Patent ID: 8859249

Claim:
A method for oxidizing an iron (II) ion in an acidic solution containing an iodide ion and the iron (II) ion, the method comprising performing following steps (a)-(c) repeatedly and continuously: (a) contacting the acidic solution containing the iodide ion and the iron (II) ion with an iron-oxidizing microbe attached to a microbe-immobilizing carrier in a reactor to oxidize iron (II) to iron (III) and generate a solution, wherein the acidic solution containing the iodide ion and the iron (II) ion has a concentration of total iodine ranged from 1 mg/L to about 4 mg/L; (b) sedimenting the solution generated in step (a) in a sedimentation tank to obtain a solution containing the iron (III) ion and a sediment of the microbe-immobilizing carrier; and (c) reintroducing the sediment from step (b) into the reactor in the step (a): wherein said acidic solution containing the iodide ion and the iron (II) ion is a post-leaching solution which is obtained via a step wherein copper is leached from a copper sulfide ore using a sulfuric acid solution containing an iodide ion and an iron (III) ion as a leaching solution.