were problems with water use. Will your company consume large amounts of water when mining in Lost Creek or Lost Soldier?
Bill Boberg: Consumption will be really low because in situ mining is basically a closed process. We use groundwater, which is located on the uranium deposit itself. We pump it out. We bring it to the surface. We charge it with oxygen and bicarbonate soda. Then we return it back through the reservoir. Ninety-nine percent or more of the water remains in the reservoir. We only need to export and dispose of half to one percent of the water we produce.
StockInterview: While ISR, how does your company ensure that radiation does not go beyond the limits of the aquifer and does not pollute people with groundwater or livestock?
Bill Boberg: The Key is a very extensive monitoring program through a well monitoring system. They surround the fields of wells. Shallow control wells look at all overlying aquifers of drinking water. Monitor wells are very close to the well field. The production process is carried out by pumping at such a rate, so it leads the flow to the production wells. This ensures that the flow of groundwater does not move the rock from the production wells. From the point of view of the mining company, this would be a huge waste if we could not control the fluids. We would have huge expenses if we could not take fluids where we want. As a result, we carefully set up the process so that the fluids move as we need them. Monitor wells help us understand that we control the flow of water. Well monitoring also helps the state government and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to monitor our fluid flow.
StockInterview: What happens when the bells go off or does the alarm sound on the monitor pads?
Bill Boberg: If any of the wells gives an idea of the potential of mining solutions that fall in the vicinity of the control wells, we immediately stop the implementation of the solutions and use overload. return the solution back to the mine. Watch the wells so that we can see what is happening in the area. They are there so that we can ensure that our operations are performed properly. If the solution really hits the monitor well, it's not that bad. He tells us that we need to make some corrections and move forward. Well monitoring helps us improve control in the natural system we are dealing with.
StockInterview: How do you restore water to its preliminary quality?
Bill Boberg: The aquifer is usually restored using a reverse osmosis process. This is a superfiltration process. We can also use other methods, such as reduction or bioremediation. But reverse osmosis is likely to be more widely used. More than 99 percent of the water used in the extraction process is recycled. It returns to the aquifer after it is restored to the surface. These are only new volumes of newly recovered water, which are pumped back through the mined area to ensure that it is returned to pre-demining conditions. Only small amounts of water remaining with greater concentration can either be evaporated or distilled to create solid waste for disposal. Or they will be disposed of in a licensed deck.
StockInterview: Could you explain the deep recycling process?
Bill Boberg: Deep deletion is an activity that is strictly licensed and controlled by the states. This is not the case once the completion of the mining activity is completed, but probably something that can be used in the mining process. This is the following: wastewater is introduced into a very deep rock. The well for burial is too deep and with such low water quality that it can never be used for drinking water. These wells typically have a depth of 6,000 or more feet. The retention properties of a deep burial unit should be capable of containing disposed water without the possibility of leakage to other mountain structures. This is a common and common method of disposing of liquid. It is strictly licensed and controlled. We are currently evaluating both our project areas using old oil and gas drilling logs in the area for blocks of rocks that may be favorable for installing deep-well wells. As I already said, a well for deep burial is a small percentage of the total volume of water that will be processed.
StockInterview: How can environmentalists be confident that water will be restored to production conditions?
Bill Boberg: Wyoming and Nebraska have a similar law that requires 100 percent binding for land reclamation. Bonds are the result of a calculation, depending on the various properties of the deposit and how the mining industry will connect, which determines what will cost the state to compete with the recovery if the company goes bankrupt or is unable to work anymore in rebuilding the mine. This is a complete 100 percent compound, which is determined in advance. It is probably in the range of tens of millions of dollars that will be required for bonding.
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