In this paper, published in Hydromettalurgy, we investigate indirect in-situ bioleaching as an alternative mining technology for minimizing waste production, environmental impact, and chemical consumption. Laboratory column experiments are described and their results are used to develop a one-dimensional reactive transport model based on PhreeqC software. This model is then adapted to in-situ conditions by considering the preferential flow of fluids through natural or artificial fractures of enhanced hydraulic conductivity.

A free download of the paper would be available here in January 2020 : https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-02191211

Laurent, G., Izart, C., Lechenard, B., Golfier, F., Marion, P., Collon, P., … Filippov, L. (2019). Numerical modelling of column experiments to investigate in-situ bioleaching as an alternative mining technology. Hydrometallurgy, 188, 272–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2019.07.002