GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE NEW GENERATION SMART-MINE

In December 2012, in accordance with the Decree of the Scientific Technical Council of the JSC “NAC “Kazatomprom” and its subsequent resolution, a working group was established to prepare a feasibility study for “Establishing an experimental-production intellectual mine of the new generation “Smart-mine” (hereinafter – Project). The Action Plan was approved to implement the project.

“Ortalyk” site of the “Mynkuduk” deposit was selected for the project implementation. Activities of the project will be conducted in six years, including follow-up exploration of the mine and prospecting and evaluation work. Estimated production capacity of the Smart-mine is 200-250 tons of uranium per year. The Action Plan includes uncovering and exploration of six experimental geotechnological blocks.

The project is aimed at organization and construction of uranium mining complex of the new generation to test and adapt new technological and technical solutions at before-production and production scale. The implementation of the project will allow decreasing production cost of uranium mining and processing using in-situ leaching (ISL) by 10-30%, which includes:

• Reduction of capital costs during the construction and operation of uranium mining companies to 10-15%;
• Decrease of the cost of production and processing from 10 to 25% due to the cost of economical reagents and ISL intensification methods  and obtaining additional products;
• Improving the processing efficiency of productive solutions from 10 to 25% due to the use of new types of main and auxiliary equipment and optimizing the consumption of chemical reagents;
• Reduction of operating costs by 5-10% due to efficient automation of all production and manufacturing processes;
• Increase by 10-15% energy and resource efficiency of the enterprises  through the use of new materials, equipment, and alternative energy sources;
• The use and testing of new techniques for the rehabilitation of environment on the territories of industrial uranium mining and processing;
• Commercialization of the intellectual property created during the Project implementation through its industrial use in uranium mining joint ventures with participation of JSC “NAC “Kazatomprom”.