Nebraska Uranium - 2020

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

Thares reported in early 2019 that Crow Butte is an in situ recovery uranium mine outside the community of Crawford, Nebraska, near Crawford because of its location, less than two hours south east of Edgemont South Dakota and because in situ recovery is how Power Tech (U. S.A.) plans on mining uranium near Edgemont. The Crow Butte uranium mine is about five miles south east of Crawford and is owned by Cameco Resources, which is a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest uranium producers, Cameco Corporation of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. “They are America’s largest uranium miner, providing more than half of domestically produced uranium for nuclear power plants” (About, Cameco Resources, 2014). Their US headquarters is in Cheyenne, Wyoming (About, Cameco Resources, 2014).

The Crow Butte mining site does not have underground tunnels, huge pits or trucks hauling ore. The mining site has what looks like sections of corrugated plastic pipe with covered ends sticking out of the ground and small metal buildings. The corrugated plastic pipes with the covered ends are injection wells sites. This is where water is injected into the ground and the metal building is a header house which is used to pump water out of the ground and to pump it back into the ground. “The original license area is approximately 3,300 acres, of which 89 percent is privately leased land and the rest is owned by the federal, state, and local governments” (Crow Butte Uranium Recovery Facility, n.d.). “The surface area affected includes the Central Processing Plant, 11 wellfields approximately 1,100 acres” (Crow Butte Uranium Recovery Facility, n.d.).

References:

(2014) About. Cameco Resources.
(n.d.). Crow Butte Uranium Recovery Facility.
(2014). 7 Essential Facts About Crow Butte, Crow Butte Summary Cameco USA.
(2011, January, 24). In Situ Recovery (ISR).
Knapp, F. (2011. July 20). Company Wants to Expand Uranium Mine In Nebraska Panhandle.

“The Crow Butte facility uses the in-situ recovery process to extract uranium from the Basal Chadron sandstone aquifers at a depth that varies from approximately 400 to 800 feet below the ground surface” (Crow Butte Uranium Recovery Facility, n.d.). Cameco has been using the in situ recovery (ISR) at their Crow Butte Mine since 1991. ISR mining is where you use injection and production wells to mine the uranium. In situ recovery is an alternative mining technique; very different from conventional open pit or underground mining. 

ISR utilizes a series of EPA Class III wells to inject native groundwater, fortified with oxygen and baking soda into the ore zone. This solution is commonly referred to as lixiviant. The lixiviant dissolves uranium as it is drawn through the ore zone by a pump in a nearby production well. The pump in the production well collects the uranium laden water and sends it to the processing plant where the uranium is removed by ion exchange. The water is then refortified with oxygen and baking soda and sent back to the ore zone to recover more uranium (Ur – Energy, 2011). This cycle is repeated until the uranium extraction is complete. “Monitoring wells are placed inside and outside the production area” (Crow Butte Summary, 2013). “These wells make sure the drinking water hasn’t been affected and the solution hasn’t migrated away from the production area” (Crow Butte Summary, 2013).

In its wellfields, Crow Butte uses a seven-spot pattern that comprises six injection wells on the vertices of a hexagon and one production well in the center. However, the precise location of injection and production wells is subject to operational needs and site conditions. All wells are completed so that each well can be used as either an injection or a recovery well. Consequently, wellfield flow patterns can be changed, as needed, to improve uranium recovery and restore the groundwater in the most efficient manner. Within each wellfield (mine unit), more water is produced than is injected into the formation to develop inward ground water flow toward the productions zone. This inward flow prevents the movement of the leaching solution away from the wellfield. The difference between the amount of water produced and injected is known as the wellfield bleed (Crow Butte Uranium Recovery Facility, n.d.).

The Crow Butte facility currently has 11 wellfields in various phases of operation. Wellfield 1 has been restored and decommissioned; Wellfields 2 through 5 are undergoing groundwater restoration; Wellfields 6 through 10 are in the production phase; and Wellfield 11 is under construction. Per Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Permit NEO122611, CBR cannot have more than five mine units in production and five wellfields in restoration at any one time. Therefore, production in Wellfield 11 cannot start until groundwater restoration begins in Wellfield 6 (Crow Butte Uranium Recovery Facility, n.d.).

The Crow Butte mine has over 375 monitor wells and these wells are tested at least every two weeks (Crow Butte Summary, 2013). They analyze 9,700 water samples every year; this is done to ensure potential issues are kept on the mine site and in the ore zone. “Crow Butte has never been cited by any government agency for polluting any well off the mine site in any way” (Crow Butte Summary, 2013). However, Crow Butte has received citations for other various violations which have been rectified.

The mine employs over 70 people either directly or indirectly and they provide $22.1 million in payrolls, purchases and taxes. Cameco Resources is very community minded and so are its employees. The company donated money to the city-owned nursing home so they could install new furniture and update their common area and employees donated their time to move furniture and replace old carpet. The Crawford volunteer Fire Department and Crawford High School have also received monetary gifts from Cameco Resources. “Cameco Resources is proud to support organizations and programs that protect our natural resources, educate our children in math and science, and make our communities safe and wonderful places to raise families” (About, Cameco Resources, 2014).