Australian plants extracting high-value metals from mining wastes
澳大利亚的一种植物可以从废矿渣中提取高价值的金属
摘录于亚洲矿业2019年四季度
The Crotalaria novae-hollandiae – a new future of mining. Image ©University of Queensland 黄花野百合或三尖叶猪屎豆
Increasingly scarce metals are being recovered from mining waste by University of Queensland researchers, who are making the most of native plants’ metal-absorbing nature.
昆士兰大学(University of Queensland)的研究人员正在从矿业废料中回收越来越稀缺的金属，他们充分利用了本地植物能吸收金属的特性。
Dr Antony van der Ent is studying hyperaccumulator plants at the sustainable minerals institute of the University of Queensland. He says the plants have devised ways of living with these otherwise toxic elements in their leaves and shoots.
安托尼博士在昆士兰大学可持续矿物研究所研究超富集植物。他说，这些植物已经设计出了与这些有毒金属元素共存的方法。
There are heavy metal hotspots around the globe, many of which Antony has visited, including New Caledonia. It was here that he saw Pycnandra acuminata, which has up to 25 per cent nickel in its latex, turning the sap a blue-green colour.
安东尼去过全球很多有重金属的热点地区，包括新喀里多尼亚等。正是在这里，他看到了一种植物“Pycnandra acata”，它的乳胶中含有高达25%的镍，把树液变成了蓝绿色。
“It’s probably the most metallic tree or plant known in the world,” says Dr van der Ent.
“它可能是世界上已知的最金属化的树或植物，”安托尼博士说。
University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) researcher Dr Philip Nkrumah has been developing the phytomining technology at the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation.
昆士兰大学可持续矿物研究所(SMI)研究员菲利普·恩克鲁玛博士一直在矿山恢复中心开发植物识别技术。
Phytomining involves harvesting metals from the living tissue of a group of hyperaccumulators, which retain metals in high concentrations after absorbing them through their roots.
包括从一组超富集的植物活组织中切割获取金属，这些超富集植物通过其根部吸收金属后，并高浓度地保留金属。
“These wastes, often stored in tailings facilities, contain valuable metals including cobalt, and represent some of the largest untapped resources globally,” said Dr Nkrumah.
Nkrumah博士说:“这些废料通常会存在于尾矿坝中，含有包括钴在内的贵重金属，是全球最大的未开发资源之一。”
“Some species of plants can contain up to one per cent of cobalt or four per cent of nickel in their shoots, translating to more than 25 per cent metal in their ash which is dubbed ‘bio-ore’.
“有些植物的嫩芽中含有1%的钴或4%的镍，也就是说灰渣中含有25%以上的金属，被称为‘生物矿石’。”
“The high purity of bio-sourced metals makes them especially suited for applications in the electrochemical
industry,” commented Dr Kkrumah.
“植物的这种分离高纯度金属的能力，使它们特别像工业上的电解提纯工艺”，Kkrumah博士评论道。
Fieldwork at the Queensland’s MMG Dugald River Mine
discovered zinc hyperaccumulation in the native legume Crotalaria novae-hollandiae, which opens up the possibility of zinc phytomining.
在昆士兰的MMG Dugald砂金矿的野外工作中，本地的豆科植物中也发现了锌的富集积累，为锌的植物化开辟了可能性。
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