Gold in the Philippines occur as either placer or lode deposits in mountainous regions. Gold in the country is referred to as "free gold". This rather uncomplicated mineralogy makes froth flotation a feasible recovery process instead of the traditional cyanidation and amalgamation which most of the small scale operations in the Philippines currently employ. With the objective of providing a relatively cheap and easy to implement, the adhesion behaviour of B subtilis and E. coli was studied in aqueous inorganic solutions as a preliminary investigation to the possible use of these bacteria to the bioflotation of gold. Adhesion experiments were carried at different pH and quantified the percent adhered using the sucrose gradient technique. Results show good adhesion of bacteria with maximum adhesion observed at pH 5 for both bacteria. Unusual behaviour of B. subtilis at pH 3 was noted when adhesion was expected but the test showed low percentage of adhesion. This was attributed to subsequent sporification of the bacteria and was verified through microscopy. Changes occurred in its zeta potential and adhesion behaviour. In conclusion, there is potential in the observed ability to adhere well even in dynamic and inorganic conditions.

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