Influences of silver sulfide on the bioleaching of chalcopyrite, pyrite and chalcopyrite-containing ore HU Yue-hua 1 (i~)] ~4~), WANG Jun 2 ( 5E ~), QIU Cuan-zhou' ( ~] ), WANG Dian-zuo' (SE ~/9~) Abstract: The effects of silver sulfide (AgzS) on the bioleaching of chalcopyrite and pyrite were investigated in this paper. It has been shown that Aga S enhanced the yields of bioleaching of chalcopyrite but inhibited the bio-oxidation of pyrite. The addition of Ag2 S selectively increased the copper dissolution from the chalcopyritecontaining ores in shake flasks with a recovery of 85.3 % compared with 24.3 % without AgE S, while slightly decreased the iron yields from 51% to 41.8%. The copper extraction of the chalcoopyrite-containing waste rock in column leaching charged with 18 kg mass increased up to 21.7% in the presence of AGES, while only 3.4% in the absence of the catalyst. The mechanism of Ag2S catalysis could be explained well by the "Mixed potential model".