Nutrient requirements for the in-place leaching of uranium by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

Abstract Analyses of the concentrations of the various inorganic metabolites found in naturally occurring acidic drainage from coal waste dumps, uranium tailings or in situ acidic uranium mine drainage suggested that excessive concentrations of nutrients are present in the popular laboratory media utilized in bacterial leaching studies. A new medium was developed and tested for the leaching of uranium in both shake-culture and column leaching studies. Optimal uranium solubilization occurred when the leach liquor contained 0.1 m M K 2 HPO 4 , 0.5 m M MgSO 4 · 7H 2 O and 0.5 m M (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 ·2H 2 O.