![]() ![]() “Before we completed the Feasibility Field Test in late 2022, we spent four years of preparation including data collection, developing models, enhancing our engineering design, and metallurgic testing.” “We’ve been very systematic in the de-risking of the ISR mining method at Phoenix,” Cates emphasizes. All workers will be above ground, in a highly controlled work environment however, many of the skills they may have acquired at other mines will be applicable to the Wheeler River project. This is where the relatively small size of the Phoenix deposit becomes a major advantage.įor workers, the Wheeler River Uranium Project has several benefits. ![]() To prevent the water in the area from diluting the uranium-dissolving mining solution, Denison will use the water that is already in the Athabasca Basin’s sandstone to create an impermeable “freeze wall” several metres thick and some 400 metres deep to completely surround the drilling and extraction operations. All of the sandstone rock throughout the Athabasca Basin is saturated with water, which makes underground mining in the region particularly challenging. When compared to typical uranium ISR mining operations in the world, the richness of the Phoenix deposit enabled Denison to take the ISR method one step further - a step that will uniquely safeguard the ground adjacent to the proposed operation. In situ recovery (ISR) uses a solution to dissolve the uranium right in the ground, without removing any of the rock, then pumping the dissolved solution to the surface, where the solution is transformed into yellow cake, the same material produced at any uranium mining and milling operation. The solution to the puzzle for Denison turned out to be the most commonly used method for uranium mining in other countries. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. “Because of their size, previous mines in the region really never needed to solve the mining method puzzle quite like we have had to.” It just wasn’t big enough to justify the cost,” explains David Cates, president and CEO of Denison Mines. “Even though the deposit is high grade, our project didn’t look good as an underground mine. In contrast, the Phoenix deposit at the Wheeler River Uranium Project, of which Denison owns 95 per cent, is similarly high-grade, but several times smaller. This method is economically feasible for a company when the deposits are relatively massive and high grade, such as Cameco’s McArthur River and Cigar Lake mines. Traditional uranium mining in Saskatchewan removes the rock, through either an open pit or an underground mine, then crushes and treats it in a mill at the surface to extract the uranium. Activate your Online Access Now Article contentĪs a mineral, uranium is contained in rock. If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, unlimited online access is included in your subscription. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |