Prospects for use of chlorine-containing leaching solutions for extraction of associated useful components from spent ores of uranium deposits

Abstract

Work aimed at diversification of production through the additional extraction of associated useful components at uranium mines. The peculiarity of the work carried out is the additional processing of spent uranium mines at the existing ones using the existing production infrastructure for the extraction of associated useful components. The technology of underground leaching is well developed for uranium deposits. The leaching of associated useful components differs from the leaching of uranium only in the reagents used, and they are fundamentally similar to the method of underground-borehole leaching. Even if there are associated components in the uranium-bearing sands with a content of less than 1 g/t, up to 0.1 g/t production can be profitable. The use of ready-made infrastructure of uranium mines on spent blocks of deposits allows us to expect positive economic profitability in the future.