Abstract
In-situ leach mining for uranium is an emerging technology. Currently, the selection of a well pattern designed to recover mineral values is governed primarily by arguments based on hydrological considerations. The effects of well pattern and well spacing on uranium recovery and oxidant utilization are considered in this paper. As expected, formation permeability heterogeneities and anisotropies are found to be important issues requiring careful consideration, however, it also is shown that chemical factors cannot be ignored. In particular, it is shown that the oxidant efficiency and the produced uranium solution concentrations are sensitive to the presence of other minerals competing with uranium for oxidant. If the Damkohler number for competing minerals, which measures the speed of the reaction, exceeds that for uranium, the competing mineral will have to be oxidized completely to recover a large proportion of the uranium. If the Damkohler number is smaller, it may be possible to achieve considerable selectivity for uranium by adjusting the well spacing. It also is shown that the oxidant efficiency is generally highest for well patterns that give streamlines of roughly equal length and that there is a minimum distance between injection and production wells to utilize oxidant most advantageously.
Introduction
In-situ solution mining is a process whereby uranium is recovered from permeable sandstone bodies by injecting and producing a leach solution through an array of wells penetrating the mineralized zone. It appears to have broad application and in many situations offers both economic and environmental advantages. The processes may be classified generally as acid or alkaline, but the general features of both are the same. The insoluble uranium in the mineralized zone is in the +4 state of oxidation. To be mobilized, the uranium must be oxidized to the +6 state and complexed either with sulfate in the case of acid leaching or carbonate in the case of alkaline leaching to form highly soluble uranyl sulfates or carbonates. The leach solutions, therefore, contain an oxidant (oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, ferric cations, sodium hyperchlorite, etc.) together with a complexing agent (anion). The choice of leach solution depends on a number of factors including selectivity and injectivity. For example, formations containing more than 1 wt% carbonates are not likely to be candidates for acid leaching because of the large acid requirement and because of permeability loss due to precipitation of calcium sulfate. It is the purpose of this paper to consider the technical factors (as opposed to economic) that govern the choice of well pattern to be used for leaching. The discussion is structured so that the conclusions apply to both alkaline and acid lixiviants and to any oxidant, although an occasional reference to a particular oxidant may appear. Considerable use is made of the computer simulator previously reported. The computational details are available in that paper. A number of factors that pertain to the selection of a well pattern are considered. It is shown that the effectiveness of the oxidant - i.e., the uranium recovered per unit of oxidant injected - is related to the well pattern, to the reaction rates, and to the permeability variations, especially if the formation is anisotropic. Furthermore, the spacing between wells is related to reactions with oxidizable minerals that compete for oxidant. These considerations can be quantified to some extent by studying linear systems.
Linear Flow Systems
SPEJ
P. 132^
Gradient-based selection of cross sections: a novel approach for optimal frame structure design
