WHAT IS IN-SITU LEACHING?
In-situ leach recovery is one of the two primary recovery methods that are currently used to extract uranium from under ground. In-situ facilities recover uranium from low-grade ores. Unlike Colorado, Utah, Texas and a handful of other states, Wyoming does not have primacy over the Atomic Energy Act. Therefore, companies such as Uranium One Americas must gain approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct in-situ leaching at its proposed Antelope and JAB uranium facilities. And because it is labeled a mining process, it also falls under the authority of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Land Quality Division. The process involves injecting a water and sodium bicarbonate solution, which is environmentally benign, down a series of injection wells to flow through the targeted sandstone formations containing uranium ore. The process dissolves the uranium to mix with the liquid solution and it is brought to the surface through production wells. On the surface, th
