A new direction for biomining: Extraction of metals by reductive dissolution of oxidized ores
Open accessAbstract
Biomining, the biotechnology that uses microorganisms to extract metals from ores and concentrates, is currently used exclusively for processing reduced ores and mine wastes. Metals of economic value also occur extensively in oxidized ores, such as nickel laterites. While these are not amenable to oxidative dissolution, the ferric iron minerals they contain can, in theory, be disrupted by iron reduction, causing associated metals to be released. We have harnessed the ability of the facultatively anaerobic, acidophilic bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferroooxidans to couple the oxidation of elemental sulphur to the reduction of ferric iron in the goethite fraction of a limonitic nickel ore at 30 °C. Nickel and other metals (Co, Cr and Mn) were effectively solubilised and maintained in solution due to the low pH (1.8) of the leach liquor. The results highlight the potential for the bioprocessing of oxidized, iron-rich ores using an approach that is energy-saving and environmentally-benign compared with metallurgical processes currently applied to the extraction of Ni from lateritic ores.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Heap leaching has been used at some mining facilities to enhance metal extraction from low-grade sulfidic ores of copper, gold, uranium and zinc.
“Heap leaching has been used at some mining facilities to enhance metal extraction from low-grade sulfidic ores of copper, gold, uranium and zinc [59][60][61].”
From Strategizing carbon-neutral mines: A case for pilot projects (2014) · cites this paper as [61]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Metals, minerals and microbes: geomicrobiology and bioremediation
Gadd, G. M. (2010) · Microbiology · doi:10.1099/mic.0.037143-0 · Cited by 2,013 · see citing works
Rapid Assay for Microbially Reducible Ferric Iron in Aquatic Sediments
Lovley, D. R., & Phillips, E. J. P. (1987) · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · doi:10.1128/aem.53.7.1536-1540.1987 · Cited by 958 · see citing works
The microbiology of biomining: development and optimization of mineral-oxidizing microbial consortia
Rawlings, D. E., & Johnson, D. B. (2007) · Microbiology · doi:10.1099/mic.0.2006/001206-0 · Cited by 451 · see citing works
Self-citationAtmospheric acid leaching of nickel laterites review
McDonald, R. G., & Whittington, B. I. (2007) · Hydrometallurgy · doi:10.1016/j.hydromet.2007.11.009 · Cited by 418 · see citing works
Redox Transformations of Iron at Extremely Low pH: Fundamental and Applied Aspects
Johnson, D. B., Kanao, T., & Hedrich, S. (2012) · Frontiers in Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00096 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Self-citationThe past and the future of nickel laterites
Qing-xi, X. (2005) · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Carbon, Iron and Sulfur Metabolism in Acidophilic Micro-Organisms
Johnson, D. B., & Hallberg, K. B. (2008) · Advances in microbial physiology/Advances in Microbial Physiology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2911(08)00003-9 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Self-citationAtmospheric acid leaching of nickel laterites review. Part II. Chloride and bio-technologies
McDonald, R. G., & Whittington, B. I. (2008) · Hydrometallurgy · doi:10.1016/j.hydromet.2007.11.010 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Bridge, T. A. M., & Johnson, D. B. (1998) · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · doi:10.1128/aem.64.6.2181-2186.1998 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Self-citationHow will biomining be applied in future?
Brierley, C. L. (2008) · Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China · doi:10.1016/s1003-6326(09)60002-9 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Microbe-metal-interactions for the biotechnological treatment of metal-containing solid waste
Brandl, H., & Faramarzi, M. A. (2006) · 中国颗粒学报：英文版 · doi:10.1016/s1672-2515(07)60244-9 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Biotechnological Application of Metal-reducing Microorganisms
Lloyd, J. R., Lovley, D. R., & Macaskie, L. E. (2003) · Advances in applied microbiology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2164(03)53003-9 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Microbiological and geochemical dynamics in simulated‐heap leaching of a polymetallic sulfide ore
Wakeman, K. D., Auvinen, H., & Johnson, D. B. (2008) · Biotechnology and Bioengineering · doi:10.1002/bit.21951 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Self-citationÑancucheo, I., & Johnson, D. B. (2009) · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · doi:10.1128/aem.01832-09 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Self-citationRawlings, D. E., & Johnson, D. B. (2006) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-34911-2 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Rawlings, D.E.; Johnson, D.B. Biomining; Springer-Verlag: Heidelberg, Germany, 2007.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Strategizing carbon-neutral mines: A case for pilot projects
Power, I., McCutcheon, J., Harrison, A., Wilson, S., Dipple, G., Kelly, S., Southam, C., & Southam, G. (2014) · Minerals · doi:10.3390/min4020399 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
- Authors
- Johnson, D., Grail, B., & Hallberg, K.
- Affiliations
- Bangor University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Johnson, D.
- ORCID
- Johnson, D.
- Venue
- Minerals
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2013-01-30
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 49-58
- ISSN
- 2075-163X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2030977017
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 3.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Minerals (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Royal Society
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Metal Extraction and Bioleaching
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Mine drainage and remediation techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Extraction and Separation Processes
- Keywords
- biomining, reductive dissolution, oxidized ore, nickel laterite, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, iron reduction, goethite, nickel extraction, cobalt, chromium, manganese, bioleaching
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
