Bioleaching of a kind of alkaline mixed copper oxide and sulphide mineral

We conducted two-stage acidification-bioleaching experiments to probe the feasibility of bioleaching for a kind of mixed alkaline copper oxide and sulphide mineral. We used the uniform design method for data analysis and experimental optimization, with initial pH value, pulp density, inoculation of bacteria and ferrous iron concentration selected as the influential factors. Polynomial regression shows that the four factors sequentially influence the copper recovery by 14.430%, 8.555%, 1.982% and 3.895%. Acid equilibrium in the bioleaching system is mainly influenced by alkaline gangue content, chemical reactions and bacterial activity. A maximal portion of refractory copper extracted reaches 71.08%. The dynamic analysis of copper recovery indicates that bioleaching goes through a lag leaching phase, prime leaching phase and leaching stationary phase corresponding to the growth phases of bacteria. Compared with the predicted value of 80.87%, the confirmatory experiment observes a 78.21% copper recovery under the optimal conditions of pH of 1.5, pulp density of 5%, bacteria inoculation of 30% and initial ferrous iron concentration of 9 g L-1. Results suggest that bioleaching is technically feasible to improving total copper recovery.