Production of metal products directly from underground ore deposits

Abstract

A process for producing metal compounds directly from underground mineral deposits including the steps of forming a borehole at a site into a mineral deposit containing metal compounds, inserting a slurry-forming device having a nozzle into the borehole adapted to direct pressurized water through the nozzle into the mineral deposit, supplying pressured water through the nozzle into the mineral deposit forming a mineral slurry containing metal compounds, extracting the mineral slurry containing metal compounds through the borehole, leaching the mineral slurry to convert the metal compounds to a soluble form in a leach solution, and removing metals and metal compounds by treating the leach solution with an extraction treatment adapted to remove the metal products. Steps of leaching the mineral slurry and removing metal products are performed at a location remote from the borehole site. Alternatively, the step of removing metal products from mineral slurry may be accomplished by pyrometallurgical processes.

Description

[0001]This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Patent Application 61 / 147,502, filed on Jan. 27, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY[0002]Mineral deposits containing metal compounds from which metal products can be made are presently found in various geographic locations and in ore veins of quite varying depth. The mineral deposits in the past have been removed from such ore veins either by open pit mining or shaft mining. In locations where the mineral deposit is located close to the surface of the earth, the overburden is removed by excavation to reach the ore deposit and the ore removed by open pit mining. This type of mining typically involves using very large and expensive draglines or other excavating equipment to remove the overburden and the ore deposit. Where the ore vein is deeper in the earth so that it is not practical to remove the overburden to reach the mineral deposits, shaft mines are employed by digging tunnels a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0020]In one alternative, the method may be used also by forming more than one borehole where the first borehole is generally vertical from the surface into the mineral deposit and the second borehole is slanted so as to intersect the first bore in the ore deposit. The slurry-forming device can be inserted through the second slant borehole to increase the range to which water can be injected under pressure into the ore body, and the formed mineral slurry can be removed from the ore deposit through the first bore hole. This embodiment may increase the range of the removal of ore from certain ore veins through a borehole site. Alternatively, the first borehole may be partially predrilled in a slant borehole to allow the range of removal of mineral deposits from the ore vein from a given borehole site.

Problems solved by technology

This type of mining typically involves using very large and expensive draglines or other excavating equipment to remove the overburden and the ore deposit.

Additionally, ore veins underground vary in depth along their run, and as a result, the mining only continues to where the depth of the ore vein narrows to the point where the overburden can no longer be economically removed or the ore deposit can no longer be reached underground with miners and available equipment.

These factors have greatly limited the ore deposits that can be commercially removed from the ground.

Furthermore, open pit mining and shaft mining have been criticized for both immediate and ongoing environmental concerns, including their impact on erosion, surface and underground water quality, and the aesthetic impact on mined and surrounding landscape and land values.

Further, many mineral deposits exist beneath areas that are environmentally sensitive areas such as national or state parks, pristine lakes, recreational areas, urban areas, wetlands, and pristine and used surface areas where permits cannot presently be obtained to remove underground mineral deposits.

These latter mineral deposits have been before now inaccessible because the prior methods available for removing the mineral deposits impacted the local environment and / or potentially damaged the natural or manmade resource above the mineral deposit.

In the past, transporting ores from the mine site was not possible for a commercially viable mining operation.

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