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Bacterial Leaching.
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Thu Sep 25 2003
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Kayleigh Innes Open Book Paper - Bacterial Leaching. Water running out of copper mines contains dissolved copper ions that have been leached from copper minerals by bacteria. Some mines make use of bacterial leaching as a means of extracting copper from low-grade ore and tailings from conventional mining. The bacteria thiobacillus ferro-oxidants and thiobacillus thio-oxidants get the energy they need to survive by oxidising Fe2+ ions and S2- ions. The S2- ions are present in insoluble copper minerals, zinc and lead. The action of the bacteria releases the metal ions into solution where they can be extracted. When this process is applied to industry, the low-grade ore, and tailings are piled up on an impermeable base layer, and sprayed with an acidic leaching solution containing thiobacillus ferro-oxidants and thiobacillus thio-oxidants. The bacteria do not need any organic materials to feed off, just Fe2+ ions, S2- ions carbon dioxide, and oxygen. The...
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