Adaptation and Continuous Cultivation of Microorganisms Used in the Bioleaching of Sulphide Minerals: A Biotechnological Approach

Abstract

The processes of Bioleaching of sulphide minerals, aiming at extracting the metallic values from these mineral species, as well as the bio-oxidation of these sulphides so as to release gold particles encapsulated in these mineral matrices for further extracting the remaining gold, require, at first, a stage of adaptation of the involved microorganisms to the growing ionic strengths, due to these bio-oxidative processes, followed by the continuous cultivation of these microorganisms in order to use them in the aforementioned extractive processes at the appropriate production scales. Therefore, this technological contribution aims at defining the conditions, in the first place, for adapting those microorganisms to increasing ionic strengths and for their continuous cultivation, considering the bio-oxidative processes in which such cultures will be used.