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Tetrahedrite concentrate primary resource

A mixed flotation concentrate enriched in source-labelled tetrahedrite, represented by the Strieborná vein feed from the Mária Mine in the Rožňava ore field, eastern Slovakia, studied by Kupka et al. (2025). This extracted geological feed is distinct from a modern tetrahedrite mineral species, elemental copper or antimony, and a waste stream. The source describes tetrahedrite as the principal sulfide, accompanied by siderite and quartz, minor pyrite, arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite, and trace other sulfides. Table 1 reports bulk Cu 25.59, Sb 19.68 and Ag 0.57 wt%. Its approximate phase-proportion prose is inconsistent with its bulk SiO2 value, so no reconciled quantitative mineral assemblage is assigned here. Modern tetrahedrite suffix species are distinct identities; the paper's generic phase label and selected microprobe analyses do not establish a species identity for this heterogeneous feed. No criticality designation is transferred from its constituent elements.

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Acidophile-associated metal mobilization from mixed tetrahedrite concentrate

bioleaching Microbial

Associated Organisms: Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (NCBITaxon:920), Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans (NCBITaxon:160808)

Separate inoculated laboratory cultures showed greater copper mobilization and sulfate accumulation than the uninoculated acidic control. The two organisms denote separate culture arms, not a consortium. Dissolved copper and sulfate trajectories, oxygen consumption and altered grain surfaces support culture-associated oxidative leaching, while iron cycling is the authors' mechanistic interpretation. No enzyme-specific or genetic cause was established. The response was element dependent: dissolved antimony rose early and subsequently declined, and the abiotic treatment released more iron and manganese than the inoculated treatments in the reported day-35 comparison. Copper and sulfur depletion with antimony and iron enrichment in selected alteration rims does not demonstrate a pure secondary mineral product or complete dissolution of every grain.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Ore was crushed, milled nominally below 100 micrometres and upgraded by froth flotation; occasional larger quartz grains are described. The source-labelled A. ferrooxidans DSM 14882 and A. ferrivorans SS3 DSM 17398 were pre-grown at 25 degrees C with 120 mM FeSO4, harvested in late exponential phase on 0.4-micrometre filters, washed with 0.025 M sulfuric acid and resuspended in fresh iron-free basal medium. The leaching medium contained 0.4 g/L MgSO4·7H2O, 0.1 g/L (NH4)2SO4 and 0.04 g/L K2HPO4, initially adjusted to pH 1.5 with sulfuric acid. Triplicate aerobic flask assays used 2% pulp density, 25 degrees C and 150 rpm for 120 days. The percentage basis, working volume, inoculum density and inoculum volume are not specified. No external iron was added to the leaching medium, but the concentrate supplied iron, including from siderite. The abiotic control used medium and concentrate autoclaved at 105 degrees C for 15 minutes; matching heat pretreatment of the inoculated feed is not explicit. The medium was unbuffered and pH diverged among treatments, so neither pH nor ferric-iron exposure was matched independently of cells. Filtered 0.2-micrometre samples were analyzed for total dissolved elements and sulfate; these measurements do not identify all aqueous oxidation states or isolated products. Sampling-volume and replacement corrections are not specified. Figures 2b-c have concentration units inconsistent with Figure 2a and the prose, so this record retains qualitative trends without a reconciled copper concentration or extraction percentage. There is no demonstrated isolated metal recovery, complete mass balance, universal optimum or industrial deployment; the authors acknowledge that observed rates may be too low for practical application.
Curated Evidence Points:
Materials and Methods, Tables 1-2, Figures 2-5 and Figure S12 support the stated mixed feed, separate inocula, laboratory conditions and contrasting liquid-phase trajectories. Figure 3 is specifically the day-35 Fe/Mn comparison. Figure 5 presents zinc and silver only for A. ferrooxidans versus abiotic treatment and does not establish that arm's behavior for A. ferrivorans. Silver is plotted in micrograms/L, zinc in milligrams/L; these are concentrations rather than isolated recovery yields. The generic prose claim of more than 80% copper extraction is not applied equally to both cultures here because the plotted endpoints differ and the panel units are inconsistent.
Figure 2a labels Cu/Fe in g/L, whereas Figures 2b-c label them in mg/L despite similar numerical scales and g/L discussion. The article's approximate quartz abundance conflicts with Table 1's 1.00 wt% SiO2; neither discrepancy is silently corrected. Discussion locators calling the As/Sb profiles Figure 5b are inconsistent with the actual Figure 4a-b. Different pH, iron speciation and possibly thermal pretreatment limit attribution to a direct cellular effect. Mixed sulfides and sulfate already in the medium also preclude assigning every liquid analyte exclusively to the tetrahedrite phase.
Figures 1, 6-7 and S3-S11 provide XRD, microscopy, microanalysis and surface spectroscopy. Residual primary cores and heterogeneous rims persist; selected associated chalcopyrite grains lack alteration rims. Surface XPS assignments do not establish bulk conversion, dissolved speciation or a phase-pure recovered product. Scorodite was explicitly not detected, and discussion of tripuhyite remains a possible interpretation rather than an identified product. The SI's Fe-XPS cross-reference to S2 actually corresponds to S9; S2 instead shows a starting ore specimen with secondary covellite. Main Figure 7 and SI Figures S6-S7 reuse images, not independent replication. Figure 8 relates measured oxygen use to tetrahedrite oxidation inferred from copper release and a selected composition; it is not a direct phase dissolution or product-yield measurement. The respirometry discussion describes four parallel experiments, distinct from the stated triplicate flask protocol, and does not supply a full carbon balance.
Resolves the species name without identifying a sequenced experimental stock.
Resolves the species name; its listed type strain is not the study's SS3 strain.
Context_only Source: dsm_14882
Links the reported DSM 14882 culture designation to the named species; catalogue culture guidance is not a replication of this mineral assay.
Context_only Source: dsm_17398
Links the reported DSM 17398 and SS3 designations without authenticating the study stock.

Sources & References

  1. kupka_2025: Kupka D et al. (2025). Bioleaching of Tetrahedrite by Iron- and Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacteria. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy 11:3685-3699. DOI 10.1007/s40831-025-01089-0. Complete 15-page original article, Figures 1-8, Tables 1-2 and seven-page supplement with Figures S1-S12.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-025-01089-0 (accessed 2026-10-12)
  2. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC Master List, September 2026, definitions and page 215 tetrahedrite species entries. Nomenclature context only; the mixed concentrate is not assigned an IMA mineral identifier.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-12)
  3. ncbi_ferrooxidans: NCBI Taxonomy 920, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, species.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=920&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-12)
  4. ncbi_ferrivorans: NCBI Taxonomy 160808, Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans, species.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=160808&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-12)
  5. dsm_14882: DSMZ culture catalogue, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans DSM 14882, strain designation TM; culture-identity context, not authentication of the experimental stock.
    https://www.dsmz.de/collection/catalogue/details/culture/DSM-14882 (accessed 2026-10-12)
  6. dsm_17398: DSMZ culture catalogue, Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans DSM 17398, strain designation SS3; culture-identity context, not authentication of the experimental stock.
    https://www.dsmz.de/collection/catalogue/details/culture/DSM-17398 (accessed 2026-10-12)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-12T11:17:04.769972Z Codex (GPT-6) create Curated the mixed Slovak flotation-feed identity and bounded microbial leaching observations from the complete original Kupka2025 paper and SI, preserving unit, control, phase-assignment and recovery limitations.

Record source: data/records/tetrahedrite-concentrate.yaml