Microbial Succession during a Heap Bioleaching Cycle of Low Grade Copper Sulphides. Does this Knowledge Mean a Real Input for Industrial Process Design and Control?

The paper “Bacterial succession in bioheap leaching” [1] initiated the search for methods to analyze the microbial dynamics in bioleaching industrial processes as a key to advancing commercial bioheap applications. “Chemical and physical conditions within bioheaps change radically from the time the bioheap is stacked and inoculated until bioleaching is completed.” The results from a comprehensive monitoring program by culturing and molecular techniques in an industrial bioleaching process for Run-of-mine (ROM) low grade copper sulfide ore in Chile will be summarized. The analysis of the compiled information permits an understanding of changes in microbial substrates availability, chemical and physical conditions. The impact of other aspects on microbiology, such as the mining programme and the industrial design are also considered. The bacterial succession in bioheap leaching solutions allowed the leaching cycle stages to be describe as: i) Acid conditioning and soluble copper releasing, ii) Chalcocite Bacterial leaching (ferrous oxidation); iii) Chalcocite Bacterial leaching (ferrous and reduced sulfur compounds –RSC- oxidation); iv) Bacterial leaching of sulphide minerals with higher rest potentials (pyrite and covellite ), v) Bacterial oxidation of remnant sulfide minerals and RSC.

[1]  C. Brierley.  Bacterial succession in bioheap leaching , 2001 .

[2]  W. Loh,et al.  SPLIT SELECTION METHODS FOR CLASSIFICATION TREES , 1997 .

[3]  D. Johnson,et al.  Microbial communities in a porphyry copper tailings impoundment and their impact on the geochemical dynamics of the mine waste. , 2007, Environmental microbiology.

[4]  F. A. Perrot,et al.  Impact of the copper solvent extraction reagent LIX 984N on the growth and activity of selected acidophiles , 2009 .

[5]  J. R. Quinlan,et al.  Data Mining Tools See5 and C5.0 , 2004 .

[6]  G. V. Kass.  An Exploratory Technique for Investigating Large Quantities of Categorical Data , 1980 .

[7]  Danny Castillo,et al.  Monitoring of Microbial Community Inhabiting a Low-Grade Copper Sulphide Ore by Quantitative Real-Time PCR Analysis of 16S rRNA Genes , 2007 .

[8]  H. Tributsch,et al.  Reasons why 'Leptospirillum'-like species rather than Thiobacillus ferrooxidans are the dominant iron-oxidizing bacteria in many commercial processes for the biooxidation of pyrite and related ores. , 1999, Microbiology.

[9]  B. Escobar,et al.  Determination of sulfur and iron oxidation bacteria by the most probable number (MPN) technique , 1999 .

[10]  Pedro A. Galleguillos,et al.  Identification of differentially expressed genes in an industrial bioleaching heap processing low-grade copper sulphide ore elucidated by RNA arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction , 2008 .

[11]  Isamu Suzuki,et al.  Ferrous Iron and Sulfur Oxidation and Ferric Iron Reduction Activities of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans Are Affected by Growth on Ferrous Iron, Sulfur, or a Sulfide Ore , 1990, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[12]  K. Inagaki,et al.  Purification and some properties of sulfur:ferric ion oxidoreductase from Thiobacillus ferrooxidans , 1987, Journal of bacteriology.

[13]  Cecilia Demergasso,et al.  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 , 2009, Microbial biotechnology.

[14]  M. Boon,et al.  The Mechanism and Kinetics of Bioleaching Sulphide Minerals , 1998 .

[15]  Cecilia Demergasso,et al.  Characterization of Oxidizing Activity of a Microbial Community in an Industrial Bioleaching Heap , 2009 .

[16]  Cecilia Demergasso,et al.  Microbial succession during a heap bioleaching cycle of low grade copper sulfides Does this knowledge mean a real input for industrial process design and control , 2010 .

[17]  P. Franzmann,et al.  Moderate thermophiles including “Ferroplasma cupricumulans” sp. nov. dominate an industrial-scale chalcocite heap bioleaching operation , 2006 .

[18]  Yue-hua Hu,et al.  Compositions and Structures of Archaeal Communities in Acid Mineral Bioleaching Systems of Dongxiang Copper Mine and Yinshan Lead–Zinc Mine, China , 2008, Current Microbiology.

[19]  Yue-hua Hu,et al.  Microbial diversity in acid mineral bioleaching systems of dongxiang copper mine and Yinshan lead–zinc mine , 2008, Extremophiles.

[20]  Wen-Sheng Shu,et al.  Culturable and molecular phylogenetic diversity of microorganisms in an open-dumped, extremely acidic Pb/Zn mine tailings , 2008, Extremophiles.

[21]  T. Vargas,et al.  Novel electrochemical-enzymatic model which quantifies the effect of the solution Eh on the kinetics of ferrous iron oxidation with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. , 2002, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[22]  W. Sand.  Ferric iron reduction by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans at extremely low pH-values , 1989 .

[23]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[24]  D. Johnson,et al.  Microbiological and geochemical dynamics in simulated‐heap leaching of a polymetallic sulfide ore , 2008, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[25]  G. Qiu,et al.  Microbial populations in acid mineral bioleaching systems of Tong Shankou Copper Mine, China , 2007, Journal of applied microbiology.

[26]  Leo Breiman,et al.  Classification and Regression Trees , 1984 .

[27]  E. Casamayor,et al.  Molecular characterization of microbial populations in a low-grade copper ore bioleaching test heap , 2005 .

[28]  J. Molina,et al.  Comparison between the Bacterial Populations from Solutions and Minerals in 1 m Test Columns and the Industrial Low Grade Copper Sulphide Bioleaching Process in the Escondida Mine, Chile , 2009 .