The Research and Development of World Uranium Processing Technologies

Uranium U2020, 2020

Jack Zhang and Tim Oleniuk

It is well-known that Saskatchewan has the world’s richest uranium deposits and advanced processing technologies. Unlike the Saskatchewan uranium, complicated mineralogy is common for other places of the world such as Australia, South America, Europe, and Asia. Mineralogy dictates the process. Mineral Processing at the Saskatchewan Research Council has been working with the uranium industry worldwide since its inception to develop effective processing technologies to suit the unique mineralogy of each deposit. This paper reviews and summaries the research and development of uranium processing technologies in not only the current major uranium production areas such as Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, Niger but also the potential future development regions like South America and Africa Counties. Both acidic and alkaline processes as well as uranium and by-product recovery technologies are discussed based on mineralogy.

Keywords: Acid, Alkaline, Argentina, Bioheap leach, Canada, Extraction, ISR, Membrane, Mineralogy, Ore sorting, Phosphates, REE, SABRE, Sweden