Agromining: Farming for Metals in the Future?
Environmental Science & Technology2015Vol. 49(8), pp. 4773–4780
Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2015 papers
Antony van der Ent, Alan J. M. Baker, Roger D. Reeves, Rufus L. Chaney, Christopher W. N. Anderson, J.A. Meech, Peter D. Erskine, Marie‐Odile Simonnot, James Vaughan, Jean‐Louis Morel, Guillaume Echevarria, Bruno Fogliani, Rongliang Qiu, David Mulligan
Abstract
Phytomining technology employs hyperaccumulator plants to take up metal in harvestable plant biomass. Harvesting, drying and incineration of the biomass generates a high-grade bio-ore. We propose that "agromining" (a variant of phytomining) could provide local communities with an alternative type of agriculture on degraded lands; farming not for food crops, but for metals such as nickel (Ni). However, two decades after its inception and numerous successful experiments, commercial phytomining has not yet become a reality. To build the case for the minerals industry, a large-scale demonstration is needed to identify operational risks and provide "real-life" evidence for profitability.
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