Applications of Dissimilatory Iron Reducing Bacteria (DIRB) for recovery of Ni and Co from low-grade lateritic nickel ore

Biostimulation of Jarosite and Iron Oxide-Bearing Mine Waste Enhances Subsequent Metal Recovery

“…Other proposed biomining approaches include the use of other acids, cyanogenic, or chelate-generating microorganisms to mobilise metals (Lee and Pandey, 2012). Bioreduction of iron oxide, where the oxidation of a suitable electron donor is coupled with the reduction under anaerobic conditions of Fe(III), has been explored as a mechanism for metal recovery from (particularly lateritic) ores (Esther et al, 2020;Papassiopi et al, 2010). Recovery of Ni, Co, and Cu from laterites has been explored extensively using dissimilative iron reducing microorganisms (DIRM) (Hallberg et al, 2011a;Ňancucheo et al, 2014;Smith et al, 2017) for ore biobeneficiation (Natarajan, 2015), but there are very few studies that focus on metal recovery from wastes (Hallberg et al, 2011b;Johnson et al, 2013;Johnson and du Plessis, 2015;Smith et al, 2017).…”

Hydrometallurgical Nickel and Cobalt Production From Lateritic Ores: Optimization and Comparison of Atmospheric Pressure Leaching and Pug-Roast-Leaching Processes

“…Lateritic nickel ore deposits with 1% to 3% grade are formed by the decomposition of ultramafic rocks, which contain nickel and cobalt between 0.1% to 0.3%. The decomposition of ultramafic rocks occurs due to atmospheric and hydrospheric phenomena [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Extraction of nickel from nontronitic or limonitic laterites which have a low Ni/Fe ratio is possible through hydrometallurgical processes.…”