Heap leaching of sulphide ores
AssigneeBioheap Limited
InventorsColin John Hunter, Tamsin Lisa Williams
Life of this patent
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Abstract
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.
Claims28
A process for the heap leaching of sulphide ores, the process characterised 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 biooxidising 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,
- wherein step (i) is conducted in an agglomerator and step (ii) takes place at or near an end of the agglomerator from which the agglomerated or wetted ore exits.
A process for the heap leaching of sulphide ores, the process characterised by the process steps of:
- (i) Providing a bacterial farm for the production of a bacterial culture capable of biooxidising sulphide minerals in the ore;
- and
- (ii) Distributing bacterial culture from that farm to inoculate each of an ore feed in an agglomeration or wetting step, one or more heaps, and one or more ponds arranged to receive leach solution from the or each heap, wherein the specific demands of the process determine the manner in which this distribution is balanced and the wherein inoculation of the ore feed is conducted in an agglomerator and takes place at or near an end of the agglomerator from which the agglomerated or wetted ore exits.
An agglomeration method for the agglomeration of a sulphide ore to be heap leached, the agglomeration method being characterised by the following method steps:
- (i) At least in part agglomerating the ore with one or more of an acid, a binder and water;
- (ii) Adding a bacterial inoculum of bacteria capable of oxidising sulphides to the at least partially agglomerated ore of step (i);
- and
- (iii) The consequently agglomerated ore is subsequently stacked in one or more heaps for leaching,
- wherein step (i) is conducted in an agglomerator and step (ii) takes place at or near an end of the agglomerator from which the agglomerated or wetted ore exits.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.