ABSTRACT
The moderately thermophilic bacteria have been initially isolated from a variety of sites; the acidic thermal springs and from the 'hot spots' of copper leach dumps/heaps, sulphide ore deposits, acid mine drainage (AMD) and self heating coal spoils where the temperature often exceeds ~45°C (Le Roux et al. 1977, Brierley 1978, Marsh and Norris 1983, Ghauri and Johnson 1991, Bond et al. 2000, Robertson et al. 2002, Hallberg and Johnson 2003, Johnson et al. 2003).
