mining of uranium

Mining of Uranium By: Sandy Smith

Total amount of uranium mined was 50,572 tons in 2009.

Top three producers of uranium are Kazakhstan, Australia and Canada.

Mined uranium from bedrock called ores. Percents of top uranium miners world wide

are Kazakhstan 16%, Australia 22%, Canada 23%, and all other countries produce under 10% of world uranium mining. (2007)

Facts about uranium mining

Sedimentary in the U.S and Canada. Precambrian in Canada. And Calcrete which is found in bedrock in

western U.S. Hydrothermal igneous rock called nephline

syenite is found in Greenland. Disseminated deposits/ uranium bearing

Pegimates can be found in Namibia western U.S, Alaska and Washington.

Types of uranium deposit

Open pit- A pit is made by removing top soil by blasting and drilling to expose ore body. Then the ores with uranium are mined by again blasting and drilling then taking it out with loaders and dump trucks.

Underground- Only used is the uranium ore is too deep for open pit mining. It’s the process of shaft then dropping down to make tunnels horizontally at intervals 100-150 meters apart. Very similar to hard rock mining like gold or coal.

ISL- a.k.a in situ leeching is the process in which a solution is made mixing chemicals together and dissolving the earth and the mineral itself then taking it back to the wanted form. But can also be risky because it could pollute any nearby water source

Mining Techniques (major)

The End What was the total amount of tons of

uranium in 2009? Name one type of uranium deposit in

Canada. How did they mine out the uranium in

the ISL technique?SourcesWikipedia