Saturday, January 20, 2007

Phytomining: a bit dated though

A small plant, alyssum, could turn farmers into miners through its ability to absorb metals such as nickel and cobalt into its leaves and stems. Perhaps this sounds strange, but research led by Dr. Bruce Conard, Vice-President, Environmental and Health Sciences, suggested that it could be an economic proposition. "Based on research to date, it is not that wild an idea, and Inco is one of the leaders in this area of technology." says Bruce.

[...]

Currently our plans call for testing the growing process in Indonesia and experimenting with different varieties of alyssum. Farmers in Indonesia may be able to plant and harvest alyssum on land naturally rich in nickel. As the soil is many metres deep, "nickel farming" could continue for centuries.


I wonder if it worked out. That website was from 2002...

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