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Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 249e257

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Review

Gold phytomining. A review of the relevance of this technology to mineral

extraction in the 21st century
Victor Wilson-Corral a, *, Christopher W.N. Anderson b, Mayra Rodriguez-Lopez c
a
Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa, Culiacan 80013, Mexico
b
Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
c
Centro de Estudios Justo Sierra, Surutato 80600, Mexico

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The precious metal gold can be found at high concentration in tailings dumps and waste rock piles at
Received 10 January 2012 many mining locations around the world. Conventional technology is generally unable to economically
Received in revised form recover this residual gold, and, as a result, the potential resource is wasted, presenting environmental
27 June 2012
risk to the wider ecosystem through particulate and dissolved metal leaching and erosion. For the past 14
Accepted 31 July 2012
Available online
years, the idea of gold phytomining to recover this gold resource has been researched by various
scientific groups worldwide. A number of plant species have been tested under laboratory, greenhouse,
and field conditions to determine their potential for use in the phytoextraction of gold. This paper
Keywords:
Induced hyperaccumulation
presents a review of reported gold phytomining trials developed in the laboratory, the greenhouse under
Hyperaccumulator plants soil and hydroponic conditions, as well as in the field, between 1998 and 2011. A summary economic
Mine tailings assessment for gold phytomining in Mexico is also presented. Mexico is an example of a developing
Waste rock country with a long history of gold mining that has a large resource of sites that might be suitable to gold
Mineralized soils phytomining. The technology remains limited by certain environmental and plant physiology factors.
Economic assessment However, the increase in the market price for gold during the first decade of the 21st century and into
2011, and advances recorded for the gold concentration and biomass yield of a range of plant species,
suggest that gold phytomining might be an economically viable technology.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction causes environmental problems due to concentration of heavy

Despite advances in mining technologies, conventional tech-
nology cannot remove 100% of the gold hosted in minerals.
Therefore, mine waste or tailings areas usually contain residual
gold at low concentration, but this can increase to relatively high
concentration in some heap leach pads and waste dumps (Sheoran
et al., 2009; Wilson-Corral et al., 2006). Generally speaking, the
older the mining operation, the higher the residual gold concen-
tration in mine wastes. Past mining operations have generated
large volumes of waste that is of the order of billons of tons and is
distributed around the world. These wastes are deposited in
established locations and can remain at these locations for many
decades in a non-rehabilitated state. Wastes generated by the
mining industry are often subject to secondary movement that is
facilitated by air and water (erosion). The transport of this material
* Corresponding author. Facultad de Ingenieria Culiacan, Universidad Autonoma
de Sinaloa, Av. Universitarios s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Culiacan 80013, Mexico.
E-mail addresses: vimawc@uas.edu.mx, vimawc@gmail.com (V. Wilson-Corral).
metals such as arsenic (Armienta et al., 2008), lead (Mendez et al.,
2008), copper (Martínez-Pagán et al., 2009) and mercury (Melamed
and Villas-Bôas, 1998) in the tailings. Environmental risk that is
apparent for tailings is a powerful driver for cost-effective remedial
solutions.
The enormous costs associated with the removal of pollutants
from soil by means of traditional physicochemical technology have
stimulated the development of innovative biological technologies
to extract or to stabilize soil pollutants (Hernandez-Allica et al.,
2006). One such technology that is widely recognized is phytor-
emediation (Salt et al., 1995), and the application of this technology
to remove heavy metals from soil (phytoextraction) has been
demonstrated to be a cost-effective technology for soil remediation
if hyperaccumulator plants are used (Chaney et al., 2007). Gold is
one of the metals for which phytoextraction has been described.
The recovery of residual gold left in mine tailings as well as
mineralized soils using several species of plants has been proposed
as a viable alternative for precious metals recovery from tailings,
waste rock and ore (Anderson et al., 1998).

0301-4797/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.07.037
 Author's personal copy
250 V. Wilson-Corral et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 249e257
1.1. Gold accumulation in plants
Since the early years of the 20th century, there have been
reports about the accumulation of gold by plants, particularly trees
(Warren and Delavault, 1950). These studies have shown that
coniferous trees, in particular, can accumulate quantities of gold
that are in the order of parts per billion in their tissues. Some
studies have reported several plant species as quick, inexpensive,
and effective tools for gold exploration in arid and semiarid
environments (Busche, 1989). And, as a result, some mining
companies use plant species as bioindicators of the presence of
gold in soil (biogeochemical exploration) (McInnes et al., 1996).
However, the hyperaccumulation of gold is not a natural trait of
plant species (Anderson et al., 1999a). Although gold can be highly
mobile (Reith and McPhail, 2007), under surface environmental
conditions it is insoluble and this reduces its bioavailability and
limits the potential for phytoextraction; bioavailability is one of
the most critical factors for plant uptake of metals (Gardea-
Torresdey et al., 2005).
