Plants start work as metal miners

Mustard plantsScientists at the University of York are to lead an international team that will explore the use of plants to recover precious metals from mine tailings around the world.
Researchers in the University’s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence and the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) aim to develop ways to extract platinum group metals (PGM) discarded during mine processing which might then be used in catalysis. The research will investigate “phyto-mining,” which involves growing plants on mine waste materials to sponge up PGM into their cellular structure.

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