Johnson reported in 2018 that the current global demand in terms of both the amounts and range of metals for industrial and domestic use greatly exceeds that at any previous time in human history. Recycling is inadequate to meet these needs and therefore mining primary metal ores will continue to be a major industry in the foreseeable future. The question of how metal mining can develop in a manner which is less demanding of energy and less damaging of the environment in a world whose population is increasingly aware of, and concerned about, the environment, requires urgent redress.
Increased application of biotechnologies in the mining sector could go some way in solving this conundrum, yet, biomining (harnessing microorganisms to enhance the recovery of base and precious metals) has remained a niche application since it was first knowingly used in the 1960s. The author reviews the development and current status of biomining applications and highlights their limitations as well as their strengths. New areas of biotechnology that could be applied in the mining sector, and their potential impact in terms of both their potential environmental and economic benefits, are also discussed.
The author concludes that although biomining is now well established as a proven biotechnology, it has not, as many had thought during its development, revolutionized the mining industry but rather has remained as a more specialized, and often peripheral, application. For the past 30 or so years, biomining has mostly focused on fine-tuning sulfide mineral bioleaching than more blue sky thinking and finding radically new directions and opportunities for using biological processing in the mining sector. Even so, areas of (mostly) laboratory-based research, such as reductive mineral bio-processing, have suggested how bio-processing could be used outside of conventional bioleaching and bio-oxidation of sulfide ores and concentrates.
By combining low carbon/energy solutions for metal extraction with environmental protection (e.g., considering the natural biomines as resources rather than wastes) in approaches that are economically sound, biotechnology has the potential to bring about major changes in the direction of how the 21st-century global community wins and recycles metals.
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