Gold may be solubilised from minerals and soils by microbial
activity (Korobushkina et al., 1983), by cyanogenic plants (Girling
and Peterson, 1980; Lakin et al., 1974) and through the action of
naturally-occurring soil chemicals (Bowell et al., 1993). Relatively
high gold solubility is known to occur in geological domains called
weathering terrains. Examples of these can be found in Western
Australia, West Africa and South America, but the geochemical
characteristics of the associated weathering fluids are poorly
understood. The existence of a low concentration of gold in soil
solution at certain locations around the world as a result of these
biological and chemical processes explains the reported records of
gold in plants.
1.2. Metal hyperaccumulation by plants
It is known that hyperaccumulator plants absorb metals, even
those that are not essential, in concentrations similar to the macro
nutrients. Brooks and colleagues introduced the term hyper-
accumulation to describe plants that absorb nickel concentrations,
exceeding 1000 mg/kg dry matter grown on serpentine soils (Jaffre
et al., 1976). This report describes how areas of nickel-rich rock
around the world could be identified by analyzing small pieces of
plant material. Later, the term hyperaccumulator was used to refer
to any plant species in which metal accumulation is unusually high,
irrespective of the metal concentration in the substrate (Brooks
et al., 1977). Most recently, hyperaccumulator plants have been
defined as those that accumulate metal to concentrations that are
10e100 times the concentrations found in “normal” plants (Chaney,
1983). These concentrations are an order of magnitude higher than
that found in other plants growing in the same environment. Today,
440 hyperaccumulator plant species are known, of which 75% are
nickel hyperaccumulator (Reeves, 2006). The remaining plant
species hyperaccumulate metals such arsenic, cadmium, manga-
nese, sodium, thallium, and zinc.
1.3. Induced hyperaccumulation of gold in plants
The initial discovery (October 1997) that plants could be
induced to accumulate gold from ‘soil’ was serendipitous
(Anderson et al., 1998). From this initial finding, works have
intensified with an aim to increase the level of gold accumulation in
plants. To overcome the apparent lack of gold solubility in soil,
scientists since 1998 have experimented with a range of chemicals
that when applied to soil will increase gold solubility, and effec-
tively force gold uptake into plants. This technique is described in
the literature as chelant or chelate-enhanced phytoextraction, or
induced hyperaccumulation, and has been achieved for gold using
a range of chemicals (Table 1).
The geochemistry of the soil environment hosting the gold will
determine the chemical needed to promote gold solubility. While
the form of gold present in the soil will dictate the concentration of
gold that will be introduced into the soil solution after the addition
of appropriate chemicals (Anderson et al., 1999b). Gold hyper-
accumulation has been defined as accumulation greater that 1 mg/
kg, with this limit being based upon a normal gold concentration in
plants of only 0.01 mg/kg (Anderson et al., 2003).
2. Gold phytomining
The reuse of waste allows for beneficial secondary application,
whereas recycling extracts resource ingredients or converts wastes
into valuable products (Lottermoser, 2011). Lottermoser has sug-
gested that as of yet, many of the proposed reuse and recycling
concepts for mine wastes are not economic, and consequently, the
great majority of mine wastes are still being placed into waste
storage facilities. Phytoextraction technology (Salt et al., 1995), if
successfully used to recover gold from tailings or another waste-
rock body, would, however, represent a technology paradigm
shift in the context of Lottermoser’s discussion. Gold phytoex-
traction, where the aim of the operation is to yield an economic
profit, is better known as gold phytomining. Phytomining (Nicks
and Chambers, 1994) has also been suggested as a possible alter-
native to recover nickel (Bhatia et al., 2005; Reeves et al., 1999;
Robinson et al., 1999), and thallium (Leblanc et al., 1999) from
mineralized soils or waste rock.
Effective systems for environmental protection are a key
component in modern mining operations. Mining in all countries
must today show environmental sustainability during the planning,
operation and rehabilitation stages of mining. It is in response to
this call for greater environmental sustainability that researchers
around the world have sought to develop gold phytomining as an
effective and economically viable technology (Anderson et al.,
2000; Harris et al., 2009; Mohan, 2005; Sheoran et al., 2009;
Wilson-Corral et al., 2011). Key researchers in the subject area are
based at the Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University in
New Zealand; the Department of Chemistry, University of Texas El
Paso in the United States of America; the Universidad Autonoma de
Sinaloa in Culiacan, Mexico; The School of Botany, University of
Melbourne, and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engi-
neering at the University of Sydney in Australia.
Table 1
Chemicals used to solubilize gold in soil or soil-like media during gold phytoex-
traction studies.
