• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.601-609
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• 1994

Uranium resources of Mongolia are generally confined to sediments deposited during Jurassic to Cretaceous volcanism. Territory of Mongolian uranium deposits is divided into four districts as follows; Mongol-Priargun, Gobi-Tamtsag, Hentii-Dauer, North-Mongolian. Potential uranium deposits were discovered by Airborne Gamma ray Spectrometric Survey(AGSM). One of them, Haraat deposit, which was interested to us, has been under detailed survey for exploitation by one of American companies, Concord company. The Erdes uranium mine is partly operated by about hundred Russian staffs at the open pit, while underground mining facilities such as the main hoist are almost closed. Ore minerals of the Erdes Mine are coffinite and pitchblende. Uranium content in ore ranges from 0.06% to 1%, averaging 0.2%. Ore reserves of uranium ore in the Dornod deposit including the Erdes Mine accounts 29,000 ton. It is reported that Uranium resources of Mongolia are 1,471,000 ton.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.453-461
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• 2018

Shaft stations of underground uranium mines in China are not only utilized as waiting space for loaded mine-cars queuing to be hoisted but also as the principal channel for fresh air taken to working places. Therefore, assessment of how mine-car queuing processes affect shaft station radon concentration was carried out. Queuing network of mine-cars has been analyzed in an underground uranium mine, located in Quzhou, Zhejiang province of Eastern China. On the basis of mathematical analysis of the queue network, a MATLAB-based quasi-random number generating program utilizing Monte-Carlo methods was worked out. Extensive simulations were then implemented via MATALB operating on a DELL PC. Thereafter, theoretical calculations and field measurements of shaft station radon concentrations for several working conditions were performed. The queuing performance measures of interest, like average queuing length and waiting time, were found to be significantly affected by the utilization rate (positively correlated). However, even with respect to the "worst case", the shaft station radon concentration was always lower than $200Bq/m^3$. The model predictions were compared with the measuring results, and a satisfactory agreement was noted. Under current working conditions, queuing-induced variations of shaft station radon concentration of the study mine are not remarkable.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 1998

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the source of U anormaly formed in stream water of the drainage system around the Shinbo talc mine area based on the hydrochemical properties of water masses including surface water and groundwater. The hydrochemical properties of water masses in the Shinbo talc mine area are divide into three types; Type I : $Ca(Mg)SO_4$ type with high U content as shown in the stream water flowout from the mine, Type II : $Ca(HCO_3)_2$ type with high U content as in deep groundwater, Type III : $Ca(HCO_3)_2$, type with low U content as in the other stream water and shallow groundwater. It is necessary to emphasize that in deducing the uranium source, a distinct discrimination between type I and type II is showed in their hydrothermal properties in spite of commonly having a high uranium content, which in turn means the occurrence of a different water-rock interaction processes between both type. All evidences suggest that type II groundwater have acted as a primary media in the transport of uranium and that, as the groundwater flows through the talc mineralization zone, water composition of type II was transformed into that of type I water as the results of a secondary water rock interaction process, caused by imposition of new mineralogically controlled thermodynamic constraints. Consequently, in the viewpoint of hydrochemical exploration, the investigation of the hydrologic circulation system and the hydrogeologic properties for the aquifer of type II groundwater shall be done first of all and will provide a crucial clue on tracing the uranium mineralization zone occurred in the Shinbo talc mine area.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.135-138
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• 1985

