Texas Uranium - 2020

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Exploration, Mining, Marketing, & Acquisitions

Most of the open pit mining for uranium occurred in Karnes County, although some occurred in Gonzales, Atascosa, Live Oak, and McMullen counties, where shallow deposits were discovered in the 1950s and before. [What evolved into Conoco's  Conquita Mine was first discovered as a result of a farm well indicating very high uranium in terms of hydrochemical concentrations of 100s of ppm. The family had been drinking from that well for decades, with no apparent effects, based on family history and subsequent follow-up]. 

Deeper deposits in Brooks, Kleberg, Jim Hogg, Duval, Webb, Bee, Live Oak, and Karnes counties have been mined using in situ mining techniques. The two uranium mining techniques that have been used in Texas are open pit mining and in situ mining. Shallow uranium deposits that occurred above groundwater at depths typically no deeper than 300 feet in Karnes County were mined simply by open-cut mining. Deeper deposits in Brooks, Kleberg, Jim Hogg, Duval, Webb, Bee, Live Oak, and Karnes counties have been mined using in situ mining techniques. In situ mining involves injecting fluids into the ground to dissolve minerals, then pumping the fluids to the surface where they are processed to recover the minerals.

In situ mining for uranium generally reverses the process by which nature formed the uranium deposits. An oxygen- CO₂ solution is injected into the uranium-bearing zone through injection wells arranged in a pattern designed to efficiently recover the uranium. The leaching solution circulates through the uranium-bearing zone and dissolves the uranium. The uranium-bearing solution is then recovered through production wells. In the past, the leaching solution in Australia is an acid solution mining approach. More recently, the leaching solution typically consists of groundwater supplemented with oxygen and bicarbonate ions, which is safer and better for the environment as well as effective in solubilizing the uranium minerals. At the surface, this solution is processed to remove the uranium. The water is then refortified with oxygen and bicarbonate ions and reused for additional in situ mining. Waste was is re-injected into formation thousands feet below the ore zones.

Exploration drilling for uranium and open pit mining of uranium are regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). There are no longer any active open pit uranium mines in Texas. Most of the old open pit mines and mill sites have been reclaimed through a program managed by the RRC. In situ mining and uranium processing plants are regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). There are five active in situ uranium mining sites in the state – one in Brooks County, one in Kleberg County (and idiotic anti-uranium groups vs. http://i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/ConfrontingBias.pdf ), and three in Duval County – and one inactive in situ processing facility in Karnes County, presently undergoing license renewal. In addition, an in situ uranium mining permit application for a site in Goliad County is pending, [as well as eastward along the trend through just south of Brookshire and through western Houston area and then northward in the equivalent Goliad sand (aka the Evangeline Aquifer) (see: http://www.i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/JGG-1-015.pdf, pp. 14 -17).