Chemical name Formula Reference
Ammonium NH4SCN Anderson et al., 1998;
thiocyanate Gardea-Torresdey et al., 2005;
Msuya et al., 2000;
Rodriguez-Lopez et al., 2009;
Rodriguez et al., 2006
Ammonium (NH4)2S2O3 Anderson et al., 1998; Lamb et al., 2001;
thiosulphate Msuya et al., 2000; Rodriguez-
Lopez et al., 2009
Thiourea CH4N2S de la Rosa et al., 2009; Gardea-
Torresdey et al., 1999; Rodriguez-
Lopez et al., 2009; Rodriguez et al., 2006
Sodium thiocyanate NaSCN Lamb et al., 2001
Potassium iodide KI Lamb et al., 2001
Potassium cyanide KCN Lamb et al., 2001
Potassium bromide KBr Lamb et al., 2001
Sodium cyanide NaCN Anderson et al., 1998;
Anderson et al., 2005; Piccinin et al., 2007;
Rodriguez-Lopez et al., 2009; Wilson-
Corral et al., 2011
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V. Wilson-Corral et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 249e257
The current state of gold phytomining technology is reviewed in
this work, and options for the implementation of the technology in
Mexico are proposed.
2.1. Evidence for gold phytoextraction
The key variable necessary for the uptake of gold by plants is
formation of a stable, soluble, goldeligand complex within the soil
solution. If such a complex is formed, it seems likely that a plant
will have little choice but to act as a pump and accumulate the
metal during transpiration, to a concentration that is proportional
to the total gold concentration in the soil. Problematic is the fact
that gold will only form soluble and stable complexes for a narrow
range of pH and redox (Eh) parameters that change as a function of
the specific ligand used (Anderson, 2005). No plants of high
biomass will grow well at low pH and thus it would not be practical
to phytoextract gold from an area of auriferous material with a pH
of less than 4. As a result, studies have been developed during the
last years to determine the optimal conditions for gold phytoex-
traction from mine wastes under laboratory conditions.
Generally the chemicals used to induce gold uptake are effective
at alkaline pH (cyanide and thiocyanate). Thiocyanate is, however,
an exception, and can form a stable complex with gold under acid
conditions (Shacklette et al., 1970). The pH levels in a substrate may
be modified by applying soil amendments that will either raise
(lime) or lower pH such as ammonia-containing fertilizers, organic
and inorganic acids, and elemental sulphur (S) (Sheoran et al.,
2009).
2.2. Laboratory and greenhouse studies for gold phytoextraction
The first report of induced hyperaccumulation of gold in plants
was made for a greenhouse study (Anderson et al., 1998). In this
work, Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. (Indian mustard) was induced to
accumulate gold in leaf tissues to a concentration as high as 57 mg/
kg of dry matter from silica sand containing finely disseminated
gold at a concentration of 5 mg/kg of susbstrate. Subsequent to the
1998 findings, laboratory tests using the crop plants Raphanus
sativus L. (radish), Allium cepa L. (onion), Beta vulgaris L. (beet) and
Daucus carota L. (carrot) cultivated in a silica sand containing
3.8 mg/kg gold at a pH of 6.4, showed that gold concentrations
greater than 200 mg/kg of plant tissue in R. sativus could be ach-
ieved (Msuya et al., 2000).
During 2001, scientists developed a trial in which artificial gold-
bearing soil was prepared to contain a gold concentration of 5 mg/
kg. The chemicals used as an amendment in this work were NaCN
(sodium cyanide), KCN (potassium cyanide), KI (potassium iodide),
KBr (potassium bromide), and (NH4)2S2O3 (ammonium thio-
sulphate). B. juncea, Berkheya coddii Roessler and Cichorium intybus
L. (chicory) were grown in the artificial ore and treated with each of
the stated chemicals. The results of this study showed that gold
concentrations in B. juncea plants could reach as high as 326 mg/kg
(dry weight) in the leaves and 46e88 mg/kg for stems and roots
(dry weight) after treatment of the soil with cyanide (Lamb et al.,
2001).
During 2006, a greenhouse trial using the desert plant Chilopsis
linearis (Cav.) Sweet (desert willow) cultivated in soil was carried
out. The substrate was amended with a gold concentration of 5 or
10 mg/kg soil. The chelating agents used in this experiment to
induce gold uptake were thiourea or ammonium thiocyanate at
a treatment rate of 0.76 g/kg of substrate. A representative sample
of plants was harvested at 5 h, 24 h, 2 days and 4 days after the
application of the chelating agents. Plants grown in soil with 5 and
10 mg/kg gold accumulated similar amounts of gold in their stems.
