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Abstract
Mathematical models of the chemical leaching of a sulphide mineral and the bacterial oxidation of ferrous ions are combined in a mathematical model of bacterial leaching. It is shown that the models of the chemical leaching of sphalerite and the bacterial oxidation of ferrous ions are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The indirect mechanism of bacterial leaching, which is a combination of these two sub-processes, is able to account for the shape of the reaction curve obtained from bacterial leaching experiments. It is also shown that even at very low concentrations of iron in solution the indirect mechanism may be the dominant pathway in bacterial leaching or sulphidic minerals.