Mar 3, 2020
Policy Makers Forced to Recognize Importance of Diversified Energy Sources
The decision by U.S. president Donald Trump to create a $150 million uranium reserve will provide a much-needed boost to the industry which is in a nine-year bear market, Amir Adnani, president and CEO of UEC told Kitco News at the PDAC conference in Toronto.
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This photo, taken in mid-July, depicts a portion of the activities taking place at the Company’s Palangana ISR uranium project with the development and construction of the initial wellfield, Production Area One (PAA-1). The Company anticipates that three months will be required to complete the initial wellfield, work that was initiated in early June. A total of 110 injection and production wells will be drilled, cased and completed within PAA-1.
UEC will be employing in-situ recovery or ISR mining technology at the Palangana ISR uranium project. ISR reverses the natural process that deposited the uranium in the sandstones. On-site ground water is fortified with gaseous oxygen and is introduced to the uranium ore body through a pattern of injection wells. The solution dissolves the uranium in the sandstone uranium host. The uranium-bearing solution is recovered through production wells. This pattern of injection and recovery wells is called a wellfield.
In this photo, two water trucks can be seen in the background and in between them is a cementing unit preparing to cement the casing of a newly drilled and cased well. The blue rig, which is closer and to the left, is conditioning a hole to receive casing.
The red rig is setting up to drill out the cement plug in a cased hole and to drill into the uranium-bearing interval underreaming the targeted zone. Then the red rig will position and gravel-pack a plastic screen at the desired location. The green rig in the foreground is gravel-packing a well. There is a small blue gravel packer rig positioned between the drilling rig and the water truck.
The blue trailer is a Mechanical Integrity Test (MIT) trailer that is designed to lower an inflated packer (a balloon device) on a steel cable in a production/injection well. Water is then added to the cased well to the very top and a cap is then screwed in place and the casing pressured up to see if there are any leaks. Once the test is performed and the well passes the test, it is deemed ready for production.
