Page 27 - CBT 2018
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Mining valuable metals with microorganisms
The use of microorganisms to facilitate the extraction and recovery of valuable metals from primary ores, so-called biomining, has developed into a successful and expanding area of biotechnology. Biomining is mainly being used to process sulfide ores, but laboratory and pilot procedures exist for the processing
of silicate and oxide ores, for leaching of processing residues or mine waste dump materials, and for recycling metals from industrial residues and wastes. There is still a question about whether the current microbial populations are the most suitable and effective species for processing the various minerals. CEGE researchers seek to identify and control microbial communities for metal bioleaching and biooxidation operations for particular minerals under given conditions. [36–38]
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