Leaching of Turkish copper ore samples with Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

The yield of bacterial leaching of copper with Ergani and Murgul samples wa s lower than that with Kure samples. The Ergani sample contained pyrrhotite as impurity and trace amount of silver whereas the Murgul sample contained only silver as a trace element. The highest copper extraction was obtained with the Kure sample that contained neither silver nor pyrrhotite.