An update on possibilities of metals recovery from Polish copper ores by biotechnology. Project Ecometals

¹ KGHM Cuprum Sp. z o.o. Research and Development Center, Environmental Protection and Processing Department 53-659 Wroclaw, Poland
² Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières - BRGM, 45060 Orléans Cedex, France
³ Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Helmholtz-Institut Freiberg für Ressourcentechnologie, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
⁴ Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering 50-373 Wroclaw, Poland

^* e-mail: aszubert@cuprum.wroc.pl

Abstract

The possibilities of metals recovery from copper ores with the biotechnological methods are widely known. The methods consist in bioleaching of copper ores, copper concentrates and byproducts of their production, as well as metals recovery from leaching solutions. Biohydrometallurgical methods were tested for years to be applied at KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., in order to improve efficiency of copper production. Several different research units worked on the topic, and the most significant and wide range initiatives in this area are mentioned in this article. One of the initiatives is an ongoing German and French Ecometals project. KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. and KGHM Cuprum Ltd. Research and Development Centre are this project Partners. In the frame of the project different metals bearing materials (ores, concentrates and tailings) are tested. Among them three lithological types of the copper ore from Rudna mine and the copper concentrate from Lubin concentrator are used for studies. The article gives a general overview of these activities, with the main focus on results of bioleaching studies of selected materials, conducted by KGHM Cuprum. In these studies sandstone and shale, as well as so called “shale concentrate” (containing 39% of the shale) were used for experiments, and possibilities of their bioleaching were evaluated.