Minimization of metal sulphides bioleaching from mine wastes into the aquatic environment

The continuous presence of toxic elements in the aquatic environments around mine tailings occurs due to bioleaching or chemical extraction promoted by the mining operations. Biogenic passivation treatment of tailings dams can be a new environment-friendly technique to inhibit the solubility of heavy metals. In spite of current bioleaching researches, we tried to minimize the mobility of the trace elements in the laboratory scale through the formation of a passivation layer in the presence of a mixed culture of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) represented the jarosite generation as an inhibitory layer on the mineral surfaces of the tested materials. More detailed observations on electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) showed the co-precipitation of metals with the passivation layer. Thereby, the passivation layer demonstrates potential in elements immobilization which, in turn, can be optimized in the natural systems. Our working hypothesis was to exploit and optimize the formation of the passivation layer to maximize the immobilization of heavy metals (e.g., Cu, Cr). The optimization process of bioleaching experiments using indigenous bacteria caused a reduced solubility for Cu (from around 20% to 4.5%) and Cr (from around 30% to 10.6%) and the formation of 6.5 gr passivation layer. The analyses finally represented the high efficiency of the passivation technique to minimize metals bioleaching in comparison to earlier studies.