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Nickeline-bearing ore primary resource

Natural heterogeneous nickel-arsenide-bearing ore containing nickeline with carbonate and quartz gangue. The present evidence concerns a low-grade sample collected approximately 2.5 km northwest of Patang village in eastern Iran and a high-grade sample from Talmesi mine in central Iran. These are distinct feed arms within one geological resource class, not processing wastes, pure nickeline, nickel metal or a standardized concentrate grade. Boroumand et al.'s supplementary Table S1 reports nickel and arsenic contents of 4.93% and 5% for the low-grade feed, and 33.4% and 50% for the high-grade feed. Those are source-reported bulk sample compositions, not mineral formulas or general specifications. XRD and reflected-light observations identify nickeline with carbonate/quartz phases; whole-ore results cannot establish pure-phase selectivity. No criticality-list status is inferred from nickel.

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Conditional nickel mobilization during mixed-acidophile ore leaching

bioleaching Microbial

Living acidophilic mixed cultures were associated with nickel solubilization, acidification and iron oxidation in selected powdered nickeline-bearing ores. Responses depended on feed, temperature, loading and amendment. Ferric-only chemical leaching was also substantial, so biological treatment is not established as superior to every abiotic condition. Iron/sulfur cycling and secondary precipitation are supported process interpretations; direct enzymatic attack on nickeline and the contributions of individual culture members remain unresolved.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
The natural feeds were crushed to below 7 mm and pulverized below 75 micrometers. Cultures supplied by the Bio-hydrometallurgical Center at Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine were described as mesophilic Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Leptospirillum ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, or moderately thermophilic Acidithiobacillus caldus, Leptospirillum ferriphilum, Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans and Ferroplasma spp. These are source-reported membership lists without strain accessions or contemporary community sequencing; no organism CURIE identifies either mixture. The latter list includes an archaeal genus. Adaptation to the ore is stated without a reproducible transfer schedule. Methods describe 250-mL shake flasks containing 100 mL, cultivation with 90 mL medium and 10 mL inoculum, initial pH 1.8, 150 rpm, and 35 or 45 degrees C. Reported average microbial counts are 4 × 10^7 cells/mL, without a clear inoculum-versus-final-treatment basis. Cultivation 9K medium contains 44.22 g/L ferrous sulfate heptahydrate and 1% elemental sulfur, but the test-specific background versus added substrate doses are not completely resolved. Table 1 distinguishes no additive, ferric, ferrous, sulfur, combined ferrous/sulfur and chemical-acid arms. Its loading series is 5, 10 and 50 g/L at 35 degrees C and 5, 10 and 30 g/L at 45 degrees C. Table 1 and figure legends guide arm identity because Methods 2.3 contradicts their numbering. These are laboratory assays, monitored through approximately 28 days; no isolated nickel product, continuous operation or industrial deployment was demonstrated.
Curated Evidence Points:
Sections 2.1–2.4 and 3.2–3.3, Table 1 and Figures 1–4: inoculated arms developed iron oxidation and higher nickel dissolution than the initially acidified, uninoculated controls for these feeds. Section 3.3 reports 100% nickel dissolution within nine days for low-grade tests 13–15 at 45 degrees C and 5 g/L; Figure 3f shows near-complete peaks followed by substantial declines in several arms. Thus peak mobilization is not a sustained endpoint or a recovered-product yield. Figures 2f and 4f show different high-grade responses at 35 and 45 degrees C; the warmer consortium did not universally improve dissolution. ICP-based solution measurements and the plotted percent dissolution do not provide a separately closed solid/liquid nickel balance.
Methods 2.2 and Figures 1f–4f: the uninoculated control received initial pH adjustment only, whereas the chemical-acid treatment received daily sulfuric acid according to pH measurements. A separate uninoculated ferric-sulfate treatment was included. Ferric-only low-grade tests 2 and 11 approach complete early dissolution in Figures 1f and 3f before declining, limiting any blanket microbial advantage. Controls do not follow fully matched biotic pH trajectories. Sterilization or chemical inhibition is asserted without the actual method, concentration or confirmation of sterility. Figure captions identify error bars as measurement standard deviations, but biological replicate counts are not given. Direct metabolism, acid attack and ferric-mediated dissolution cannot be individually quantified from this design.
Table S1 and Figures S1–S6 ground the separate feed chemistry, particle-size distributions, mineral assemblages and local SEM/EDX composition. Figures S7–S12 compare selected residues and identify jarosite/scorodite-compatible diffraction patterns and altered surfaces. EDX spots are not bulk phase yields; XRD reference-pattern scaling values are not measured phase abundances. Main Section 3.4 interprets secondary precipitation and possible nickel losses; no quantitatively closed arsenic immobilization or long-term residue-stability assessment is established.
Source conflicts are retained: Methods 2.3 assigns tests 10–18 to high-grade mesophilic material and 19–27 to low-grade thermophilic material, contrary to Table 1 and Figures 2–3. Figure 1–4 captions label the highest-loading arms 5 g/L although Table 1 gives 50 or 30 g/L, and Section 3.2 calls a maximum 5% instead of the 0.5% treatment described elsewhere. The abstract gives low-grade mesophilic completion in ten days versus thirteen in the conclusion; high-grade maximum timing varies between 27 and 28 days. Section 3.5 also reverses the nine/thirteen-day assignment of selected tests. The record does not harmonize these into an exact optimum. Substrate-benefit prose in Section 3.2 contrasts with the conclusion that ferrous iron/sulfur did not enhance efficiency. Figure 6's low-grade test numbering conflicts with Table 1, so no exact cobalt/copper arm-specific yield is adopted.
Main Methods 2.1 refers ICP-MS results to Figure S2, which is actually the high-grade particle-size plot; elemental chemistry is Table S1. Figures S8–S9 list mesophilic tests first but then list the thermophilic nine-day duration first; Section 3.4.1 assigns nine days to thermophilic tests and thirteen to mesophilic tests. No exact residue-time pairing is inferred from the ambiguous captions alone. Figures 5/S13 are kinetic fits, not proof of a molecular pathway, and their loading labels are inconsistent. Added elemental sulfur prevents attributing all residue sulfur to the arsenide feed. No identified gene, enzyme or taxon-specific causal effect is established.
TaxID 74968 resolves to Ferroplasma at genus rank within Archaea. It supports avoiding the article's collective bacterial label for the moderately thermophilic mixture, without authenticating its membership, strain identity or causal role.

