Abstract

The possibility of using microorganisms extracted from a mining deposit, in the process of bioleaching of copper sulphide minerals, using a mixture of fresh water with percentages of seawater was studied. The microorganisms were cultivated, adapted to different percentages of seawater and used for the bioleaching process. Reactions were carried out in reactors with 0%, 30% and 60% of sea water, using sulfur minerals with fine granulometry. Subsequently, bioleaching was carried out in two reverse micro columns with 60% sea water and 100% fresh water, using the same mineral with a ½ inch granulometry. The reactors the percentage of copper extraction was equivalent in all the tests, however in the column bioleaching, the best performance was obtained with fresh water. It was found that bioleaching with seawater is feasible.