Mineral Resource Reviews Antony van der Ent Guillaume Echevarria Alan J.M. Baker Jean Louis Morel Editors Agromining: Farming for Metals Extracting Unconventional Resources Using Plants Mineral Resource Reviews Series editor John Slack, Reston, VA, USA More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11683 Antony van der Ent • Guillaume Echevarria • Alan J.M. Baker • Jean Louis Morel Editors Agromining: Farming for Metals Extracting Unconventional Resources Using Plants Editors Antony van der Ent Guillaume Echevarria Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Laboratoire Sols et Environnement Sustainable Minerals Institute UMR 1120, Universite´ The University of Queensland de Lorraine-INRA Brisbane, Australia Vandoeuvre-le`s-Nancy, France and Laboratoire Sols et Environnement Jean Louis Morel UMR 1120, Universite´ Laboratoire Sols et Environnement de Lorraine-INRA UMR 1120, Universite´ Vandoeuvre-le`s-Nancy, France de Lorraine-INRA Vandoeuvre-le`s-Nancy, France Alan J.M. Baker School of BioSciences The University of Melbourne Melbourne, Australia and Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute The University of Queensland Brisbane, Australia and Laboratoire Sols et Environnement UMR 1120, Universite´ de Lorraine-INRA Vandoeuvre-le`s-Nancy, France ISSN 2365-0559 ISSN 2365-0567 (electronic) Mineral Resource Reviews ISBN 978-3-319-61898-2 ISBN 978-3-319-61899-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-61899-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017951729 # Springer International Publishing AG 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface Metallophytes (metal-tolerant plants) have been used for centuries to locate valuable metallic ore deposits (in fact as early as 1556 in Georgius Agricola’s De Re Metallica). A subset of metallophytes, those plants that accumulate extraordinary amounts of metals or metalloids within their living tissues, are called hyperaccumulators. Although first reported in 1865 in the zinc- hyperaccumulating Noccaea caerulescens, the reporting of the exceptional blue-green latex, containing 25 wt% Ni, in the endemic New Caledonian tree Pycnandra acuminata by Jaffre´ et al. 40 years ago, has really spawned scientific interest in these unusual plants. We have come a long way since then to find innovative uses for these plants. One such emerging technology is phytomining or agromining, which involves the cultivation of hyperaccumulator plants and harvesting their biomass to obtain particular metals or metalloids. Whereas phytomining describes the process of exploiting plants to obtain valuable elements, agromining refers to the full agronomic chain in using hyperaccumulator plants as ‘metal crops’. The process involves the farming of ‘metal crops’ on sub-economic deposits or industrial or mineral wastes to obtain valuable element(s) from their harvest biomass via the production of a ‘bio-ore’. The demand for critical metals, including rare earth elements (REEs), platinum group elements (PGEs), nickel and cobalt, is more under pressure in the twenty-first century as a result of resource depletion and geopolitical factors. Agromining is expected to be transformative in the extraction of unconventional resources of these elements not accessible by traditional mining techniques. This seminal book presents the complete chain of metal farming— ‘agromining’. It brings together for the first time individual contributions by active research scientists and practitioners currently engaged in funda- mental and applied aspects of hyperaccumulator plants. The emergence of the great opportunities they present has taken several decades for acceptance, a fact which is discussed in detail in the introductory chapter. Further chapters address the agronomy of ‘metal crops’, the latest developments in the processing of bio-ores and associated products, the current state of knowledge on the global distribution and ecology of hyperaccumulator plants, biogeochemical pathways involved in the basic processes, the influ- ence of rhizosphere microbes, as well as aspects of propagation and