J Austral Math Soc Ser B 36 pp133--151, 1994.

Flow fields associated with in situ mineral leaching

Lawrence K. Forbes, Anthony M. Watts and Graeme A. Chandler

Abstract

A simple model for underground mineral leaching is considered, in which liquor is injected into the rock at one point and retrieved from the rock by being pumped out at another point. In its passage through the rock, the liquor dissolves some of the ore of interest, and this is therefore recovered in solution. When the injection and recovery points lie on a vertical line, the region of wetted rock forms an axi-symmetric plume, the surface of which is a free boundary. We present an accurate numerical method for the solution of the problem, and obtain estimates for the maximum possible recovery rate of the liquor, as a fraction of the injected flow rate. Limiting cases are discussed, and other geometries for fluid recovery are considered.

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Authors

Lawrence K. Forbes

Anthony M. Watts

Graeme A. Chandler

Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and Parallel Computing (CIAMP), Department of Mathematics, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia.