The recent awakening in the uranium market has resulted in a large number of potential uranium projects. Initial indications were that old conventional flowsheets would be used to produce the final product. However, increased reagent cost, more stringent environmental regulations, an increase in the number of uranium players in the market and more process options have all contributed to the new generation of uranium flowsheets. Pressure leaching has the potential to increase recoveries and lower operating costs of uranium plants. Although each project is unique and an economic evaluation needs to be done to determine if an autoclave is the best economical option, a large number of potential projects are currently considering this route. Even ores that are not considered as "refractory" can benefit from this technology due to the lower acid and steam requirements. Reagents and heat requirements are regarded as more than half of the total operating costs. Lowering these components results in substantial savings and more economically robust projects. The authors consider the future of autoclaves in uranium leach flow sheets to be bright.
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