Methods and systems for leaching a metal-bearing ore

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10370738-B2
Application number	US-201314427535-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2013
Priority date	Sep 13, 2012
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

A system and method for recovering a metal value from a metal-bearing ore material are provided. A metal-bearing ore can be mixed with certain substances and to form an agglomerated ore. In an intermediate state, between agglomeration and heap formation, bacteria can be added to the metal-bearing ore material to produce an augmented ore. The augmented ore can then be formed into a heap. Bacteria from the heap may be fortified to assist in bacterial growth.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
inoculating a first agglomerated ore comprising a metal-bearing material with bacteria to form a first augmented ore;
forming at least a portion of a heap with the first augmented ore;
leaching the first augmented ore in a heap leach to yield a metal-bearing solution;
directing at least a portion of the metal-bearing solution from the heap to a separate growth pond to form a selectively pressured bacterial colony;
adding a nutrient directly to the portion of the metal-bearing solution in the separate growth pond to yield a fortified liquid medium comprising an amplified number of bacteria within the selectively pressured bacterial colony; and
directing at least a portion of the fortified liquid medium from the separate growth pond to a second agglomerated ore during inoculation of the second agglomerated ore.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the nutrient comprises at least one of ammonia, phosphate, potassium, magnesium, carbon dioxide, and oxygen.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the metal-bearing solution is held in the separate growth pond for at least 12 hours prior to the directing.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising heating the fortified metal-bearing solution.

5. A method comprising:
inoculating a first agglomerated ore comprising a metal-bearing material with bacteria to form a first augmented ore;
forming at least a portion of a first heap with the first augmented ore;
leaching the first augmented ore in the first heap to yield a metal-bearing solution;
directing at least a portion of the metal-bearing solution to a second heap to form a selectively pressured bacterial colony;
adding a nutrient directly to the second heap to yield a fortified liquid medium comprising an amplified number of bacteria in the selectively pressured bacterial colony; and
directing a portion of the fortified liquid medium from the second heap to a second agglomerated ore during inoculation of the second agglomerated ore to form a second augmented ore.

6. A method comprising:
incubating a bacterial colony in a bioreactor system;
inoculating an agglomerated ore comprising a metal-bearing material with bacteria from the bacterial colony to form an augmented ore;
forming at least a portion of a heap with the augmented ore;
leaching the augmented ore in a heap leach to yield a metal-bearing solution;
pretreating at least a portion of the metal-bearing solution to form a pretreated metal-bearing solution; and
directing the pretreated metal-bearing solution to the bioreactor.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the pretreating comprises at least one of pH adjustment, metal value precipitation, separation by density, and filtration.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the pretreating comprises adding a nutrient to the portion of the metal-bearing solution in the pretreatment stage.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the nutrient comprises at least one of ammonia, phosphate, potassium, magnesium, carbon dioxide, and oxygen.

Assignees

• Freeport Minerals Corp

Inventors

• Robertson Joanna M
• Green Christine Rae
• Bowman Gabriel Elias

Classifications

• C22B3/18 Primary

  with the aid of microorganisms or enzymes, e.g. bacteria or algae · CPC title

• C22B3/02

  Apparatus therefor · CPC title

• Y02P10/234

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02P10/20

  Recycling · CPC title