Tuesday, 30th August 2005 (5178 views)

Experiments that use plants to extract gold have been successfully undertaken in India.

Phytomining explains the process whereby plants are used to extract metal from ore and plants become hyperaccumulators.

Gold is not usually taken up well by plants, as the metal is not very soluble in soil, nevertheless this has not stopped scientists from trying to induce hyperaccumulation.

By planting a hardy species in soil near known gold deposits then treating the surrounding soil with a chemical to introduce the surrounding gold into the soil plants can be trained to take up gold. They are then harvested and gold is recovered from their biomass.

Bangalore-based scientist, Dr Mohan, has been conducting research in his laboratory on the Kolar Gold Fields in India and claims that he can get plants to accumulate gold values of 40-100 mg/kg, reports the Deccan Herald.

The Kolar Gold Fields closed in 2000 as due to outdated mining techniques they had experienced decreased production and become unprofitable.

Massey University has carried out much research on the topic and trials have previously been carried out in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Brazil.

 

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