The average gold concentration accumulated in stems for the
251
treatments 5 mg/kg gold þ ammonium thiocyanate, 5 mg/kg
gold þ thiourea, 10 mg/kg gold þ ammonium thiocyanate and
10 mg/kg gold þ thiourea was about 197, 296, 206 and 210 mg/kg of
dry mass, respectively (Rodriguez et al., 2006).
Also during 2006, studies were conducted in Mexico where
plants were tested for their ability to extract gold from silica sand.
In this work the following species were used: Amaranthus spp.
(amaranth), Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. (johnson grass), Helianthus
annuus L. (sunflower), Sesamum indicum L. (sesame), Gossypium
hirsutum L. (upland cotton), Brassica campestris L. (field mustard),
and Amoreuxia palmatifida Moc. & Sessé ex DC. (mexican yellow-
show) (Wilson-Corral, 2008). Results showed that it is possible to
induce gold concentrations above 304 mg/kg of dry matter in
B. campestris growing at gold-enriched silica sand and using
ammonium thiocyanate in a dose of 1.0 g/kg of substrate.
In 2007, a study on gold phytoextraction conducted in Australia
was reported. Material was collected from the Davis stockpile at
Stawell Gold Mine, Victoria, Australia. The oxide ore collected for
this study had a mean gold grade of 1.75 mg/kg and a pH of 5.0. The
following plants were tested: Eucalyptus polybractea R. T. Baker
(blue mallee), Acacia decurrens (Wendl. f.) Willd. (black wattle),
Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench (sorghum), Trifolium repens L. (white
clover cvs. Tribute and Prestige), Bothriochloa macra (Steud.) S.T.
Blake (red grass), Austrodanthonia caespitosa (Gaudich.) H.P. Linder
(wallaby grass), and Microlaena stipoides (Labill.) R. Br. (weeping
grass). All plants were grown in pots with 500 g of ore for three to
five months prior to treatment with sodium cyanide at a treatment
rate of 0.1 g or 1 g cyanide per kg ore. Biomass was harvested after
treatment and analyzed by ICP-OES for gold and other metals. The
results of this study showed that gold hyperaccumulation was
induced in all plant species tested. Mean gold concentrations of up
to 27 mg/kg dry weight were found in the plant tissue of T. repens
cv. Prestige. Higher gold concentrations were generally found in the
stems and older leaves with the lowest gold concentrations in the
young leaves. Plants grown in substrate treated with 1 g/kg cyanide
generally had a higher concentration of gold in their plant tissue
than plants grown in the 0.1 g/kg cyanide treatment. This study
highlighted the potential use of plants to extract and concentrate
gold from ‘real life’ low-grade ore and waste products (Piccinin
et al., 2007).
During 2009, to evaluate the gold extraction potential of
S. halepense cultivated on mine tailings with a gold concentration of
2.35 mg/kg and a value of pH of 7.3, a greenhouse trial using this
species was developed in Mexico. In this study, sodium cyanide,
thiourea, ammonium thiocyanate, and ammonium thiosulphate
were used to induce gold hyperaccumulation. These trials revealed
that cyanide at a dose of 1.0 mg/kg of susbstrate could induce gold
concentrations up to 31 mg/kg of dry matter (Rodriguez-Lopez
et al., 2009). A similar test using the same mine tailings was con-
ducted using Kalanchoe serrata (magic tower), a plant species that
can grow under high temperature and scarce water conditions that
can prevail in deserts. The results of this study showed that
K. serrata could accumulate an average gold concentration of
21 mg/kg using cyanide to promote gold solubility (Wilson-Corral
et al., 2011).
A summary of the highest gold concentrations reported for
greenhouse studies is presented as Table 2.
A recent laboratory study described the collateral effects on
plants of the amendments used for gold phytomining. Ammonium
thiosulphate, ammonium thiocyanate and sodium cyanide were
used to test the degree of solubilization and leaching of non-target
metals of potential regulatory interest in an oxide ore under
varying levels of pH (Ebbs et al., 2010). The results of this work
showed that metals such as copper and iron will leach when
cyanide or thiosulphate (respectively) is added to ore and to a lesser
 Author's personal copy

252 V. Wilson-Corral et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 249e257

Table 2 (dry weight) from a hydroponic solution treated with thiourea

A summary of the maximum reported gold concentrations obtained for a range of (0.2 M). Accumulation was reported across a pH range of 2.0e6.0.
plant species grown under greenhouse conditions.
