SAMPLING

Monitoring of the extent of biooxidation, either directly or indirectly, permits optimization of the GEOLEACH ™ heap operations. The direct methods involve sampling of either the solution streams or the heap solids or both. Solids samples provide more information but also require more effort to collect. Solution samples are easily collected but may not provide all the desired information. Indirect methods of determining the extent of biooxidation include temperature and oxygen consumption profiles and time under biooxidation.