5. Conclusion

As this general article on biohydrometallurgy has shown, three scientific fields have played a complementary role, in time and space on a global scale, in the emergence of technologies using microbiological life in the exploitation of mineral resources.

First and foremost, microbiology, with its discoveries about the interactions between micro-organisms and the mineral world. There can be no doubt that advances in biochemistry, molecular biology and, in particular, molecular ecology will provide a better understanding of how species function in these open systems.

The scientific know-how of mineralurgy has now made it possible to develop the means to exploit the microbiological properties of potential interest to envisage industrializable applications. Finally, metallurgical engineering sciences have enabled the design of installations for...