C. linearis has been extensively studied for gold phytomining in
Plant specie Substrate Gold in Chelating Rateb MGCPc Reference hydroponic solutions using thiourea as an agent to induce uptake
substratea agent (Rodríguez et al., 2007a) as well as in agar-based growing media
Brassica Silica sand NRd NH4 SCN 0.64 57 Anderson (Rodriguez et al., 2007b). Gold concentrations as high as 179 mg/kg
juncea et al., 1998
(dry weight) have been reported from solution with a gold
Raphanus Silica sand 3.8 NH4 SCN 1.0 220 Msuya
sativus et al., 2000 concentration of 160 mg of gold/L. The capacity of Zea mays L. (corn)
Brassica Silica sand 5 KCN 1.0 326 Lamb to uptake gold in the presence of thiourea and ammonium thio-
juncea et al., 2001 cyanate has been investigated in hydroponic media. Results have
Chilopsis Soil 5 CH4N2S 0.76 296 Rodriguez showed that a gold concentration in solution of up to 160 mg/L does
linearis et al., 2006
Brassica Silica sand 3.8 NH4 SCN 1.0 304 Wilson-
not reduce corn seed germination or plant growth. Both thiourea
campestris Corral, 2008 and ammonium thiocyanate have been shown to induce a 6-fold
Trifolium Mineral 1.75 NaCN 1.0 27 Piccinin increase of the gold concentration in roots, while thiourea will
repens et al., 2007 induce a 10-fold increase of the gold concentration in shoots (de la
cv. Prestige
Rosa et al., 2009).
Sorghum Mine tailings 2.35 NaCN 1.0 31 Rodriguez-
halepense Lopez et al., A study published in 2010 showed that M. sativa roots could
2009 obtain a gold concentration as high as 287 mg/g (287,000 mg/kg)
Kalanchoe Mine tailings 2.35 NaCN 1.0 21 Wilson- when exposed for 72 h to solution containing 10 g/L (10,000 mg/L)
serrata Corral et al., gold at a pH of 3. B. juncea recorded a maximum root gold
2011
concentration of 227 mg/g when exposed to the same solution for
a
The units of gold concentration are g/t or mg/kg. 48 h (Bali et al., 2010).
b
Treatment rate is expressed as g of chemical per kg of substrate. Molar
concentrations (where originally reported) have been converted to mass
concentrations. 2.3. Field trials for gold phytoextraction
c
MGCP ¼ Maximum Gold Concentration in Plants; expressed in mg/kg dry
matter. During 2003, the first field trial for gold phytoextraction from
d
NR ¼ Not reported. mine tailings was conducted using sodium cyanide and ammonium
thiocyanate as chemicals to induce gold hyperaccumulation
extent nickel or zinc when cyanide or thiocyanate (respectively) is (Anderson et al., 2005). In this work B. juncea and Z. mays were used
used. The interactions between soil, metals and the root system to recover gold from rock with a gold concentration of 0.6 mg/kg.
represent key factors controlling the success of plant production The pH range in soils was 8.9e9.5. The results showed that from
(Epstein, 1965), and increased solubility of these non-target metals this gold concentration in soil it is possible to achieve an average
is likely to detrimentally affect plant health. Some studies have gold concentration of up to 39 mg/kg of dry matter in Indian
therefore been developed to evaluate the practical effect of the mustard under field conditions. This trial suggested that potentially
enhanced mobility of these non-target metals also present in mine between 10 and 20% of the total gold present in the plant root zone
tailings. For example, the effect of the presence of copper in mine can be removed in any one crop.
tailings on growth and element uptake by mesquite plants (Prosopis Towards the end of 2006, researchers at the Centro de Innova-
sp.) was recently reported (Haque et al., 2009). Although some cion y Desarrollo Educativo (CIDE A.C.) conducted field trials in
plants species have developed tolerance to certain copper levels Mexico where plants of B. juncea were cultivated in mine tailings
(Stewart and Anderson, 2005), this is a toxic metal for other plant with a gold concentration of 2.47 mg/kg and a pH of 7.6. The results
species (Deo and Nayak, 2011; Michaud et al., 2008). Research has showed that it was possible to obtain commercial-scale biomass
specifically investigated the interactive effect of copper and gold in yields in excess of 8 ton/ha under field conditions (Wilson-Corral,
soil solution after treatment of soil to induce gold uptake (Wilson- 2008). Then, in 2009, a field trial was conducted to establish the
Corral et al., 2011). The results of this study confirmed that there is potential of the species H. annuus to recover gold from mine tail-
an associated increase in copper uptake by some plants when ings. A plot of 50 m2 was constructed. The average gold concen-
treatment is applied to soil to induce gold uptake and indicate that trations for leaves, stems, and roots, were 16, 21, and 15 mg/kg of
increased copper uptake causes necrosis of the plants after treat- dry mater, respectively after cyanide treatment of the mature
ment. However, this response does not appear to be equivalent for biomass (Wilson-Corral et al., 2011).
all species. Some trials have shown that H. annuus has the potential
ability to accumulate copper without being overly sensitive to 2.4. What is the best plant species for gold phytomining?
