Effects of different growth medium on leaching of law grade uranium ore using thiobacillus in a semi field experiment

Bacterial leaching was carried out to leach uranium tailings from Remaja Kalimantan U ore. Nine hundreds ml of T. ferrooxidans F 402 inoculum was used in density of 9 exp.3 bacteria/ml. Some growth medium were used i.e. Silverman or 9 K medium, sulfuric acid Ph 1.5 and 2.0; and NaClO3 as oxydizing agent. Twenty tons of U ore was mounted on a Heat leaching experiment. T. ferooxidans F 402 was able to grow satisfactorily in the semi field experiment. In leaching solution, composed of 9 K compounds, bacteria grew well indicated in the number of bacteria in the solution, the oxidation of Fe2+ =====> Fe3+ caised increase in redox potential. The addition of NaClO3 did not oxydazed Fe2+ =====> Fe3+. The mixture of 4 kg NaClO3 and 1/5 dose of 9 K compounds resulted in slow oxidation. (author). 11 refs, 3 figs, 5 tabs