Abstract:To address long leaching duration in bioleaching of low-grade secondary copper sulfide ore, column and industrial bioleaching tests for effects of different particle size and heap height on leaching rates of copper and iron were carried out. The results show that copper leaching rate rises with decreasing of particle size, and iron leaching rate remains stable. Improving heap height has positive effect on temperature retention and copper extraction with the same particle size. After leaching for 194 days, copper extraction rate is 62.67% with particle size of -40 mm, which is 10 percent point higher than that with particle size of -80 mm.