An example of economical evaluation of stratiform uranium ore deposit

The Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development corp. has carried out the business of uranium resource investigation and exploration in foreign countries aiming at securing uranium resources. If there is the possibility of economically developing the discovered uranium deposit, it is transferred to a Japanese private enterprise. In this paper, among the economical evaluation works that were carried out for the uranium deposits discovered by the Corp., the example of the initial economical evaluation for a stratiform uranium deposit carried out recently is reported. The deposit is located at the depth of 50 m - 70 m, and is a stratiform deposit having the extension of 4000 m x 1000 m. The boring investigation of about 350 holes was carried out for it. The estimation of the amount of uranium was done, and the production plan was made considering the scale of production, the characteristics of the ore, the circumstances of the site and so on. Based on the production plan, the initial expenses and the operation expenses were calculated. The design of the optimal pit which affects most the profitability and the economical evaluation were carried out. (K.I.)