SULFUR CHEMISTRY, BIOFILM, AND THE (IN)DIRECT ATTACK MECHANISM - A CRITICAL-EVALUATION OF BACTERIAL LEACHING

It has been shown(a) that bacterial leaching of metal sulfides apparently requires the attachment of leach bacteria to metal sulfides, (b) that exopolymer-bound iron compounds are responsible for or at least considerably increase the rate of the biological attack over the chemical rate, (c) that the primary attacking agent in leaching environments is the ferric iron hexahydrate ion, (c) that thiosulfate is the first intermediate sulfur compound, giving rise to a variety of other compounds including polythionate-containing periplasmic granula, and (d) that we have no idea about the actual concentrations of protons, ferrous/ferric and/or other cations, and sulfur compounds in the reaction space between the bacterium and the sulfide surface.