title: Agromining: farming for metals in the future?
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.
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.|○Université de Lorraine - INRA, Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Nancy 54000, France.
authors.forename: Antony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van der Ent
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.|‡School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.|○Université de Lorraine - INRA, Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Nancy 54000, France.
authors.forename: Alan J M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: ‡School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: Roger D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.affiliation: §USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Crop Systems and Global Change Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, United States.
authors.forename: Rufus L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Chaney
authors.forename: Christopher W N
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: ⊥NBK Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Meech
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Erskine
authors.affiliation: #Université de Lorraine - CNRS, Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés, UMR 7274, Nancy 54000, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Odile
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Simonnot
authors.affiliation: ∇School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vaughan
authors.affiliation: ○Université de Lorraine - INRA, Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Nancy 54000, France.
authors.forename: Jean Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.affiliation: ○Université de Lorraine - INRA, Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Nancy 54000, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Echevarria
authors.affiliation: ◆Diversités biologique et fonctionnelle des écosystémes terrestres, Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), Nouméa 98851, New Caledonia.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fogliani
authors.affiliation: ¶School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qiu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Rongliang
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Mulligan
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D008906:Mining / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D009532:Nickel / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D009532:Nickel