National Technical Reports Library

The National Technical Information Service acquires, indexes, abstracts, and archives the largest collection of U.S. government-sponsored technical reports in existence. The NTRL offers online, free and open access to these authenticated government technical reports. Technical reports and documents in its repository may be available online for free either from the issuing federal agency, the U.S. Government Publishing Office’s Federal Digital System website, or through search engines.

Details

Tritiated Water as a Tracer in the Dump Leaching of Copper.

PB200048

Publication Date	1971
Personal Author	Armstrong, F. E.; Evans, G. C.; Fletcher, G. E.
Page Count	44
Abstract	Tritiated water has been used as a tracer to follow the path of leach liquids as they flow through a copper-mine dump. Semipermeable layers, produced within the dump by compaction and 'stratification' of deposited dump material, restrict the vertical movement of water. Knowledge of this restriction would aid in the optimization of the leaching process. The portion of the dump of particular interest was approximately 2,000 feet long, 800 feet wide, and 200 feet high. A total of 94 curies of tritiated water was injected into the dump at the rate of 650 gpm over a period of 39 hours. The leach liquid was sampled at natural surface outflows and through a series of wells, some drilled to the bottom of the dump and others to intermediate levels. More than 3,300 samples were analyzed, most by liquid scintillation counting, but a few hundred by gas counting. Data obtained permitted calculation of flow paths, recycle times, total fluid volume, and estimates of retention times in various portions of the dump. (Author)
Keywords	Copper ores Leaching Solution mining Tracer studies Mining Percolation Tritium compounds Spoil Hydrodynamics Copper mining
Source Agency	Invalid Source Agency Code
NTIS Subject Category	48A - Mineral Industries
Corporate Authors	BUREAU OF Mines, Washington, D.C.
Document Type	Technical Report
Title Note	Rept. of investigations.
NTIS Issue Number	197115

Tritiated Water as a Tracer in the Dump Leaching of Copper.

Tritiated Water as a Tracer in the Dump Leaching of Copper.
PB200048

Publication Date	1971
Personal Author	Armstrong, F. E.; Evans, G. C.; Fletcher, G. E.
Page Count	44
Abstract	Tritiated water has been used as a tracer to follow the path of leach liquids as they flow through a copper-mine dump. Semipermeable layers, produced within the dump by compaction and 'stratification' of deposited dump material, restrict the vertical movement of water. Knowledge of this restriction would aid in the optimization of the leaching process. The portion of the dump of particular interest was approximately 2,000 feet long, 800 feet wide, and 200 feet high. A total of 94 curies of tritiated water was injected into the dump at the rate of 650 gpm over a period of 39 hours. The leach liquid was sampled at natural surface outflows and through a series of wells, some drilled to the bottom of the dump and others to intermediate levels. More than 3,300 samples were analyzed, most by liquid scintillation counting, but a few hundred by gas counting. Data obtained permitted calculation of flow paths, recycle times, total fluid volume, and estimates of retention times in various portions of the dump. (Author)
Keywords	Copper ores Leaching Solution mining Tracer studies Mining Percolation Tritium compounds Spoil Hydrodynamics Copper mining
Source Agency	Invalid Source Agency Code
NTIS Subject Category	48A - Mineral Industries
Corporate Authors	BUREAU OF Mines, Washington, D.C.
Document Type	Technical Report
Title Note	Rept. of investigations.
NTIS Issue Number	197115