Pre‐mining depressurizing of a deep ore body at the McArthur River mine, the largest single producer of uranium in the world, was considered to decrease the risk associated with mining and increase the ground stability and the amount of ore that could be extracted. The challenge was to depressurize the high‐grade ore bodies without propagating a significant amount of drawdown to the surface where impacts on surface‐water resources and the associated aquatic habitat would be significant environmental issues. The objective was to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of depressurizing the ore body.
Jim Hazzard is a geological engineer with a Ph.D. in geophysics. He has extensive experience in software development for geomechanics and he is currently the Software Manager at Itasca Consulting Group, as well as product manager and primary developer for 3DEC.
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