The ground beneath our feet contains all different types of metals and are mostly in the form of Ores. Ores are nothing but some naturally occurring rocks that contain profitably high concentration of one or more minerals. They consist of metals which can be extracted and sold out with a profit. The process of extracting such minerals from the ground usually from ore body, lode, vein, seam and reef or placer deposit is called Mining.
Human beings were doing mining from pre-historic periods but it has some disadvantages like erosion, contamination of ground and surface water, loss of biodiversity, formation of sinkholes and formation of harmful chemicals and so on. But still, the need of mining is increasing as the need for metals and other minerals are also increasing especially metals like Iron, Zinc, Nickel, Copper.
Metals are around us everywhere we go in the form of electronics, vehicles, infrastructures, etc. But even they are so close to us, we never think of such beautiful and efficient means of extracting them by avoiding the consequences of mining them. Thanks to our Mother Earth!we found an alternate method of mining such metals.
Our heroes are plants, but not every plant. Some plants called Hyper accumulators have the ability to extract metals such as Al, Cu, Zn, As, Be, Pb, Mn, Ag, Ni from the soil through their roots at a fast rate and store them at high concentrations in their tissues. They store these metals in such a high concentration that they are toxic to other closely related species. These accumulated metals are literally flowing through their vascular structures in their sap, stem, leaves, etc. And now what we have to do is to extract these metals from the plants which have been so handily gathered for us. Think of a future where we can farm metals like Ni and Zn skipping through all the disastrous steps of Mining. These plants are like solar-powered and eco-friendly smelters.
A group of Researchers has started a trial farm on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo with a plant that accumulates Nickel. By every 6 – 12 months the farmer can harvest these plants and in turn extract the metals without mining. This concept is called Phytomining which overall means ‘farming metals’. These plants are a source of heavy and even rare earth metals. These can be used to reduce pollution done by earlier mining sites through a process called Phytoremediation. It helps the environment as well as human needs. But this is in a developing stage. Researches are going on to find out better ways and conditions to grow these plants, so it becomes the more economical and efficient method of mining. Researchers believe that Phytominig can change the entire field of mining throughout the world. Let us imagine a world where we can farm metals.
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