Heap leaching of sulphide ores

摘要

A process for the heap leaching of multiple ores, the process characterized by the process steps of: (i) the agglomeration or wetting of an ore feed; (ii) exposing the agglomerated or wetted ore to an inoculum containing one or more bacterial species capable of biooxidizing sulphide minerals in that ore; (iii) forming one or more heaps from the ore of step (ii); (iv) dispersing further bacterial inoculum over at least a portion of the or each heap; and (v) recovering leach solution draining from the heap and passing a portion thereof to a means for metal recovery.