中国铀矿采冶回顾与展望

中国铀矿包括火山岩型、花岗岩型、碳硅泥岩型、砂岩型和煤岩型等多种类型。铀矿采冶始于20世纪50年代,早期以火山岩型和煤岩型铀矿常规地下开采为主,部分埋藏较浅的矿床则以露天开采的方式进行;铀的提取采用破磨搅拌浸出或堆浸工艺。20世纪90年代以来逐步向砂岩铀矿开采转型,以采冶一体的原地浸出方式进行开采和铀的提取,按浸出剂的不同主要分为酸法、碱法、中性(CO_2+O_2)等工艺,其中酸法和中性浸出工艺在中国应用最为广泛。近年来微生物浸出技术在铀矿堆浸和地浸方面均有所突破,部分实现工业应用。清洁、高效和数字赋能是铀矿采冶发展的主要趋势,建设绿色、高效、智能的铀矿大基地也正在成为中国天然铀产业高质量发展的新动能。

Review and Prospect of Uranium Mining and Metallurgy in China

Uranium mining and metallurgy in China began in 1950s, including volcanic rock type, granite type, carbonaceous siliceous-pelitic type, sandstone type and coal rock type. In the early stage, conventional underground mining was mainly used for volcanic and coal type uranium deposits, while open pit mining was used for some shallow buried uranium deposits; The ore is ground broken, stirred, leached or heap leached to produce uranium. Since 1990s, uranium mining has been gradually transformed to sandstone type uranium deposits. Mining of sandstone type uranium deposits is carried out by in-situ leaching with integration of mining and metallurgy. According to different leaching agents, it is mainly divided into acid leaching, alkali leaching, neutral (CO2+O2) leaching process, among which acid leaching and neutral leaching process are most widely used in China. In recent years, bioleaching technology has made great progress in heap leaching and in-situ leaching of uranium ore, and some of them have been applied in industry. Clean, efficient and digital empowerment are the development direction of uranium mining and metallurgy. Building a green, efficient and intelligent uranium mining base is becoming a new driving force for high-quality development of uranium industry in China.