Preconditioning of mineral bearing rock formations for permeability enhanced in-situ leaching application

In-situ leaching (ISL) is an economically viable alternative to conventional mining practices, enabling the extraction of the mineral from the ore under in situ conditions while eliminating the energy-intensive operations of conventional mining. However, the applicability of ISL is challenging due to the risk of groundwater contamination from leachate and the low permeability of the host rock. This thesis assessed the slow releasing energy material (SREMA) as a sustainable rock preconditioning technique that can be adopted in the permeability enhancement of impervious ore deposits by replacing conventional rock preconditioning techniques.