Enhancement of Au-Ag-Te contents in tellurium-bearing ore minerals via bioleaching

Nag-Choul Choi; Kang Hee Cho; Bong Ju Kim; Soonjae Lee; Cheon Young Park

doi:10.1007/s12613-018-1569-8

Volume 25 Issue 3

Mar. 2018

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Article Navigation > International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials > 2018 > 25(3): 262-270

Nag-Choul Choi, Kang Hee Cho, Bong Ju Kim, Soonjae Lee, and Cheon Young Park, Enhancement of Au-Ag-Te contents in tellurium-bearing ore minerals via bioleaching, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 25(2018), No. 3, pp. 262-270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-018-1569-8

Cite this article as:

Nag-Choul Choi, Kang Hee Cho, Bong Ju Kim, Soonjae Lee, and Cheon Young Park, Enhancement of Au-Ag-Te contents in tellurium-bearing ore minerals via bioleaching, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 25(2018), No. 3, pp. 262-270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-018-1569-8

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Research Article

Enhancement of Au-Ag-Te contents in tellurium-bearing ore minerals via bioleaching

+ Author Affiliations

Corresponding authors:
Soonjae Lee E-mail: soonjam@korea.ac.kr

Cheon Young Park E-mail: cybpark@chosun.ac.kr
Received: 2 July 2017; Revised: 14 September 2017; Accepted: 28 September 2017

Abstract

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to enhance the content of valuable metals, such as Au, Ag, and Te, in tellurium-bearing minerals via bioleaching. The ore samples composed of invisible Au and Au paragenesis minerals (such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena) in combination with tellurium-bearing minerals (hessite, sylvanite and Tellurobismuthite) were studied. Indigenous microbes from mine drainage were isolated and identified as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, which were used in bioleaching after adaption to copper. The effect of the microbial adaption on the bioleaching performance was then compared with the results produced by the non-adaptive process. The microbial adaption enhanced the Au-Ag-Te contents in biological leaching of tellurium-bearing ore minerals. This suggests that bioleaching with adapted microbes can be used both as a pretreatment and in the main recovery processes of valuable metals.
- tellurium-bearing mineral;
- bioleaching;
- adaptation;
- Au-Ag-Te;
- Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

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