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:
Nov. 25, 1997
Filed:
Apr. 19, 1996
Michael M Bithell, Green River, WY (US);
FMC Corporation, Philadelphia, PA (US);
Abstract
A process is described for solution mining isolated, mechanically mined-out areas of soluble evaporite ore to recover remaining ore reserves, wherein the mined-out areas are separated from an operational mine area by barrier pillars of the evaporite ore, by drilling at least one vertical well bore from the surface to a predefined distance above the evaporite ore body, converting the drilling of the vertical well bore to a substantially horizontal well bore at a predetermined distance below the ground level, continuing the drilling parallel to and within the evaporite ore body to form a well bore one end of which is connected to the mined-out area, developing a connection from the operating mine area to the other end of the well bore, drilling an injection well from the surface into the mined-out area, injecting an aqueous solvent into the injection well, passing the solvent into the mined-out area, removing solvent enriched in dissolved evaporite ore from the mined-out area, passing such enriched solvent from the mined-out area into the well bore connecting the mined-out area and the operational mine area, removing enriched solvent from the well bore end connected to the operational mine area and recovering the enriched solvent.