Patent ID: 7851177

Claim:
A method of analysis of the presence of active acidophilic microorganisms in a bioleaching solution, comprising the steps of: concentrating the bioleaching solution, resulting in a concentrated solution; removing luminescence inhibitory agents from the concentrated solution; wherein the step of removing luminescence inhibitory agents includes: first, treating the concentrated solution with a mineral acid solution to obtain a treated solution; and second, treating the treated solution with an agent selected from the group consisting of: distilled water, deionized water and a buffer with a pH close to neutrality to obtain an inhibitory agent free solution; initiating a bioluminescence reaction with said inhibitory agent free solution; measuring the light emitted in the bioluminescence reaction involving active acidophilic microorganisms in a concentrated solution; and correlating the measured light emitted to determine the presence of active acidophilic microorganisms in the bioleaching solution.