Scientists are Mining Metals From an Unusual Source -- Plants
upstart writes:
Scientists are mining metals from an unusual source -- Plants:
Malaysia's Kinabalu Park [...] is home to a nickel mine like none other. In lieu of heavy machinery [...] you'll find four acres of a leafy-green shrub, tended to since 2015 by local villagers. Once or twice per year, they shave off about a foot of growth from the 20-foot-tall plants. Then, they burn that crop to produce an ashy bio-ore" that is up to 25 percent nickel by weight.
Producing metal by growing plants, or phytomining, has long been tipped as an alternative, environmentally-sustainable way to reshape - if not replace - the mining industry. Of 320,000 recognized plant species, only around 700 are so-called hyperaccumulators," like Kinabalu's P. rufuschaneyi. Over time, they suck the soil dry of metals like nickel, zinc, cobalt, and even gold.
[...] We can now demonstrate that metal farms can produce between 150 to 250 kilograms of nickel per hectare (170 to 280 pounds per acre), annually," said Antony van der Ent, a senior research fellow at Australia's University of Queensland whose thesis work spurred the Malaysia trial.
[...] Several Indonesian nickel mining companies are now looking to partner with van der Ent's Malaysia team. We have lined up several industry partners who've agreed to implement trials in Indonesia," he said.
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