• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.331-346
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• 2010

This study was carried out to leach valuable metals from galena using indigenous bacteria with no optimum pH conditions at room temperature. Even in these conditions, the rod-shaped indigenous bacteria, ranging from $0.4{\times}0.2{\mu}m$ to $0.5{\times}1.7{\mu}m$, were attached to the surface of the galena. For the 19 days of the bioleaching experiment, the content of Ph, Fe, Zn ions was found to be 347, 222 and 1.7 times higher than that of the control leaching agent, respectively. Numerous hexagonal column crystals were observed on the surface of galena. Those crystals may be formed from the biooxidation of galena by the indigenous bacteria. XRD analysis showed the peaks of anglesite observed in the bioleached galena. It is expected that more valuable elements can be leached out of the galena, if the bacteria is used under optimum pH and temperature conditions in future bioleaching experiments.