Patents Represented by Attorney D. Gardiner
  • Patent number: 4113314
    Abstract: An improved method of solution well mining is provided which, among other advantages, enhances the injectivity of the wells and eliminates the need for underreaming and the use of well screens. In solution well mining, a leaching solution is pumped into an injection well so as to flow through a mineralized zone to a plurality of production wells, the solution which contains the mineral to be recovered being pumped out of the production wells. The invention provides for using a high pressure water jet to perforate the cemented casings of the well so as to, inter alia, enhance injectivity and provide sand control. The perforations are arranged in a preselected nonuniform pattern in the production well, with the density being the greatest at the bottom of the zone, so as to promote uniform flow of the solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 1977
    Date of Patent: September 12, 1978
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Interior
    Inventors: George A. Savanick, Walter G. Krawza