uranium

mining uranium 

australia has mined uranium since 1954, three mines are currently been mined.Uranium resources can be extracted from the ground in three ways: open pit, underground, and in-situ leach (ISL).Open pit mining, also known as strip mining, is the removal of surficial soils and uneconomic rock to get at the ore below. Ore grades are normally less than 0.5%. This is type of mining is only possible if the uranium ore is near the surface (normally less than 400 ft).Underground mining is used to get at higher concentrations of uranium that are too deep to get at from open-pit. The ore is drilled, then blasted to create debris which is then transported to the surface, then on to a mill. For both traditional underground and open pit mining, the rocks may have only a few percent (normally <0.3%) uranium in them. The uranium then has to be removed from the rock and concentrated. The milling process involves crushing and pulverizing the rock into very fine fragments and adding water to create a slurry. This slurry is then mixed with sulfuric acid or an alkaline solution to release the uranium from the host rock. Normally approximately 95 - 98% of the uranium can be recovered from the host rock. From this acid or alkaline solution, uranium oxide or yellowcake is precipitated. This is still not the purest form, and the uranium has to be sent to another plant to enrich it