Biooxidation of refractory silver minerals as pretreatment for silver recovery
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15381/iigeo.v26i52.26409Keywords:
Biooxidation, silver, refractory minerals, biohydrometallurgy, sulfide mineralsAbstract
The worldwide demand for silver is increasing due to the technological development in different areas, especially for the requirements in the production of renewable energies; therefore, for the treatment of refractory minerals by conventional processes, it is necessary to study mechanisms to identify the viability of their processing and the feasibility of their recovery, ensuring profitability. Gold and silver present in the matrix of sulfide-based ores are not affordably recovered by the conventional method involving leaching in sodium cyanide solution. Therefore, it must be subjected to oxidation pretreatment or conversion of the sulfides to simple compounds that allow recovery of the precious metals. The methods of oxidation of minerals considered refractory are carried out by hydro and pyrometallurgical methods, seeking the dissolution of sulfur, iron, arsenic and other elements present. It is important to identify and consider the mineralogical structure, microbiological variety, physicochemical characteristics, types of reactors, bacterial interactions, among other factors. The choice of biooxidation as the preferred process in projects for the recovery of gold, silver, copper or other metals, in most cases is based on the economic advantage, compared to the conventional processes of roasting, chemical leaching and pressurized leaching. The biooxidation of refractory argentiferous ores has been extensively studied in recent years, concluding that its application is feasible, mainly because it is environmentally friendly.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Vladimir Alejandro Arias Arce, Pilar Angélica Avilés Mera, Marco Antonio Surichaqui Hidalgo, Carlos Alberto Malpartida Dominguez, Ismael Molina Pereyra
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
AUTHORS RETAIN THEIR RIGHTS:
a. Authors retain their trade mark rights and patent, and also on any process or procedure described in the article.
b. Authors retain their right to share, copy, distribute, perform and publicly communicate their article (eg, to place their article in an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in the Rev. Inst. investig. Fac. minas metal cienc. geogr.
c. Authors retain theirs right to make a subsequent publication of their work, to use the article or any part thereof (eg a compilation of his papers, lecture notes, thesis, or a book), always indicating the source of publication (the originator of the work, journal, volume, number and date).
