The effects of gangue minerals dissolved cations (K +,Mg2 +,Ca2 + and Al3 +) on the oxidation activity of Acidthiobacillus ferrooxidans (At.f) were studied.The results showed that,the cations exhibited different effects on the oxidation activity of At.f,and the effect sequence from great to little was Mg2+,Al3+,K +,Ca2+.The oxidation activity of At.f bacteria was significantly reduced when the concentrations of Mg2+,Al3+ and K+ were more than 1,5 and 10 g·L-1,respectively.However,the impact on the oxidation activity of bacteria of Ca2 + in the range of 0 ~ 2 g·L-1 was not big.After cultured for 25 h,at low concentration (0.5 g·L-1),the oxidation rate of Fe2+ was 67.78%,68.76%,65.27% and 61.28%,respectively,under the action of K+,Ca2+,Al3+ and Mg2+,which were all higher than the Fe2+ oxidation rate (60.74%) without adding any ion;at high concentration (15 g·L-1),the oxidation rate of Fe2+ was 35.82%,25.25% and 21.47%,respectively,under the action of K+,Al3+ and Mg2+,which were all lower than the Fe2+ oxidation rate without adding any ion.With the increase of ion concentration of K +,Mg2+ and Al3 +,the oxidation rate of Fe2+ decreased.