Sensitivity analysis for trona solution mining

Abstract

During the past decade, solution mining of trona has emerged as a viable alternative to conventional mining technology applications. The significance of this production level becomes quite apparent for soda ash production after 1980’s. Areas of investigation of Turkish trona mineral have generally focused on leaching chemistry, solution flow characteristics and surface plant parameters. Economics of trona solution mining was investigated for Turkish trona deposit to offer comparative estimates of this method and conventional mining techniques. This study presents the results of an in-depth analysis of in situ trona production costs by employing a process engineering approach. This approach disaggregates the solution mining process and analyzes each component in terms of its requirements and associated costs. The cost model developed under this effort has been applied to typical solution mining situation encountered in Beypazari. Sensitivity tests were also conducted to identify the degree of cost influence exerted by incremental changes in key project parameters. The method considered here is alkali extraction method.