Biological ore pre-treatment options for the recovery of platinum group metals

摘要

Platinum group elements (PGE) are relevant for many high technology applications and have been classified as critical metals by the EU. Increasing demand combined with rising costs prompts the search for potential additional resources and environmentally-friendly processing technologies. Therefore, feasibility tests on oxidative and reductive bioleaching of various Platreef ore samples were carried out with acidophilic cultures under aerobic and anaerobic conditions in shake flasks or serum bottles and stirred tank bioreactors. The samples included drill core sections from the South African Platreef ore deposit, spanning over zones of pristine and weathered ore. Results suggest, depending on the degree of weathering of the ore and the acidophilic microorganisms applied the potential of oxidative and reductive bioleaching as a promising processing option for the pretreatment of PGE ores.