METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SOLUTION MINING

摘要

A relatively warm mineral deposit is solution mined by injecting fluid through a well dplled into the deposit and dissolving the mineral to form a production bpne Warm production bpne is cooled at the surface using a heat exchanger as a crystallizer to precipitate the mineral in the exchanger and form a slurry Crystals of the mineral in the slurry are recovered in a separation plant leaving a relatively cool, dilute or depleted brine, which is conveyed through the heat exchanger for and then injected into the mineral deposit to dissolve more mineral thereby providing a continuous process A pipe-in-pipe heat exchanger is preferably used and in a manner so that the heat exchanger also serves as a primary means for conveying the production fluid and/or slurry from the well to the separation plant