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Biomining goes underground

Ore bodies buried deep in Earth's crust could meet increasing global demands for metals, but mining them would be costly and could damage the environment. Reinventing an ancient technology for bioleaching metals could provide a solution.

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Figure 1: Mineral vein.

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Correspondence to D. Barrie Johnson.

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Johnson, D. Biomining goes underground. Nature Geosci 8, 165–166 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2384

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