Transcription
[Music] What is bio mining? For the past several centuries, open pit and underground mining were the most common ways to extract valuable minerals from the earth. Now, scientists and engineers have devised a new method that seems to be something out of a science fiction movie: biomining.
Biomining is the process of using microorganisms to extract the valuable minerals from ore. That may be the key to cleaning up sites with metal pollution and extracting rare earth elements. How it works is that the microorganisms oxidize the metals, which then allows the metal to dissolve in water and break away from the other solid minerals that are associated with the ore. Containing the valuable minerals are placed in a heat pile, and the bacterial solutions applied to the heat pile in a process called heap leaching. Dump leaching is a similar concept, except the ore is placed in a sealed pit. And for agitator leaching, the ore is placed in a tank called a vat that is shaken to speed up the bioleaching process.
Currently, biomining is used to produce five percent of the world's gold and twenty percent of the world's copper. But it can also be used to mine base metals such as nickel, zinc, cobalt, and other rare earth elements. The benefit of using biomining is that the microorganisms used are already found in the natural environment. Therefore, they pose little to no environmental risk. Other benefits of biomining include low operating cost, low energy demand, and low gaseous emissions.
There is an exciting future for biomining. It has the potential to clean up waste tailings, which not only will help the environment but will also increase the supply of metals worldwide. Researchers estimate that there may be seven billion dollars worth of nickel in the tailings waste in Sudbury mines alone. Sudbury is a small town in Ontario, Canada. And remember the episode earlier, by recycling e-waste could potentially help with that too.
The mining industry is always on the lookout for innovative methods to ensure sustainable mining. To check out some of these other initiatives, be sure to subscribe to our channel to learn more. [Music]