Sources & References

  1. boroumand2025: Boroumand Z, Abdollahi H, Najafi Asli Pashaki S, Mirmohammadi M and Ghorbani Y (2025; available online 27 December 2024). Enhanced oxidative bioleaching for nickel and metal recovery from arsenic ores moves toward efficient and sustainable extraction. Chemosphere 370:143944. DOI 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143944; complete original 12-page article, Table 1 and Figures 1–6, acquired through Lincoln's repository.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143944 (accessed 2026-10-12)
  2. boroumand2025_supplement: Original supplementary Word document for Boroumand et al., DOI 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143944, PII S0045653524028522; Table S1 and Figures S1–S14, inspected as original embedded images, table XML and a local 15-page rendering.
    https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0045653524028522-mmc1.docx (accessed 2026-10-12)
  3. ncbi_ferroplasma: NCBI Taxonomy 74968, Ferroplasma, genus rank in Archaea; checked 12 October 2026. Taxonomic context only, not authentication of the study's mixed culture or an individual causal organism.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=74968&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-12)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-12T11:48:10Z codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Created the natural nickeline-bearing ore resource and qualified laboratory mixed-acidophile leaching from the complete primary article and original supplement. Preserved separate feed arms, ferric/acid controls, peak versus endpoint losses and unresolved source conflicts. Independent scientific acceptance is recorded separately.

Record source: data/records/nickeline-bearing-ore.yaml