Patent ID: 8119085

Claim:
A process for the heap leaching of sulphide ores, the process characterised by the process steps of: (i) The agglomeration or wetting of an ore feed; (ii) Exposing the agglomerated or wetted ore to an inoculum containing one or more bacterial species capable of biooxidising sulphide minerals in that ore; (iii) Forming one or more heaps from the ore of step (ii); (iv) Dispersing further bacterial inoculum over at least a portion of the or each heap; and (v) Recovering leach solution draining from the heap and passing a portion thereof to a means for metal recovery, wherein step (i) is conducted in an agglomerator and step (ii) takes place at or near an end of the agglomerator from which the agglomerated or wetted ore exits.