Working and benefit project by the in-situ leaching of the copper-uranium ore of the deposit named Luz del Cobre, in the municipality of Soyopa, state of Sonora, Mexico

This research was carried out with the object to recover the existing uranium in the copper-uranium deposit of Luz del Cobre located at 1300 Kms. approximately of the NW of Mexico City in the state of Sonora this deposit is geologically formed by a partially mineralized chimney which contains 572,732 tons of uranium ore with an average of 362.26g. of U3O8 per ton, which represents 207,374 tons of U3O8 in situ. To recover the uranium from this deposit, the only technical and economical possibility which presents a real interest is the system of leaching in situ. This operation will consist in the selective dissolution of the copper and uranium through leaching solution with a pH varying from 2.2 to 2.5, leaving the gangue on the ground and collecting the enriched solutions at the lower level of the mine, precipitating the copper subsequently through scrap iron and recovering the uranium from the tails of the copper precipitation plant through an ionic interchange process in counter current and its subsequent elution solvent extraction, reextraction and precipitation. This system makes possible to recover an uranium concentrate up to 98% of U3O8 and practically free from impurities. The production cost would cost exceeding $300.00 Mexican currency per Kg of U3O8. (author)