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US 2026/0071529 A1Published application
Method and Materials for Employing Fractures in Mining Operations
AssigneeQuidnet Energy Inc.
InventorsHoward K. Schmidt, Cliff Mauroner
Life of this patent
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AssigneeQuidnet Energy Inc.
InventorsHoward K. Schmidt, Cliff Mauroner
Estimating the term…
Methods for augmenting mining operations with hydraulic fractures. The methods may comprise forming one or more hydraulic fractures near an ore body, which may be filled with an impermeable material, thereby forming an artificial aquitard or a barrier to contaminant migration. The methods may also comprise forming one or more hydraulic fractures within an ore body, injecting a proppant material into the fractures, and cycling a solution through the fractures to perform in-situ mining, or cycling a working fluid through the fractures to provide a mode of heat exchange. The methods may further comprise forming one or more hydraulic fractures at a site of interest to locally influence stress fields in order to prepare the site for material extraction, or disposing within the fractures an energetic material, and detonating the energetic material to extend a single fracture, to form multiple fractures, or to highly fragment rock.
A method of forming an artificial base aquitard to collect a fluid introduced to an ore body, comprising:
A method of producing a mineral of interest from an ore body, comprising:
A method of forming an artificial vertical aquitard to collect a fluid introduced to an ore body, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.