Flow Microbalance Simulation of Pumping and Injection Unit in In Situ Leaching Uranium Mining Area

In situ leaching (ISL) uranium mining technology is an in situ mining technology in which the chemical solution is injected into the ore-bearing strata through drilling wells, and the solution moves along the ore bed by controlling the hydraulic gradient of the flow field and reacts with the ore to...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chong Zhang, Kaixuan Tan, Tingting Xie, Yahui Tan, Lingdi Fu, Nan Gan, Lingzhen Kong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
Series:Processes
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/8/1288
Description
Summary:In situ leaching (ISL) uranium mining technology is an in situ mining technology in which the chemical solution is injected into the ore-bearing strata through drilling wells, and the solution moves along the ore bed by controlling the hydraulic gradient of the flow field and reacts with the ore to form uranium-bearing solution. To reduce leaching dead angle in the process of leaching, each pumping and injection unit should achieve uniform leaching at the end of production, and appropriate pumping and injection mode should be adopted for pumping and injection wells of each unit in the mining area. In this paper, on the basis of the actual production data of a sandstone uranium mine, we established the unit flow model of ISL uranium mining area by using GMS software. The unit flow balance of 72 boreholes in the whole mining area was analyzed and optimized through the model. The concept of flow microbalance of pumping and injection unit in the mining area is put forward for the first time, and the calculation equation of supply and receive the flow of pumping and injection well is determined. The calculation and analysis process of flow microbalance of pumping and injection unit in mining area is established. The simulation results showed that the application effect of the model was good, and the correlation coefficient of the solute transport model reached 0.8.
ISSN:2227-9717