Managing the Horizon-oriented In-Situ Leaching for the Uranium Deposits of Mongolia

This paper summarizes the results of evaluating uranium in-situ leaching (ISL) parameters for hydrogenous deposits in eastern Mongolia. This method, also known as in-situ recovery (ISR) or solution mining was proposed for mining used to extract uranium from underground deposits without physically removing the ore. The studies included drilling, geo-physical surveying, evaluations of rock properties and chemical composition of rocks and groundwater, as well as model-ling coupled flow and transport for the "Ul'zit" deposit as a case study. The proposed horizon-oriented approach to pro-cess separate ore bodies at different depths allows for the mining process to be adapted to layered heterogeneity and al-lows successive leaching by wells of varying diameter and special design. This approach may reduce drilling costs and shorten the time for mining uranium deposits in Mongolia by 2 times on average. It was proven that this method is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to traditional underground or open-pit mining for uranium ore bodies. The economic evaluation confirms the effectiveness of the proposed solutions.