Market and product

As the global mining industry faces growing challenges, including declining ore grades, rising demand for critical minerals, and increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions, bioleaching technology is emerging as a potential solution to transform mineral extraction and processing toward a more sustainable future.

According to an analysis featured in Energy Technology, advances in microbiology, combined with increasing demand for strategic minerals, are creating new opportunities for bioleaching to expand beyond its traditional applications in copper and gold processing and move into a wider range of mineral recovery activities.

The programme featured insights from Priit Joers, Chief Scientific Officer at BiotaTec; Ross Orr, CEO of BacTech; and Darina Štyriaková, CEO of ekolive. They argued that the combination of technological innovation and changing market conditions is creating a new development phase for this long-established technology.

Using microorganisms to recover metals

Unlike conventional mineral processing methods, which rely heavily on energy-intensive processes such as ore crushing, concentration and smelting, bioleaching uses microorganisms to assist in extracting metals from ores, concentrates and waste materials.

According to Priit Joers, industrial bioleaching has been studied and applied for decades, but its use has historically been limited to specific ore types and a relatively narrow range of microorganisms.

However, advances in molecular biology are now changing those limitations. Researchers are able to explore a much wider range of microorganisms, including those capable of processing not only primary ores but also mining waste and end-of-life industrial waste streams.

A key advancement in this field is improved selectivity during metal recovery. Scientists can modify and optimise microbial characteristics to target specific metals, improving processing efficiency and recovery performance.
The biggest challenge: scaling up industrial deployment

Despite its advantages, bioleaching has not yet achieved widespread adoption across the global mining sector.

According to Darina Štyriaková, the mining industry’s lack of interest has rarely been the main obstacle. Over the years, ekolive has collaborated with hundreds of mining companies, conducting numerous trials and pilot projects. However, the major challenge has been moving from experimental stages to full-scale commercial implementation.

One of the most important questions is whether the technology can meet the requirements of industrial-scale production.

Ross Orr said BacTech is pursuing an approach that combines bioleaching with existing mineral processing systems. The goal is to develop new process flowsheets that incorporate biological extraction advantages while allowing mining companies to continue using proven production infrastructure.

Strong potential in tailings treatment and mining waste recovery

One of the areas where bioleaching shows particularly strong potential is the treatment of tailings – the waste materials left after mining and mineral processing operations.

BacTech is currently exploring a project involving historical nickel mining waste from Vale’s operations in Sudbury, Canada. The project aims not only to recover valuable metals such as nickel, copper and cobalt from sulphide tailings, but also to identify additional value streams from the remaining materials.

Experts highlight that one of bioleaching’s key advantages is its lower energy demand, lower operating temperatures and reduced emissions compared with many conventional processing technologies.

This makes the technology particularly attractive for treating legacy mining waste that was previously considered economically unviable.

With improved technologies, these materials could become future sources of critical raw materials, especially as governments and industries seek to strengthen supply chain security.

Štyriaková pointed to tailings sites in Slovakia where copper concentrations remain higher than the grades of some deposits currently being mined, suggesting that historical waste sites may represent a significant untapped resource.

Opportunities for the green transformation of mining

Experts believe that bioleaching could play an important role in addressing two major challenges simultaneously: increasing the supply of critical minerals and reducing the environmental impacts of mining operations.

As countries accelerate efforts to secure supplies of minerals needed for the energy transition – including nickel, cobalt, copper and other strategic resources – recovering valuable materials from historical waste deposits is becoming increasingly important.

However, the key challenge remains closing the gap between technological potential and large-scale commercialisation.

Bioleaching is not a new technology, but advances in biology, combined with growing demand for critical minerals and stronger environmental requirements, could provide the momentum needed for it to enter a new stage of development and become an important component of sustainable mining in the future.