Bioleaching - An Alternate Uranium Ore Processing Technology for India

Meeting the feed supply of uranium fuel in the present and planned nuclear reactors calls for huge demand of
uranium, which at the current rate of production, shows a mismatch. The processing methods at UCIL (DAE)
needs to be modified/ changed or re-looked into because of its very suitability in near future for low-index raw
materials which are either unmined or stacked around if mined. There is practically no way to process tailings
with still some values. Efforts were made to utilize such resources (low-index ore of Turamdih mines,
containing 0.03% U3O8) by NML in association with UCIL as a national endeavor. In this area, the R&D work
showed the successful development of a bioleaching process from bench scale to lab scale columns and then
finally to the India’s first ever large scale column, from the view point of harnessing such a processing
technology as an alternative for the uranium industry and nuclear sector in the country. The efforts culminated
into the successful operation of large scale trials at the 100kg and 2ton level column uranium bioleaching that
was carried out at the site of UCIL, Jaduguda yielding a maximum recovery of 69% in 60 days. This
achievement is expected to pave the way for scaling up the activity to a 100ton or even more heap bioleaching
trials for realization of this technology, which needs to be carried out with the support of the nuclear sector in
the country keeping in mind the national interest.