An oxidative bioleaching process for leaching a base metal from an ore that includes an ore agglomeration step, an ore stacking step wherein agglomerated ore is stacked to form a heap, a curing step, a rinse step, an inoculation step and a leach step, and wherein, during the ore agglomeration step, the ore is contacted with an acid solution containing nitrate or nitrite thereby to accelerate the leaching rate in the leach step.

Provided are methods of extracting metals from rocks and sequestering carbon dioxide. In some embodiments, provided are methods of using phytomining to extract metals from ultramafic rocks while sequestering carbon dioxide. Provided are also compositions, including metal compositions produced by the methods herein.

Provided are methods of extracting metals from rocks and sequestering carbon dioxide. In some embodiments, provided are methods of using phytomining to extract metals from ultramafic rocks while sequestering carbon dioxide. Provided are also compositions, including metal compositions produced by the methods herein.

Agglomeration process in agglomeration plants is quite sensitive to changes in input feed material characteristics. End-to-end optimization of the agglomerate process by combining all the units is difficult due to unique complexities and challenges associated with combining the individual process outputs. A method and system for optimizing the operation of an agglomeration plant has been provided. The system performs real time optimization on integrated wet agglomeration and thermal agglomeration process which subsequently increases the plant productivity and agglomerate quality and minimizes the operating cost and emissions from the plant. The optimization process involves various steps such as receiving data, pre-processing of data, prediction using physics-based and data-driven models of agglomeration plant, and optimization execution and configuration. The process also involves continuous monitoring of model performance and self-learning of the models in case of a performance drift. The system is also configured to estimate the key performance parameters of agglomeration plant.

A hydrometallurgical system for processing metal ore includes a dynamic oxidative step in which the ore is irrigated with specific reactive liquid mixtures to progressively transform the ore and maintain conditions for enhanced recovery of metal from the ore by solvent-extraction. In embodiments, the systems described herein may be used for obtaining metal from refractory ores of copper, silver, cobalt, nickel, gold, rhenium, molybdenum, tungsten, and zirconium.