Bioleaching of a Chalcocite-Dominant Copper Ore from Salta, Argentina, by Mesophilic and Thermophilic Microorganisms

Bioleaching of Copper from Low-Grade Ore Using Isolated Bacteria and Defined Mixed Cultures

Optimization of parameters affecting recovery of copper from Sarcheshmeh low-grade sulfide ore using Bioleaching

In this work, the parameters affecting the recovery of copper from the low-grade sulfide minerals of Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine were studied. A low-grade sulfide ore was used with a copper grade of 0.25%, which was about 28% of the mineral oxide, and the sulfide minerals made up the rest. Much more sulfide minerals were found to be pyrite and most of the gangue minerals were quartz, anorthite, bio...

Kinetics of chemical leaching of chalcocite from low-grade copper ore: size-distribution behavior

Kinetics of the chemical leaching of chalcocite from a low-grade copper ore in a ferric sulfate medium was investigated using the constrained least square optimization technique. The experiments were carried out for different particle sizes in both the reactor and column at constant Eh, pH, and temperature. The leaching rate increased with increase in the temperature. About 50% of the Cu recove...

Bioleaching of Molybdenum by Two New Thermophilic Strains Isolated and Characterized

This study involves the isolation and characterization of a bacterial strain capable of bioleaching molybdenum ore. Bacterial growth was observed when rock sample was incubated in 9K at 70 ºC. The isolates were identified as extremely acidophilic, thermophilic and chemolithotroph archaebacteria. Following PCR amplification of the 16S rDNA of the isolated strain, the sequencing of this region an...

Dynamic of active microorganisms inhabiting a bioleaching industrial heap of low‐grade copper sulfide ore monitored by real‐time PCR and oligonucleotide prokaryotic acidophile microarray

The bioleaching of metal sulfide has developed into a very important industrial process and understanding the microbial dynamic is key to advancing commercial bioleaching operations. Here we report the first quantitative description of the dynamic of active communities in an industrial bioleaching heap. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was the most abundant during the first part of the leaching c...