The radioautographing of U-bearing cloaly slate samples were initiated in order to clarify the uranium distribution patterns in the samples of Ogcheon system. Moreover, x-ray powder diffraction and x-ray single crystal analysis studies were undertaken to identify the uranium mineral which was extracted from U-bearing coaly slate. The handspecimens were collected from the Boseong mine, located in Deokpyeong area, Goesan-gun, Chungcheongbug-do. According to the experimental studies, it has been found the following facts: (1) fixed carbon has close relation with uranium contents, (2) quartz veins developed in U-bearing coaly slate are diveded into two groups based on mode of occurrence, formation stage and uranium distribution pattern; early quartz vein ($QV_1$) with low uranium concentration and late quartz vein ($QV_2$) with high uranium concentration, (3) matrixes around $QV_1$ are displayed homogeneous and high uranium concentration, while matrixes around $QV_2$ are low uranium concentration, (4) uranium mineral is identified as a variety of autunite.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.367-377
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the source of U anomaly formed in stream water of the drainage system around the Shinbo talc mine area based on the O, H, S and Sr isotopic characteristics of water masses and wall rocks. The ${\delta}$D and ${\delta}^{18}O$ of surface and ground waters show highly restricted range and plotted on the same meteoric water line, indicating that they are all originated from the meteoric water. The ${\delta}^{34}S$value of the ground water containing high U shows slightly negative (-0.2${\textperthousand}$) and quite distinct from those of the other surface and ground waters that are similar to those of wall rocks (>5.8${\textperthousand}$), indicating that they have a different S isotopic fractionation or less probably, source. The $^{87}Sr/^{86}{Sr}$ratios of water masses around the Shinbo talc mine area show a variable range from 0.724325 to 0.744928, but tend to increase with increasing U concentration of water mass. Although it is not possible to determine precisely the source rock of U anomaly formed in the hydrologic system around the Shinbo talc mine, the evidence obtained from the Sr isotopic compositions strongly suggests that coal schist and/or pegmatite vein could be the most likely candidate for the source rock.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1175-1184
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• 2022

The pore structure of uranium-bearing sandstone is one of the critical factors that affect the uranium leaching performance. In this article, uranium-bearing sandstone from the Yili Basin, Xinjiang, China, was taken as the research object. The fractal characteristics of the pore structure of the uranium-bearing sandstone were studied using mercury intrusion experiments and fractal theory, and the fractal dimension of the uranium-bearing sandstone was calculated. In addition, the effect of the fractal characteristics of the pore structure of the uranium-bearing sandstone on the uranium leaching kinetics was studied. Then, the kinetics was analyzed using a shrinking nuclear model, and it was determined that the rate of uranium leaching is mainly controlled by the diffusion reaction, and the dissolution rate constant (K) is linearly related to the pore specific surface fractal dimension (D_S) and the pore volume fractal dimension (D_V). Eventually, fractal kinetic models for predicting the in-situ leaching kinetics were established using the unreacted shrinking core model, and the linear relationship between the fractal dimension of the sample's pore structure and the dissolution rate during the leaching was fitted.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.1471-1480
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• 2020

This research presents a case study on the remediation of a radioactive waste (uranium: U) utilizing a multi-objective fuzzy optimization in an electrocoagulation process for the iron-stainless steel and aluminum-stainless steel anode/cathode systems. The incorporation of the cumulative uncertainty of result, operational cost and energy consumption are essential key elements in determining the feasibility of the developed model equations in satisfying specific maximum contaminant level (MCL) required by stringent environmental regulations worldwide. Pareto-optimal solutions showed that the iron system (0 ㎍/L U: 492 USD/g-U) outperformed the aluminum system (96 ㎍/L U: 747 USD/g-U) in terms of the retained uranium concentration and energy consumption. Thus, the iron system was further carried out in a multi-objective analysis due to its feasibility in satisfying various uranium standard regulatory limits. Based on the 30 ㎍/L MCL, the decision-making process via fuzzy logic showed an overall satisfaction of 6.1% at a treatment time and current density of 101.6 min and 59.9 mA/㎠, respectively. The fuzzy optimal solution reveals the following: uranium concentration - 5 ㎍/L, cumulative uncertainty - 25 ㎍/L, energy consumption - 461.7 kWh/g-U and operational cost based on electricity cost in the United States - 60.0 USD/g-U, South Korea - 55.4 USD/g-U and Finland - 78.5 USD/g-U.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2012

