Cobalto Verde is run in collaboration between research centers, academia, and the productive sector.
Cobalto Verde aims to scale up cobalt recovery technology through bioleaching of tailings from IOCG (iron-copper-gold oxide) deposits.
Its researchers have already obtained and characterized a cobalt-enriched material and are in the process of patenting a bioleaching methodology and a consortium of biomining microorganisms.
The work has involved testing different bioleaching systems in bioreactors and has shown successful results in the laboratory, reaching a technology readiness level (TRL) of 6, which opens the door to subsequently move on to confined piles, with process water and conditions similar to those found in industry.
A multidisciplinary team of professionals from fields such as biotechnology, microbiology, biomining, geology, and mining engineering, among others, is working on its development.
Director of the UNAB Center for Systems Biotechnology, biochemist from the University of Chile, and PhD in Biological Sciences from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She was general manager of BioSigma, where she received the 2015 Avonni National Innovation Award in the Mining and Metallurgy category for industrializing and commercializing the process of bioleaching or dissolving copper with bacteria in minerals that cannot be mined using conventional methods.
Brian Townley is a professor in the Department of Geology and a researcher at the Advanced Mining Technology Center, both part of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Chile. A geologist from the University of Chile with a PhD in Geology from Queen’s University in Canada, his areas of expertise are metallogeny, geometallurgy, economic geology, applied geochemistry, and geological models of deposits.
Patricio Martínez Bellange: Director of Biomining
Natalia Zúñiga: CSB UNAB Project Leader
Andrés Arroyo: CSB UNAB Internal Bioreactor Consultant
Catalina Lagos: CSB UNAB Internal Consultant
Ítalo Lazcano: CSB UNAB Chemical Researcher
Yéssica Tafur: CSB UNAB Bioleaching Columns Researcher
Gabriel País: Director of Mining Engineering
Gonzalo Montes: Associate Professor, Department of Mining Engineering
Roberto Collao: Mining Processes Advisor
Pamela Salazar: Extremophile Microbiology Advisor
Myriam Ramírez: Hydrometallurgy Advisor
This applied research center at the UNAB Faculty of Life Sciences works with companies and productive sectors to meet their needs with biotechnological solutions that enable them to increase their innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability with economic, environmental, and social impact. Within the project, its research team works on the selection and propagation of microorganisms that are highly efficient in the bioleaching of pyrite and highly resistant to cobalt, the optimization of experimental conditions for cobalt bioleaching, and the design criteria for the implementation of cobalt bioleaching technology at the pre-industrial level.
The Cobalto Verde project involves academics and researchers from the Advanced Mining Technology Center (AMTC) and the Departments of Geology and Mining Engineering of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Chile. The AMTC is the leading research center for mining technology in Chile. Its work focuses on generating world-class multidisciplinary research, transferring new technologies, and training advanced human capital to respond to the challenges of responsible mining, including tailings management, which is where the Cobalto Verde project comes in.
Pucobre is a Chilean mining company specializing in the exploitation of medium-scale copper deposits. Its operations are mainly located in the Atacama Region, where it has three underground mines and two copper processing plants. It works as a strategic partner within Cobalto Verde, providing its infrastructure for sampling and laboratory testing.
