Innovations in Uranium Exploration, Mining and Processing Techniques
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IAEA-TECDOC-868 Innovationsin uranium exploration, mining and processing techniques, explorationnew and target areas Proceedings of a Technical Committee meeting held in Vienna, 5-8 December 1994 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY The IAEA does not normally maintain stocks of reports in this series. However, microfiche copies of these reports can be obtained from INIS Clearinghouse International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramerstrasse5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria Orders should be accompanied by prepayment of Austrian Schillings 100,- for e for e chequ a th f m IAEth f mo n i o n i r Aeo microfiche service coupons which may be ordered separately from the INIS Clearinghouse. The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramerstrasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria INNOVATION URANIUSN I M EXPLORATION, MININ PROCESSIND GAN G TECHNIQUES, EXPLORATIOW NE D AN N TARGET AREAS IAEA, VIENNA, 1996 IAEA-TECDOC-868 ISSN 1011-4289 © IAEA, 1996 Printe IAEe th AustriAn y i d b a March 1996 FOREWORD Despite difficulties on the part of a portion of the public to accept nuclear power, uranium continueimportann a e b o t st energy resource n 199I . 4 there wer 2 nucleae43 r power plantn i s operation wit hcombinea d electricity generatin MWe7 g capacit34 0 achievo .T 34 f yo 0 e this00 8 5 , tonnes of uranium were required as nuclear fuel. In view of its economic importance, the International Atomic Energy Agency has had a long- standing interest in uranium exploration, resources, production and demand. This is reflected in numerous publications covering different aspects of this field. Particularly worth mentioning is the periodical "Uranium Resources, Production and Demand", published jointly with the Nuclear Energy Agenc OECDe th f yo fourteents It . h editio publishes nwa earln di y 1994. e objectivth s f thiwa o e t sI Technical Committee meeting e proceedingth , f whico s e har presented in this TECDOC, to bring together specialists in the field and to collect information on new development explorationn si , mining technique innovativd san e method processinf so g thamore ar t e environmentally friendly. The meeting was attended by a total of 22 participants from 14 countries. Eleven papers were presented describing new exploration areas, improvements in processing methods, new mining technique extractioe th r sfo higf no h grade oreinnovativd ,an e approache sitr sfo e reclamationo Tw . working groups were organized and dealt with the analysis of world uranium resources and the new directio researcf no processinge mininn hi or d gan . The meeting showed that great progress is being made in terms of efficiency of mining operations, protection of workers and the environment. The participation and contributions made at the meeting are gratefully acknowledged. Thanks alse ar o extende sessioe th o dt n chairman . BartheH , l fro Bundesanstale mth Geowissenschafter fu t n und Rohstoffe in Germany and J-L. Narcy from Cogema Resources Inc. in Canada. IAEe Th A staff member responsibl organizatioe th r efo implementatiod nan meetine th f ns o gwa J-P. Nicolet from the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Management. EDITORIAL NOTE preparingIn this publication press,for IAEAthe staffof have pages madethe up from the original manuscripts submittedas authors.the viewsby The expressed necessarilynot do reflect those of the governments of the nominating Member States or of the nominating organizations. Throughout textthe names Memberof States retainedare theyas were when textthe was compiled. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by publisher,the legalthe IAEA,to the status as of such countries territories,or of their authoritiesand institutions delimitation ofthe or theirof boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies productsor (whether indicatednot or registered)as does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the pan of the IAEA. The authors responsibleare havingfor obtained necessarythe permission IAEAthe to for reproduce, translate or use material from sources already protected by copyrights. CONTENTS Summary of the Technical Committee meeting . Uranium exploration and the environmental protection issue ................ 9 F.-J. Dahlkamp Current developments in uranium exploration activities in Egypt ............. 13 M.A.G. Hassan Comparative analysi uraniuf so m resource WOCf o s non-WOCd Aan A countrie5 2 . .. s A. V. Tarkhanov, V.I. Vetrov, A.A. Abrosimov On the possibility of identifying low cost, medium grade uranium deposits close Proterozoie th o t c unconformit Cuddapan yi h Basin, Andhra Pradesh, India ...5 3 . R.M. Sinha, T.N. Parthasarathy, K.K. Dwivedy systee Th f geologicamo l exploratio possiblr nfo influencL eIS e evaluation hi the southwestern forefield of the Straz uranium deposit in the North Bohemian Cretaceous, Czech Republic ...................... 