Bioleaching of silicate manganese ores

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Abstract
Organic acids excreted by microorganisms dissolve manganese from silicate ores. Oxalic acid is more effective than citric, gluconic, and glycolic acid. Eighteen percent of the manganese in manganese silicate ore from Razoare, Romania, was dissolved within 6 days. Improvement of leaching conditions increased this to 20% within 6 h. Besides the manganese in the ore, 45% of the aluminum and 8% of the iron were dissolved in this time interval. This demonstrates that bioleaching of manganese from silicate ore is feasible, thus opening up new possibilities for the mineral processing industry.