copper toxicity (Lin et al., 2003) and this may lead to increased
potential for gold uptake in this species. A review of the literature shows that a large number of plant
Gold phytoextraction processes have also been studied under species have been used for gold phytomining research. These plants
hydroponic conditions. A hydroponic experimental growth media have generally been crop species, presumably due to the ready
presents an advantage over soil media in that the solubility of gold, availability of seed and well established systems for propagation
nutrient and other heavy metals can be more tightly controlled. and growth. For a gold phytomining operation the desirable traits
This allows for the testing of isolated or specific variables. For of a plant species include fast growth and high biomass yield as
example the effects of gold and mercury on the growth, nutrient well as drought, salinity and high temperature resistance. But, no
uptake and anatomical changes of C. linearis have been studied single crop of plants is likely to remove all of the gold in the soil.
(Rodríguez et al., 2009). Literature evidence indicates that plants may remove 10e20% of
The first report on gold phytoextraction from hydroponic solu- the total amount of gold in the root zone during any single cropping
tions was published by scientists from the University of Texas, El cycle (Anderson et al., 2003). This necessitates a system of
Paso (UTEP) (Gardea-Torresdey et al., 1999) using the plant species successive cropping to maximize gold recovery from soil. Therefore,
Medicago sativa L. (alfalfa). Results from this study showed that species that can be cultivated across a range of climatic conditions
M. sativa could accumulate gold to a concentration of 40.9 mg/kg throughout a year could lead to greater efficiencies in phytomining.
 Author's personal copy
V. Wilson-Corral et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 249e257
Some plant species tested under both laboratory and field condi-
tions may not be suitable for commercial-scale cultivation, while
some plant species tested under greenhouse conditions may not be
suitable for field use where extreme drought and temperatures
(both cold and hot) might be expected. Although more than 20
species have been tested, in this review six species are selected that
could be suitable for commercial-scale field use (Table 3).
3. Procedure for a gold phytomining operation
The potential for gold phytomining has been clearly shown by
the extensive record of published laboratory and greenhouse
studies; and reports of field trials to date suggest the promise of an
economic return. What are needed are further demonstration trials
to better prove the viability of the technology. A gold phytomining
operation could be done with a well defined general sequence of
steps. Step one: find a site with mining waste rock containing some
small amount of gold. Stage two: plant a fast growing hardy species
with a large biomass that is tolerant to dry conditions, acid and/or
salt that are often present in waste rock from the mine. Step three:
when the plants near maturity or reach their maximum biomass,
treat the waste rock substrate with a chosen chemical agent. This
introduces a pulse of metal into the soil for plants to accumulate.
Stage Four: Once the plants show signs of ill health as a result of
metal uptake and any inherent toxicity of the chemicals used to
induce solubility, the plants are harvested. At this point transpira-
tion will have ceased with no further extraction of metal from the
soil. Stage Five: Incinerate the harvested biomass to produce a bio-
mineral from which metal can be melted and finally recovered
(Anderson et al., 2000).
A well-planned gold phytomining operation might consider
factors such as: a) the gold concentration in mineralized soil or waste
mining; b) the way in which gold is present in the substrate
(geochemistry); c) heavy metal and chemical contaminants in the
substrate that may be toxic for plants; d) plant species that might be
suited to the climatic conditions of the site; e) water availability for
irrigation of the operation; f) the concentration of plant nutrients
present in substrate as well as the availability of these nutrients to
the plant species selected; g) the pH level in the substrate; h) the
chemical agent necessary to form a stable gold complex for uptake; i)
the dose and time for application of the chelating agent; j) a system
to protect plants against herbivore and/or pathogen attack; k) the
time for plant harvest; l) an adequate system for incineration of
biomass; m) an adequate system for ash processing in a laboratory or
engineering facility (Wilson-Corral et al., 2011). Failure to
adequately address any one of these factors may lead to a poor or
sub-economic return from the gold phytomining operation.
The economic goal of current research that is being conducted
around the world is to induce into plants a gold concentration of
100 mg/kg dry matter harvested. If it is also possible to harvest
10 tones of dry matter per hectare, then the final gold yield would
be equivalent to 1 kg of gold per hectare of cultivation. This level of
gold recovery is considered to represent sufficient revenue to cover
the associated costs of the operation.
Table 3
Selected plant species for possible gold phytomining use under commercial-scale
field conditions.
Plant specie Reported by Comments
Kalanchoe serrata Rodríguez-Lopez et al., 2009 Not tested at field
Brassica juncea Anderson et al., 1998 Tested at field
Chilopsis linearis Rodriguez et al., 2006 Not tested at field
Brassica campestris Wilson-Corral, 2008 Tested at field
Helianthus annuus Wilson-Corral, 2008 Tested at field
Bothriochloa macra Piccinin et al., 2007 Not tested at field
253
4. Detailed economic consideration of gold phytomining
A mathematical relationship between the concentration of gold
in the soil, and the gold concentration that might be expected in
a plant [Y ¼ 51.314 ln (x) þ 62.882], was proposed by Anderson et al.
