Researchers have developed a new mining technique which uses microbes to recover metals and store carbon in the waste produced by mining. Adopting this technique of reusing mining waste, called tailings, could transform the mining industry and create a greener and more sustainable future.
Tailings are a by-product of mining. They are the fine-grained waste materials left after extracting the target ore mineral, which are then stacked and stored. This method is called dry-stack tailing.
Over time, mining practices have evolved and become more efficient. But the climate crisis and rising demand for critical minerals require the development of new ore removal and processing technologies.
Old tailings contain higher amounts of critical minerals that can be extracted with the help of microbes through a process called bioleaching. The microbes help break down the ore, releasing any valuable metals that weren’t fully recovered in an eco-friendly way that is much faster than natural biogeochemical weathering processes.
“We can take tailings that were produced in the past and recover more resources from those waste materials and, in doing so, also reduce the risk of residual metals entering into local waterways or groundwater,” said Dr. Jenine McCutcheon, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Read more at University of Waterloo
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