Biotechnology in minerals processing: Technological breakthroughs creating value

The maturation of biotechnology applied to the minerals industry has required some key breakthroughs. Commercial success started with the mesophilic oxidation of refractory gold ores via the now-well-established BIOX(R) process. This was followed by the development of the BioCOP(TM) process for extracting copper from concentrates. In its initial format, this was a mesophilic process with limited capabilities for recovery of copper from chalcopyrite. The key breakthrough was determining how to achieve good copper extraction from primary sulfides using thermophiles, coupled with acceptable residence times and solids loadings. This opened a potential route to heap leaching of chalcopyrite, which is now a major focus of research and development. Future developments will require the management of temperature, together with the progressive establishment of different microbial regimes. (C) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.