Cleaning and greening mines using bacteria 

From harnessing bacteria to recover residual metals in waste and uses in carbon sequestration, to remediation and even recycling, it feels like we’re just waking up to the myriad of possibilities that biological engineering offers in mining. 

Of course, the reality is that we’ve been working with biological agents and processes for some time; heap leaching for precious metals and techniques such as bacterial oxidation used in gold recovery have been commonplace for 50 years or more. However, we are seeing more innovative uses coming to the fore as researchers set their sights on sustainable mining practices.

For example: CIM Magazine recently reported on how a team of researchers in the Sudbury basin is investigating the clean up of 100 million tonnes of pyrrhotite waste using bioleaching and, in doing so, creating a potentially profitable by-product that could help pay for the remediation.

De Beers’ Venetia diamond mine in South Africa is working with the University of Queensland as part of the company’s Minera project, trialling the use of photosynthetic bacteria to capture atmospheric carbon and lock it away in waste kimberlite.  

And biohydrometallurgists (yep, that’s a real word) at TU Bergakademie Freiberg have demonstrated for the first time that leaching with the help of bacteria can be used to separate components when recycling electronic waste; something that more mining companies will need to assess if they wish to close the loop on their products going forward.

The modification of microorganisms using techniques such as biomimicry to engineer them for specific purposes absolutely fascinates me, and I think it will play a pivotal role as the mining industry works towards a more responsible and transparent future. 

Which is why I’ve chosen to showcase biotechnologies on The Intelligent Miner during October.

Disclaimer: I did, however, get a little carried away with September’s topic of data collection and visualisation so bear with me while I publish the last one or two interviews. As you will soon see, they are well worth it.

After that it’s all biology. I promise!   

Carly