AAI was called in to advise on data collection immediately after discovery of the Kazan Trona deposit near Ankara, Turkey. Subsequent involvement has included preliminary assessments of conventional room-and-pillar mining, longwall mining, and solution mining. Further studies of solution mining were justified and detailed studies of solution mining were undertaken. This included characterization of thermo-mechanical properties of trona and interburden, analysis of cavern development, design of deep horizontal caverns, resource definition, recoverable reserve estimates, and capital and operating costs for a solution mine to feed a large-scale commercial trona/soda ash plant. The concept developed required thermal induced caving for cavern development to access overlying beds. Thermo-mechanical modeling using FLAC was an integral part of the design process. Currently, the project is under development to produce 1.5 Mtpy of soda ash and has 10 drill rigs on-site developing the wellfield. AAI continues to make regular site visits to monitor wellfield development.