conser- vation of these unusual plants. It then summarizes the state of the art in new v vi Preface tools for hyperaccumulator discovery and in the understanding of their physiology and molecular biology. The opportunities for incorporating agromining into rehabilitation and mine closure strategies are presented and ecosystem service provision and life cycle analysis discussed. The possibilities for agromining nickel, cobalt, manganese, selenium, arsenic, thallium, REEs and PGEs are discussed in separate case study chapters. Finally, an overview concludes the book, looking ahead to the prospects for the development of agromining in the future. This book is edited and authored by pioneers in the field who have been at the forefront of the development of agromining over the past three decades. The book is timely, as agromining is now on a pivotal point in its develop- ment, with rapid expansion of activities in the field worldwide. As such, the book will be of significant interest to environmental professionals in the minerals industry, government regulators and academia. Nancy, France Antony van der Ent March 2017 Guillaume Echevarria Alan J.M. Baker Jean Louis Morel Contents The Long Road to Developing Agromining/Phytomining ...... 1 Rufus L. Chaney, Alan J.M. Baker, and Jean Louis Morel Agronomy of ‘Metal Crops’ Used in Agromining ............ 19 Philip Nti Nkrumah, Rufus L. Chaney, and Jean Louis Morel Processing of Bio-ore to Products ........................ 39 Marie-Odile Simonnot, James Vaughan, and Baptiste Laubie Life Cycle Assessment and Ecosystem Services of Agromining ......................................... 53 Marie-Noe¨lle Pons, Je´re´my Rodrigues, and Marie-Odile Simonnot Global Distribution and Ecology of Hyperaccumulator Plants ............................................. 75 Roger D. Reeves, Antony van der Ent, and Alan J.M. Baker Physiology and Molecular Biology of Trace Element Hyperaccumulation ................................... 93 Sylvain Merlot, Vanesa Sanchez Garcia de la Torre, and Marc Hanikenne Tools for the Discovery of Hyperaccumulator Plant Species and Understanding Their Ecophysiology .................. 117 Vidiro Gei, Peter D. Erskine, Hugh H. Harris, Guillaume Echevarria, Jolanta Mesjasz-Przybyłowicz, Alban D. Barnabas, Wojciech J. Przybyłowicz, Peter M. Kopittke, and Antony van der Ent Genesis and Behaviour of Ultramafic Soils and Consequences for Nickel Biogeochemistry ............................. 135 Guillaume Echevarria The Role of the Rhizosphere and Microbes Associated with Hyperaccumulator Plants in Metal Accumulation ........... 157 Emile Benizri and Petra S. Kidd Incorporating Hyperaccumulator Plants into Mine Rehabilitation in the Asia-Pacific Region .............................. 189 Peter D. Erskine, Gavin Lee, Bruno Fogliani, Laurent L’Huillier, and Ste´phane McCoy vii viii Contents Phytoextraction of Cadmium: Feasibility in Field Applications and Potential Use of Harvested Biomass ................... 205 Thibault Sterckeman and Markus Puschenreiter Element Case Studies: Nickel ........................... 221 Aida Bani, Guillaume Echevarria, Dolja Pavlova, Seit Shallari, Jean Louis Morel, and Sulejman Sulc¸e Element Case Studies: Cobalt and Copper ................. 233 Michel-Pierre Faucon, Olivier Pourret, and Bastien Lange Element Case Studies: Selenium ......................... 241 Maria Clemencia Zambrano, Linxi Yuan, Xuebin Yin, andGaryBan˜uelos Element Case Studies: Thallium and Noble Metals ........... 253 Brett Robinson and Chris Anderson Element Case Studies: Manganese ....................... 263 Chuan Wu and Shengguo Xue Element Case Studies: Arsenic .......................... 275 Tongbin Chen, Mei Lei, Xiaoming Wan, Xiaoyong Zhou, Jun Yang, Guanghui Guo, and Wen Cai Element Case Studies: Cadmium and Zinc ................. 283 Longhua Wu, Pengjie Hu, Zhu Li, Tong Zhou, Daoxu Zhong, and Yongming Luo Element Case Studies: Rare Earth Elements ............... 297 Chang Liu, Ming Yuan, Wen-Shen Liu, Mei-Na Guo, Hermine Huot, Ye-Tao Tang, Baptiste Laubie, Marie-Odile Simonnot, Jean Louis Morel,