US 4,634,187 AGranted

Method of in-situ leaching of ores

AssigneeISL Ventures, Inc.

InventorsRay V. Huff, Steven G. Axen, Baughman, David R.

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Abstract

A method of in-situ leaching is disclosed in which the ore body is incapsulated by impermeable barriers. A grid of injection and production wells are drilled into the ore body. Horizontal barriers are formed at the top and bottom of the ore body by creating an overlapping pattern of horizontally-oriented fractures filled with polymer, above and below the ore body, radiating from each of the injection and production wells. A ring of boundary wells may also be drilled surrounding the ore body. The strata around each boundary well is fractured and a polymer is then injected to form a vertical barrier around the periphery of the ore body. The lixiviant is then introduced to extract the desired mineral values. In addition, water may be injected under pressure into guard wells between the ore body and the vertical and/or horizontal barrier wells to further reduce any migration of lixiviant into neighboring formations.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A method of in-situ leaching of ore bodies comprising:

(a) Drilling a ring of boundary wells about the periphery of the desired ore body;
fracturing the strata surrounding a number of the boundary well;
and inject into each boundary well and the surrounding strata a material to form an impermeable barrier;
(b) Drilling a number of wells within the area enclosed by the boundary wells to a depth above the top surface of the desired ore body;
(c) Creating an overlapping pattern of horizontally-oriented fractures in the strata around the bottom of said wells, and injecting into said fractures and the surrounding strata a material to form an impermeable barrier;
(d) Continued drilling of said wells through the desired ore body;
(e) Creating an overlapping pattern of horizontally-oriented fractures in the strata around the bottom of said wells, and injecting an into said fracture and the surrounding strata a material to form an impermeable barrier;
(f) Injecting a lixiviant through a number of said wells into the ore body to solubilize the desired mineral values, and recovering the pregnant lixiviant from the ore body through a number of said wells.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.