Analyzing changes in a leach solution oxygenation in the process of uranium ore borehole mining

Erbolat Aben¹, Bakytzhan Toktaruly¹, Nursultan Khairullayev¹, Mukhtar Yeluzakh¹

¹Satbayev University, Almaty, 50013, Kazakhstan

Min. miner. depos. 2021, 15(3):39-44

https://doi.org/10.33271/mining15.03.039

Full text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

Purpose is to increase uranium content in a PR solution while developing a technique varying oxidation-reduction potential of a leach solution with its oxygenation and identify changes in the oxygenation depending upon sulfuric acid concentration as well as transportation distance of the solution.

Methods. A laboratory facility, involving solution tank, pump, Venturi tube, tank to install oxygen analyzer, and a dump tank, has been manufactured under the lab conditions to determine a leach solution oxygenation taking into consideration its delivery rate, sulfuric acid concentration, and temporal preservation of the concentration. Solution flow velocity; the deli-vered solution volume; sulfuric acid concentration; and distance from oxygenation point to a seam changed and varied during the study. Oxygenation was measured with the help of AZ 8403 oximeter; IT-1101 device was used to measure pH value as well as oxidation-reduction potential (ORP).

Findings. A technique for a leach solution oxygenation and results of laboratory tests to identify influence of a sulfuric acid as well as transportation distance of a solution on oxygen concentration in the solution have been represented. It has been determined that Venturi tube helps oxygenize a leach solution; in this context, maximum oxygen concentration is achieved if a flow velocity is optimum one. It has been specified that a solution oxygenating depends upon a sulfuric acid concentration decreasing moderately with the increasing distance of the solution transportation.

Originality.Following new dependencies have been determined: oxygen concentration in a solution upon a flow velocity and solution volume; and oxygen concentration in a solution upon distance from concentration place and sulfuric acid concentration.

Practical implications.A leach solution oxygenation results in the increased oxidation-reduction potential and in the increased content of a useful component in the pregnant solution respectively. The proposed technique is notable for its low capital spending. Moreover, it is integrated easily into the available system being absolutely environmentally friendly.

Keywords:saturation, oxygen, borehole, sulfuric acid, leach solution, pregnant solution, flow velocity

