Conveners
Uranium mining and processing
- Henry Schnell (HA SCHNELL Consulting Inc)
- Akshaya Kumar Sarangi (Uranium Corporation of India Ltd)
Mr
Henry Schnell
(HA SCHNELL Consulting Inc)
26/06/2014, 12:00
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
Heap leach looks easy, seems inexpensive and easy to design and operate. Is that really how this works? What are the issues to consider using heap leach for a uranium project?
Heap leach or dump leach has been practiced for the recovery of uranium and other metals for many decades, but the technology has advanced and now there are several new important projects underway in uranium...
Mr
Jacques THIRY
(AREVA)
26/06/2014, 12:30
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
Dump Leaching was used in the past for uranium recovery from low grade uranium ores, mainly in the USA and in Canada. AREVA had in the eighties some installations in France and Niger.
The renewal of uranium market by the end of 2005 and the advances in the heap leaching technology commonly applied in Copper and Gold mining industry renewed the interest for considering heap leaching as a...
Mr
Luiz Alberto GOMIERO
(Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil S/A - INB, Brazil)
26/06/2014, 14:30
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
The Caetité-Brazil uranium facility produces about 400 tonnes/year of U3O8 from an ore averaging 0.29 U3O8 %. The steps of the process consist in: ore crushing, heap leaching with sulfuric acid, U separation and purification by solvent extraction with a tertiary amine followed by stripping with a sodium chloride solution and precipitation as ammonium uranate and then dried. A change in the...
Mr
David Scriven
(Ablation Technologies, LLC)
26/06/2014, 15:00
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
Ablation Technologies, LLC has developed and patented a revolutionary mining technology termed “ablation”. Ablation is a process using only mechanical forces to upgrade sandstone uranium ores. Uranium bearing sandstone orebodies are formed from a uranium enriched solution flowing through an aquifer until it reached some type of a “red/ox” zone forcing the uranium and other heavy metals to...
Dr
Mark Maley
(ANSTO Minerals)
26/06/2014, 15:30
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
The Kintyre uranium deposit is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and is jointly owned by Cameco and Mitsubishi. The current indicated resource estimate is approximately 55 million pounds of uranium (as U3O8 equivalent) at an average grade of 0.58%. Due to the high levels of carbonate minerals in the deposit, alkaline leaching was strongly considered as an option to the...
Dr
Robert Beeson
(Aura Energy Ltd)
26/06/2014, 16:00
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
The Reguibat Project is a major greenfields calcrete uranium discovery in Mauritania with 49 Mlbs in current resources. The mineralisation is amenable to exceptional levels of pre-concentration, and will require relatively small leaching capability. Leach grades will be in the 0.2-0.5% U3O8 range.
The area of the deposit is flat lying, and is largely devoid of vegetation. The only people in...
Dr
Robert Ring
(ANSTO Minerals)
26/06/2014, 17:00
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
The Falea uranium, silver, copper deposit is located in south western Mali, West Africa and is owned by Denison Mines Corp. The current resource estimate is approximately 45 million pounds of uranium (U3O8) at an average grade of ~ 0.07% U3O8. The deposit also contains ~ 37 million Oz Ag and ~70,000 t Cu. The dominant uranium mineral is uraninite, copper is present mainly as chalcopyrite...
Dr
Valery Litvinenko
(Russia)
26/06/2014, 17:30
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
Production of uranium ores has been carried out in the Russian Federation from the Streltsovsly group of deposits by the Priargunsky Mining and Chemical plant OJSC since 1970. During the exploitation period, the ore bodies most rich with uranium were mined-out. At the present time, the uranium content is about 2 times lower compared to that of the ores produced in 1970-2000. Deterioration of...
Mr
Peter Bartsch
(Alchemides Pty Ltd)
26/06/2014, 18:00
Uranium mining and processing
Oral
Uranium solvent extraction, USX has been applied commercially for recovery and concentration for over 60 years. Uranium in acidic liquor, which is prepared following ore leaching, solid/liquid separation and clarification, can be treated through a sequence of operations; extraction-scrubbing-stripping, to obtain purified liquor, and hence precipitation of marketable products.
USX has...
