The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 10, 1981
Filed:
Jul. 24, 1979
Roger J Morrell, Bloomington, MN (US);
William C Larson, Bloomington, MN (US);
Robert D Schmidt, Isanti, MN (US);
Abstract
An improved method of in situ mining of a mineral bearing stratum. The method comprises drilling alternating rows of vertical injection and recovery wells to the depth of an aquiferrous mineral bearing stratum. Two horizontal branches are drilled at the bottom of each injection and recovery well. The horizontal branches are substantially parallel to one another and lie within the mineral bearing stratum. Leachant fluid is pumped under pressure into the injection wells to dissolve the minerals contained in the stratum. Leachant fluid containing the dissolved minerals is pumped out through the recovery wells. The method of the present invention requires substantially less drilling and pipe for extracting minerals from a given volume of a mineral bearing stratum and results in more constant mineral extraction rates than conventional techniques.