Overview
Stage | Permitting |
Mine Type | In-Situ |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
- Resin adsorption
- In-Situ Recovery (ISR)
- Ion Exchange (IX)
|
Uranium Energy Corp. is continuing as planned towards uranium extraction at its fully-permitted Goliad Project. |
Source:
p. 12
Uranium Energy Corp. holds various mining lease and surface use agreements having an initial five-year term with extension provisions, granting us the exclusive right to explore, develop and mine for uranium at the Goliad Project, a 995-acre property located in Goliad County, Texas, subject to certain fixed royalty interests or indexed to the sale price of uranium.
Summary:
Mineralization within the Goliad Formation typically occurs within fluvial sands and silts as roll front deposits that are typically a “C” or cutoff “C” shape. The roll fronts are generally associated with an extended oxidation-reduction boundary or front. However, at the Goliad Project the mineralization is mostly tabular in nature and the typical “C” shape is frequently lacking. Additionally, the mineralized sediments are generally in unoxidized sediments.
At the Goliad Project there are four (A-D) stacked mineralized sand horizons that are separated vertically by zones of finer sand, silt, and clay. Deposition and concentration of uranium in the Goliad Formation likely resulted due to a combination of leaching of uranium from volcanic tuff or ash deposits within the Goliad or erosion of uraniumbearing materials from older Oakville deposits. The leaching process occurred near the outcrop area where recharge of oxidizing groundwater increased the solubility of uranium minerals in the interstices and coating sand grains in the sediments. Subsequent downgradient migration of the soluble uranium within the oxygenated groundwater continued until the geochemica conditions became reducing and uranium minerals were deposited in tabular bodies due to varying stratigraphic or structural conditions.
The Goliad Project uranium-bearing units occur as tabular deposits in vertically stacked sands and sandstones. Groundwater flowing from northwest to southeast in the Goliad sands likely contained low concentrations of dissolved uranium resulting from oxidizing conditions and the relatively short distance from the recharge area. The geochemical conditions in the sands near the UEC property changed from oxidizing to reducing due to an influx of reductants and/or the presence of abundant decaying organic matter in the host sands. Hydrogen sulfide and/or methane dissolved in groundwater are likely causes of reducing conditions in the area with consequent precipitation and concentration of uranium mineralization.
Identification of the uranium minerals have not been specifically determined at the UEC Goliad Project. The very fine uranium minerals found coating quartz grains and within the interstices in most south Texas sand and sandstone tabular and roll-front deposits has generally been found to be dominantly uraninite. No uraninite has been identified on the Goliad Project and the presence of uraninite on other properties does not mean that such mineralization will be found on the Goliad Project.
At the project site, the Goliad Formation is exposed at the surface and extends to depths exceeding 500 feet. Uranium mineralization occurs in four sand/sandstone units that are all below the saturated zone. The zones are designated A to D from the top to the bottom of the sequence. The sands are fluvial-deltaic in origin, and thicken and thin across the project site. Each Zone is hydrologically separated by 10 to 50 feet or more of clay or silty clay. The uranium deposits are tabular in nature and can range from about one foot to over 45 feet in thickness. Most of the exploration and delineation holes with elevated gamma ray log anomalies are situated within a southwest northeast trending graben and most of the gamma ray anomaly holes are situated along the northernmost of the two faults comprising the graben. This northernmost fault is downthrown to the southeast, which is typical for the majority of faults along the Texas coastal area.
The A and B gamma ray anomaly zones are continuous, tabular bodies which extend for over 2000 feet along trend. The A Zone mineralized body ranges from about 100 feet to over 600 feet in width and the B Zone ranges from about 50 feet to over 300 feet in width. The D Zone gamma ray anomaly extends for over 5,000 feet along trend and appears to be comprised of extensive, isolated pods of high grade gamma anomalies which range from 50 feet to over 500 feet in width. Confirmation drilling, however, has shown high-grade gamma ray anomaly connections between some of the pods. The C Zone is the least extensive of the four gamma anomaly zones.
Summary:
ISR mining involves circulating oxidized water through an underground uranium deposit, dissolving the uranium and then pumping the uranium-rich solution to the surface for processing. Oxidizing solution enters the formation through a series of injection wells and is drawn to a series of communicating extraction wells. To create a localized hydrologic cone of depression in each wellfield, more groundwater will be produced than injected. Under this gradient, the natural groundwater movement from the surrounding area is toward the wellfield, providing control of the injection fluid. Over-extraction is adjusted as necessary to maintain a cone of depression which ensures that the injection fluid does not move outside the permitted area.
Processing
- Resin adsorption
- In-Situ Recovery (ISR)
- Ion Exchange (IX)
Source:
Summary:
The uranium-rich solution is pumped from the ore zone to the surface and circulated through a series of ion exchange columns located at the mine site. The solution flows through resin beds inside an ion exchange column where the uranium bonds to small resin beads. As the solution exits the ion exchange column, it is mostly void of uranium and is re-circulated back to the wellfield and through the ore zone. Once the resin beads are fully-loaded with uranium, they are transported by truck to the Hobson Processing Facility and transferred to a tank for flushing with a brine solution, or elution, which strips the uranium from the resin beads. The stripped resin beads are then transported back to the mine and reused in the ion exchange columns. The uranium solution, now free from the resin, is precipitated out and concentrated into a slurry mixture and fed to a filter press to remove unwanted solids and contaminants. The slurry is then dried in a zero-emissions rotary vacuum dryer, packed i ........

Reserves at August 10, 2017:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Commodity |
Measured & Indicated
|
3,790 k tons
|
Uranium (U3O8)
|
0.05 %
|
5,475 k lbs
|
Inferred
|
1,547 k tons
|
Uranium (U3O8)
|
0.05 %
|
1,501 k lbs
|
Mine Management:
Job Title | Name | Ref. Date |
.......................
|
.......................
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Jul 27, 2021
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.......................
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.......................
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Jul 27, 2021
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