REFERENCES

Nikulin, A.A. (2013). Perspektivy mirovogo rynka urana v kontekste novykh tendentsiy razvitiya yadernoy energetiki. Problemy Natsional’noy Strategii, (2), 104-122.
Ali, A., Audi, M., & Roussel, Y. (2021). Natural resources depletion, renewable energy consumption and environmental degradation: a comparative analysis of developed and developing world. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 11(3), 251-260. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.11008
Riekhof, M.-C., Regnier, E., & Quaas, M.F. (2019). Economic growth, international trade, and the depletion or conservation of renewable natural resources. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, (97), 116-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2018.04.008
Becken, S. (2014). Oil depletion or a market problem? A framing analysis of peak oil in The Economist news magazine. Energy Research & Social Science, (2), 125-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2014.03.018
Sorrell, S., Speirs, J., Bentley, R., Brandt, A., & Miller, R. (2010). Global oil depletion: A review of the evidence. Energy Policy, 38(9), 5290-5295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.04.046
Yulusov, S., Surkova, T.Y., Amanzholova, L.U., & Barmenshinova, M.B. (2018). On sorption of the rare-earth elements. Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 53(1), 79-82.
Surkova, T.Y., & Kozlov, V.A. (2018). Application of hydrolytic precipitation for separation of rare-earth and impurity. Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 53(1), 27-30.
Gupta, K., Ripberger, J.T., Fox, A.S., Jenkins-Smith, H.C., & Silva, C.L. (2021). The future of nuclear energy in India: Evidence from a nationwide survey. Energy Policy, (156), 112388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112388
Zhan, L., Bo, Y., Lin, T., & Fan, Z. (2021). Development and outlook of advanced nuclear energy technology. Energy Strategy Reviews, (34), 100630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2021.100630
Nathaniel, S.P., Alam, M.S., Murshed, M., Mahmood, H., & Ahmad, P. (2021). The roles of nuclear energy, renewable energy, and economic growth in the abatement of carbon dioxide emissions in the G7 countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13728-6
Kuandykov, T., Nauryzbayeva, D., Yelemessov, K, Karmanov, T., Kakimov, U., & Kolga, A. (2020). Development and justification of a hydro-impulse method for increasing ore permeability in conditions of uranium borehole production. News of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Series of Geology and Technical Sciences, 6(444), 126-133. https://doi.org/10.32014/2020.2518-170X.139
Mendygaliyev, A., Arshamov, Y., Selezneva, V., Yazikov, E., & Bekbotayeva, A. (2021). Prospects for application of multi-spectral earth sensing data in forecasting and searching for reser-voir-infiltration uranium deposits. News of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Series of Geology and Technical Sciences, 2(446), 90-97. https://doi.org/10.32014/2021.2518-170X.39
Lyashenko, V.I. (2003). Development of scientific foundations of nature- and resource-saving technologies for in-situ exploitation of uranium deposits. Metallurgicheskaya i Gornorudnaya Promyshlennost’, (1), 133-139.
Lyashenko, V.I., Franchuk, V.P., & Kisly, B.P. (2015). Reengineering of technical-and-technological structure of uranium mine. Gornyi Zhurnal, (1). https://doi.org/10.17580/gzh.2015.01.05
Kanevskij, E.A., Filippov, A.P., Yakubovich, I.A., & Nevskij, O.B. (1961). Vyshchelachivanie pri pnevmaticheskom peremeshivanii al’bititovoy rudy Zheltorechenskogo mestorozhdeniya s primeneniem v kachestve okisliteley pirolyuzita i nitrozy. NII-10. No. 6357.
Derek, M. (2015). Insight: Uranium is in a holding pattern. Commodity Insights Bulletin, 8 p.
Sukhodolov, A.P. (2010). Mirovye zapasy urana: Perspektivy syr’yevogo obespecheniya atomnoy energetiki. Izvestiya Irkutskoy Gosudarstvennoy Ekonomicheskoy Akademii, 4(72), 166-169.
Boytsov, A. (2014). Worldwide ISL uranium mining outlook: Presentation. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Uranium Raw Material for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Exploration, Mining, Production, Supply and Demand, Economics and Environmental Issues, 1-23.
Esmaeel, S.M.A. (2020). Sorption of uranium after carbonate leaching by low cost activated carbon-aluminum ferrisilicate composite. International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2020.1758685
Lunt, D., Boshoff, P., Boylett, M., & El-Ansary, Z. (2007). Uranium extraction: the key process drivers. Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 107(7), 419-426.
Polinovskiy, K.D. (2012). Kompleksnyy podkhod k izucheniyu problem intensifikacii processa PSV urana. Gornyy Informatsionno-Analiticheskiy Byulleten’, (7), 1-7.
Pastuhov, A.M. (2013). Otchet o nauchno-issledovatel’skoy rabote po teme: “Primenenie iskusstvennykh okisliteley dlya intensifikatsii protsessa podzemnogo vyshchelachivaniya urana”. Ekaterinburg, Rossiya, 167 s.
Luskin, A.Z. (1982). Issledovaniya tekhnologii pererabotki rud mestorozhdeniya Semizbay geotekhnologicheskimi sposobami. Moskva, Rossiya: Fondy CNIL CGHK.
Baibatsha, A., Dussembayeva, K., Bekbotayeva, A., & Abdullayeva, М.T. (2018). Tails of enrichment factories as the technogenic mineral resources. International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference Surveying Geology and Mining Ecology Management, 18(1), 519-526. https://doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018/1.1/S01.066
Kruglov, O., & Menshov, O. (2017). To the soil magnetic susceptibility application in modern soil science. 16^th International Conference on Geoinformatics – Theoretical and Applied Aspects. https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.201701906
Zhautikov, F.B., Isagulov, A.Z., Zhautikov, B.A., Romanov, V.I., & Babenko, A.A. (2019). Development and implementation of a device for the separation of metal and slag during tundish filling. Metallurgist, 63(7-8), 672-674. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11015-019-00874-z
Baibatsha, A., Dyussembayeva, K., & Bekbotayeva, A. (2016). Study of tails enrichment factory Zhezkazgan as a technogenic ore deposits. International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference Surveying Geology and Mining Ecology Management, (1), 579-586. https://doi.org/10.5593/SGEM2016/B11/S01.073
Omarbekov, Ye., & Yussupov, Kh. (2020). Improving the technology of uranium mining under the conditions of high groundwater pressure. Mining of Mineral Deposits, 14(3), 112-118. https://doi.org/10.33271/mining14.03.112
Aben, E., Markenbayev, Zh., Khairullaev, N., Myrzakhmetov, S., & Aben, Kh. (2019). Study of change in the leaching solution activity after treatment with a cavitator. Mining of Mineral Deposits, 13(4), 114-120. https://doi.org/10.33271/mining13.04.114
Yusupov, Kh.A., & Dzhakupov, D.A. (2017). Ammonium bifluoride in chemical treatment of boreholes in in-situ uranium leaching. Gornyy Zhurnal, (4), 57-60. https://doi.org/10.17580/gzh.2017.04.11
Reader-Harris, M. (2015). Venturi tube design. Orifice Plates and Venturi Tubes, 77-96. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16880-7_3