This paper examined the characteristics of ductile and brittle structural elements with detailed mapping by lithofacies classification to clarify the relationship between the geological structure and the geochemical high-grade uranium anormal zone and to provide the basic information on the flow of groundwater in the eastern area of Shinbo mine, Jinan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea. It indicates that this area is mainly composed of Precambrian quartzite, metapelite, metapsammite, which show a zonal distribution of mainly ENE-WSW trend, and age unknown pegmatite and Cretaceous porphyry which intrude them. But the Cretaceous Jinan Group which unconformably covers them, contrary to assumption, could not be observed. The main ductile deformation structures of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks were formed at least through three phases of deformation [ENE striking regional foliation (D1) -> ENE or EW striking crenulation foliation (D2) -> WNW or EW trending open, tight, kink folds (D3)]. The predominant orientation of S1 regional foliation strikes ENE and dips south, being similar to the zonal distribution of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks. Most predominant orientation of high-angled brittle fracture (dip angle ${\geq}45^{\circ}$) [ENE (frequency: 24.3%) > NS (23.9%) > (N)NW (18.8%) > WNW (16.9%) > NE (16.1%) fracture sets in descending frequency order], which is closely related to the flow of groundwater, strikes ENE and dips south. It also agrees with the zonal distribution of metasedimentary rocks and the predominant orientation of S1 regional foliation. The next one strikes NS and dips east or west. Considering the controlling factor of the geochemical uranium anormal zone in the Shinbo mine and its eastern areas from the above structural data. the uranium source rock in these areas might be pegmatite and the geochemical uranium anormal zone in the Sinbo mine area could be formed by an secondary enrichment through the flow of pegmatite aquifer's groundwater into the Sinbo mine area like the previous research's result.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1476-1484
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• 2023

Laboratory experiments and point monitoring of reservoir sediments have proven that stable sulfate reduction (SSR) can lower the concentrations of toxic metals and sulfate in acidic groundwater for a long time. Here, we hypothesize that SSR occurred during in situ leaching after uranium mining, which can impact the fate of acid groundwater in an entire region. To test this, we applied a sulfur isotope fractionation method to analyze the mechanism for natural attenuation of contaminated groundwater produced by acid in situ leaching of uranium (Xinjiang, China). The results showed that δ³⁴S increased over time after the cessation of uranium mining, and natural attenuation caused considerable, area-scale immobilization of sulfur corresponding to retention levels of 5.3%-48.3% while simultaneously decreasing the concentration of uranium. Isotopic evidence for SSR in the area, together with evidence for changes of pollutant concentrations, suggest that area-scale SSR is most likely also important at other acid mining sites for uranium, where retention of acid groundwater may be strengthened through natural attenuation. To recapitulate, the sulfur isotope fractionation method constitutes a relatively accurate tool for quantification of spatiotemporal trends for groundwater during migration and transformation resulting from acid in situ leaching of uranium in northern China.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.385-396
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• 2012

The geochemical high-grade uranium anormal zone has been reported in the Shinbo mine and its eastern areas, Jinan-gun, Jeollabuk-do located in the southwestern part of Ogcheon metamorphic zone, Korea. In this paper is reported the time-relationship between deformation and growth of metamorphic minerals in the eastern area of Shinbo mine, which consists of the Precambrian metasedimentary rocks (quartzite, metapelite, metapsammite) and the age-unknown pegmatite and Cretaceous porphyry which intrude them, and is considered the relative mineralization time on the basis of the previous research's result. The D1 deformation formed the straight-type Si internal foliation which is defined mainly as the arrangement of elongate quartz, biotite, opaque mineral in andalusite porphyroblast. The D2 deformation, which is defined by the microfolding of Si foliation, formed S2 crenulation cleavage. It can be divided into two sub-phases, early crenulation and late crenulation. The former occurs as the curvetype Si foliation in the mantle part of andalusite. The latter occurs as S1-2 composite foliation which warps around the andalusite. The andalusite porphyroblast began to grow under non-deformation condition after the formation of S1 foliation which corresponds to the straight-type Si foliation. It continued to grow before the late crenulation phase. The age-unknown pegmatite intruded after the D2 deformation and grew the fibrous sillimanite which random masks the S1-2 composite foliation. The D3 deformation formed F3 fold which folded the S1-2 composite foliation, D2 crenulation, fibrous sillimanite. It means that the intrusion of pegmatite related to the growth of the fibrous sillimanite took place during the inter-tectonic phase of D2 and D3 deformations. The retrograde metamorphism is recognized by the chloritization of biotite and two-way cleavage lamellae which is parallel to the S1-2 composite foliation and the F3 fold axial surface in the andalusite porphyroblast. It occurred during the D2 late crenulation phase and D3 deformation. In considering of the previous research's result inferring the most likely candidate for the uranium source rock as pegamatite, it indicates that the age-unknown pegmatite intruded during the inter-tectonic phase of D2 and D3 deformations, i.e. during the retrograde metamorphism related to the uplifting of crust, and formed the uranium ore zone around the Shinbo mine.