News & Highlights
Te in tailings can be bioleached; indigenous organisms contribute
Microbial transformation of soluble tellurium demonstrated
In the News
Rio Tinto starts tellurium production at Kennecott
Research Highlight
Sustainable acid-free dissolution recycling of rare earth elements from NdFeB magnet swarf
Research Highlight
Bugs tease tellurium out of mine tailings—first results
Yoshiko Fujita at Idaho National Laboratory leads the CMI project "Biologically-mediated recovery of tellurium from mine waste"
This project is to assess the potential for biologically-based approaches to recover tellurium (Te) from mine tailings. Biorecovery of Te may present a more economical and environmentally friendly alternative than conventional hydrometallurgy. Oxidative bioleaching is widely accepted for copper recovery, and the project expects that a similar approach can be applied for Te leaching. The first year of the project aims to establish that microorganisms can facilitate Te solubilization. If successful, follow-on work would evaluate whether microorganisms can transform the leached Te species into nanoparticulate elemental and/or volatile Te forms, resulting in Te enrichment and facilitating its separation for further refinement.