(2005) based on the combined results from laboratory and green-
house studies. In this mathematical model, Y is the gold concen-
tration in the plant, and x is that in the soil. This relationship was
proposed using cyanide as the agent to induce gold uptake in
B. juncea. The levels of gold concentration in the soil used in this
work are realistic values for the total gold concentration that might
be expected in some tailings or waste rock bodies, and yielded gold
concentrations in the plant of potential economic significance.
The first economic assessment of the returns that might be
realized from gold phytomining was published by scientists from
Massey University (Anderson et al., 1998). In 2003, an economic
model for gold phytomining was proposed by Anderson and
colleagues. Costs were broken into three categories: a) the costs of
growing the biomass, b) the costs of chemical used to induce
uptake of gold and c) the costs of recovery of gold from the biomass.
The modelled costs showed that the final economic yield (gross
profit) could be $USD 6437/ha if the gold recovery from plant
tissues is based on the use of conventional solvent extraction,
considered as the most viable processing technology.
Scientists at the University of Sydney have evaluated the tech-
nical feasibility and the economic viability of nickel and gold phy-
tomining in Australia. In this work possible sites were identified
and plant species most suited to these regions and methods of
recovering the metals from the plants were suggested. The indic-
ative profitability for a Ni phytomining operation in Australia was
predicted to be 11,500 AU$/ha/harvest, using the hyperaccumulator
B. coddii on nickel-rich serpentine soils and with energy generation
from harvested biomass. For gold, a profit of 26,000 AU$/ha/harvest
was predicted using induced accumulation (with thiocyanate) with
a crop of B. juncea coupled with energy generation from the har-
vested biomass (Harris et al., 2009).
4.1. Gold phytomining in Mexico
Mexico is a country with a long history of open pit and under-
ground gold mining. Although the main producer of gold in recent
years has been China (with an annual production close to 300 tons),
gold production in Mexico over the last four years has allowed
Mexico to become one of the top 12 gold producing countries
worldwide. The annual gold production in Mexico in recent years
has reached 75 tons annually. As a result of such historic and
modern mining activity, waste volumes in the order of millions of
tons have been generated, and this waste material contains
a residual gold concentration. This is material that could potentially
be exploited through the application of gold phytomining making
Mexico a country with great potential for the application of this
innovative technique. Greenhouse and field research into gold
phytomining that has been conducted in Mexico over the past eight
years has allowed for the development of calculations regarding the
likely economic viability of gold phytomining based on the current
costs of materials and processes that would be required for a large-
scale gold phytomining operation (Table 4). This economic model
may be applicable to other parts of South America and Africa with
a similar developing economy and cost structure for labour and
infrastructure.
The analysis in Table 4, which is based on previously published
work (Anderson et al., 2003), shows that a biomass yield of 8.3 t/ha
reported for a Mexican field trial developed by Wilson-Corral
(2008), with a gold concentration of 55.6 mg/kg reported for
a field trial by Wilson-Corral et al. (2011) will yield a gold return of
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254 V. Wilson-Corral et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 249e257

Table 4 conducted in Brazil on waste rock with a total gold grade of only
An economic model for gold phytomining in Mexico based on incineration of har- 0.6 g/t. If processing costs can be lowered or a higher concentration
vested biomass and solvent extraction of the ash. After Anderson et al., 2003.
of gold reached in the plants, this would change the economic
Concept Note Cost US$ parameters.
Agricultural cost (per ha) 1630 Gold phytomining could be an excellent mechanism to develop
Price of chemical ($) $8/kg economic activity in metalliferous or historic mining areas. Such
Application rate @0.25 g Total volume
areas are often associated with poor socio-economic conditions,
chemical/kg soil needed: 180 kg
Cost of chemical 1440 and in Mexico, like many developing countries, people in such
Cost of chemical application 500 regions resort to the cultivation and processing of narcotics due to
Crop monitoring 2200 an absence of economic alternatives for daily subsistence living. In
Cost of producing 5770 such a scenario the agricultural skills and infrastructure exist. Could
biomass/ha
Biomass per ha 8 330a
these people be convinced to turn from the farming of illegal crops
(kg dry weight/year) to farming for gold?
