Abstract
Advances in the bioleaching of sulfide materials, sulfur removal from fossil fuels, and mineral biotechnology are reviewed. Recent descriptions of acidophilic microbial communities and newly recognized bacterial species have revealed abundant physiological diversity in acid mine water environments that may have potential application in mineral bioleaching processes. Strain improvement using molecular biology techniques is of considerable interest in order to enhance the industrial potential of key organisms, the acidophilic thiobacilli, in sulfide mineral bioprocessing. Research in mineral biotechnology has successfully demonstrated gene transfer by electrotransformation in Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and conjugation in Thiobacillus thiooxidans . Even though bioleaching shows promise in laboratory studies aimed at the recovery of metals from low-grade ores and sulfur removal from fossil fuels, a great need for research optimization and process scale-up is indicated to expand the commercial applications of this technology.
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