In situ leaching (ISL), also known as solution mining, or in situ recovery (ISR) involves leaving ore where it is in the ground, and recovering the minerals by dissolving them and pumping the pregnant solution to the surface where the minerals can be recovered. A key component of this operation is understanding how injection fluids are moving in and out of the system.
Heap leaching is an industrial mining process to extract precious metals, copper, uranium, and other compounds from ore via a series of chemical reactions that absorb specific minerals and then re-separate them after their division from other earth materials. Similar to in situ mining, heap leach mining differs in that it places ore on a liner, then adds the chemicals via drip system to the ore, whereas in situ mining lacks these liners and pulls pregnant solution up to obtain the minerals.
The Sub Rosa methodology can increase the efficiency of an in situ or heap leach mining operation by detecting and monitoring injection fluid flow rates and directions in the subsurface environment. Please contact us for further information.