57 J. Fiedler, T. Kafka, J. Slezdk The heritage programme hi the North Bohemia Region ................... 69 J. Tomas Induction log goo:A d watchdog ...............................9 7 . V. Stoje The Crow Butte ISL project: A case history ......................... 89 S. P. Callings, G. Catchpole, G. Kirchner An innovative jet boring mining method available for the high grade uraniu undergroune mor d deposits ............................9 11 . J.L. Narcy Application of radiometric ore sorting to Kalimantan ores (KALAN Project) ...... 133 G. Lyaudet, M. Roche Researc counter-currene th n ho t heap leaching proces treatinr sfo g common grade uranium recene ore Chinth n si d t developmentaan s ........3 14 . R.S. Xia Lis Participantf o t s .......................................7 14 . SUMMARY OF THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING The objective of the Technical Committee Meeting on Innovations in Uranium Exploration, Minin Processind gan g Technique Exploratiow Ne d san n Target discuso Areat s statue swa sth f so and new trends in exploration, improvements in milling methods, mill design and tailings disposal, new research in mining methods and exploration status and supply-demand. Since about 1980 internationae ,th l uranium marke bees tha n experiencin declinega , mainls ya a consequence of the slower than expected growth hi nuclear power development in the world. This decline has affected all areas of the uranium industry, ranging from exploration to production and has also had an impact on employment and the financial standing of the mining companies. This decline has also resulte consolidatioe th n di uraniue th f no m industry through merge acquisitiod ran e th d nan closing dow f operationno s that were unabl survivo et pricw lo eea market presene th t A .t time only companies witoperatinw hlo g cost d countriean s s that hav enationaa l strateg their yfo r nuclear programmes are active in exploration. pasyeare w demanth e fe t r sth Fo uraniur dfo drawin y b bees t m ha variou nn me g o s stockpiles that provide requiremente th df o abou% 45 f tnuclea o s r power plants suppliee Th . s coming from mines represent only 55% of the total requirements. If the supplies available from stockpiles decrease, as is expected, there will be an acute shortage until mining companies can increase production to meet the requirement. This shortag lese b sy acute ma stockpilU e wheHE e neth becomes available. Exploration funds are now mainly utilized for detailed exploration delineation and development of orebodies. Industr governmend yan t expenditur Membee th i eh r States have been estimatee b o dt US $79 350 000 compared with US $164 672 000 in 1989. If this trend continues, it will be difficult to find major deposits to replace those being exploited. The papers exploratiorelatew ne o dt n target areas indicated that nonconformity type deposits may exis arean i t s aside from those already know i Canadnh Australiad aan papee Th . r presentey db R.M. Sinha from India gave suc perspectiveha papee Th . r presente A.Vy db . Tarkhanov froe mth Russian Federation also indicated potentia sitn i ur leachinfo l g operations. Three papers from the Czech Republic describe the state of certain in situ leach mining operation reclamatioe th d san n work being carried out particulaf .O r interes . papee StojV th y s erti b on induction log as a good watchdog which provides a monitoring method to survey the flow of a polluted groundwater mass. The paper presented by S.P. Collings of the United States of America on the Crow Butte ISL Project describe t operatioar techniqueL e stata sth IS f n neo i s with emphasi environmentalln o s y friendly methods descriptioe .Th aquifef no r restoratio decommissionind nan g provide finsa e example of good mining practice. High grade deposits presen majota r challeng termn ei radof so n emanatio radioprotectiond nan . Underground mining of high grade ore presents even greater difficulties as it is not possible to have workers in contact with the ore. Several mining methods have been considered to solve these difficulties and one of the newest methods is the jet boring method being tried at the Cigar Lake deposi Saskatchewann i t , Canada. This metho capabilite bases di th n d o hig a f yho pressure watet rje to desegregat inte or oslurra e eth y tha beins i t g transported through mill e pipeth .o st s Prio it o t r disintegration by jet boring the surrounding ground and the ore is frozen, ensuring stability of the weather rocks and controlling water inflows and radon emanation during development and mining. The jet boring method is a new entry mining method allowing for the mining of cavities away from drift located below the orebody.