Exploration and mining of Jordanian uranium ores

The results of the Natural Resources Authority studies in the early 1980s included the presence of large amounts of uranium ore in several parts of the Kingdom and due to the nature of uranium ore residue in the central Jordan region (Swaqa site), this part was selected for detailed uranium exploration activities as the first project financed by the Jordanian Atomic Energy organization was the establishment of the Jordanian uranium mining company in 2013 to manage the uranium project in central Jordan. The company's responsibilities included exploration and development of the optimum treatment of uranium ore, leading to the development of a mining unit at the experimental level and the completion of a feasibility study for the production of yellow cake (U3O8) from the raw materials in the central Jordan region. One Unit of mining is able to produce 400 Tons of yellow cake annually, with the production of 1000 Tons of the yellow cake per year at the end, and benefit from the product as fuel for the nuclear power plant in Jordan and a regional store (bank) for the nuclear fuel.

In 2016 Jordanian uranium mining company issued a report to estimate the uranium supplies by 40 thousand tons according to the rules of the Joint International Committee for the raw materials precincts and they have been classified as distributed precincts according to the global scale (JORC), confirming the presence of uranium in central Jordan in commercial quantities which will be adopted by specialized investment companies.

In the field of extracting uranium from Jordanian ore, the team of the Jordanian uranium mining company designed the industrial process for the uranium extraction using the technology of leaching in piles and developing this technology and being tested at a semi-pilot level. Using this technology, a 1 kilogram of yellow cake was extracted in 2016 considering this step as essential for future production of uranium on the commercial level. This is knowing that a specialized team of the commission laboratories succeeded in another path of uranium extraction by building a general laboratory unit (2016) which produced the yellow cake from the centre of Jordan ores with a high purity of more than (90%) and by using local resources and materials to reduce the economic cost.

It is noteworthy that a research and development agreement was signed in the uranium ore mining project in central Jordan between King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy and the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission in March 2017.

The value of government spending on this strategic project during the past 10 years (2008-2017) amounted to JD 8 million and JD 760 thousand, an average of 876 thousand dinars annually