Project information
Non-Traditional Utilisation of Uranium Deposits after Underground Mining Completion

In the course of the development and exploitation of particular uranium deposits, the chemism of mine waters changes depending upon the extent of infiltration area, the total volume of worked-out mineral, its mineralogical composition and also the achieved depth of mining. In the course of flooding the underground mine after its closure many important changes occur in the content of dissolved substances in waters that increases serveral times (uranium, radium, iron, and others). Mine waters of flooded former uranium mines thus represent, with reference to their considerable volumes, a significant source of uranium. With regard to high concentrations of solutes in the mine water, the water that has parameters exceeding prescribed values and that is drained from flooded mines must be purified and contaminants retained before discharging into watercourses. However, the solution to a situation in particular deposits is based on the requirement to drain mine waters with the minimum contents of dissolved substances from the flooded mine so that water purification may be as simple as possible. However, this represents the performing of mine water purification probably for more than 30-40 years. The proposed project will deal with possibilities of the invensive utilisation of mine waters from flooded uranium mines as a source of uranium with an accompanying effect of shortening the time necessary for the purification of mine waters discharged into watercourses.