Au concentration in 55.6b In a study initiated in 2006, four gold mines in Sinaloa State,
plant (mg/kg DW) Mexico that had been exploited and abandoned during the 20th
Incineration of DW @ $250/t 2075
century were selected and sampled to determine the residual gold
ASH Conversion DW to ash @ 10% 0.83 t
Operating cost (solvent extraction) $1000/tonne 830 concentration. These mines (Fig. 1) were 1) El Mineral de Nuestra
Capital cost $480/tonne 400 Señora de la Candelaria, 2) La Verde, 3) El Magistral 4) Palmarito
Cost of gold 3305 Mineral. The samples were prepared in the laboratory and analyzed
recovery/ha using atomic absorption spectrometry. The laboratory results show
Gold recovered (asume 100%) 463 g
Market price of gold $US/oz 1623.90
that only the tailings at the El Magistral mine contain significant
Market price of gold $US/g 52.21 quantities of gold, with an average concentration of gold of
Value of gold extracted US$ 24 173 2.35 mg/kg (Wilson-Corral et al., 2006). The volume of tailings in
Total value of crop/ha 24 173 this dump is approximately 100,000 tons, although erosion is
Gross profit/ha (value-cost) $15 098
steadily transporting this material to the coast of the Gulf of Cal-
Notes: These calculations do not consider the possible economic value of electricity ifornia. The levels of gold found in the El Magistral tailings are
generated through biomass incineration. The gold price was quoted on 12-16-2011. similar to that determined by other investigators at gold mines in
a
Wilson-Corral (2008).
b
Wilson-Corral et al. (2011).
Australia and South Africa. The tailings located in El Magistral mine
might be suitable for gold extraction using phytomining and
463 g per hectare. The gold price used for this calculation is the negotiations to access these tailings for a phytomining operation
average world market price for the period December 11e16, 2011 ($ are being actively pursued. The results from this survey highlight
USD 1623.90) (Kitko Inc., 2011). The gross profit in this model is US$ the importance of a well-planned exploration program to locate
14,537/ha. potential sites for operation. If the gold grade in the soil is too low, it
Further analysis of the data in this economic model indicates is unlikely that the operation will yield an economic return.
that a gold recovery of 179 g is sufficient to pay the costs of
production ($ 9636). This would be equivalent to a gold concen- 5. Environmental considerations of gold phytomining
tration of just under 21.56 mg/kg assuming a biomass yield of 8.3 t/
ha (DW) (Wilson-Corral et al., 2011). This concentration is lower The process of recovering gold from any geological media
than that reported by Anderson et al. (2005) for a field trial requires the use of chemicals. This is because of the limited solubility

Fig. 1. The location of four sites evaluated for gold phytomining by Wilson-Corral et al. (2006), in the Northwest portion of Mexico.
 Author's personal copy
V. Wilson-Corral et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 249e257
of gold under environmental conditions (Anderson, 2005). There-
fore, any technology to recover gold, including phytomining, will
require the use of chemicals. The environmental challenge in any
mining operation is to use chemicals in a way such that they pose no
harm to the environment. A gold phytomining operation has simi-
larities with heap leaching. In both operations cyanide has been
shown to be the most effective chemical to make gold soluble.
However, a key difference lies in the amount of cyanide used, and the
timeframe over which this cyanide is used. Heap leaching requires
the constant use of chemical over a timeframe of years (Bowell et al.,
2009) where the purpose of cyanide use is to leach gold through the
rock pile. Phytomining requires the use of cyanide once only, over
a timeframe of minutes, where the purpose of the chemical is to
promote sufficient solubility for uptake. During phytomining the
irrigation of chemical is designed to mitigate the potential for
leaching of the chemical and gold out of the root zone.
Concerns have been raised over the persistence of these
chemical amendments in the soil, the collateral effects of the
amendments on soil microbiota, and the possible mobilization of
the contaminants to groundwater (Ebbs et al., 2010). Much
discussion has been made on the environmental consequences of
using the chemical EDTA during phytoextraction (Nowack et al.,
2006), and we agree with the concerns that have been expressed
in literature. However, in gold phytomining the soil being treated
with chemical (ore or tailings), is often contained within a lined
tailings facility that is designed to stop leachate from entering
groundwater. Alternatively, the soil may be placed on top of a liner
following the design of a heap leach pad (a phyto leach pad). The
liner in these scenarios could mitigate concerns over the movement
of metal complexes into groundwater. There would be a cost
associated with this additional layer of operation design, but the
expected revenue from operating on a soil with in excess of 1 mg/kg
could make the economics of such design sustainable.
The four main chemicals that have been used in gold phyto-
mining (cyanide, thiocyanate, thiourea and thiosulphate) are all
naturally occurring chemicals that will degrade in the environment
(Anderson, 2005). The degradation of cyanide to thiocyanate, and
the pathways for further biodegradation of thiocyanate are well
studied (Gould et al., 2012). Twenty strains of bacteria have been
isolated that can transform thiocyanate to sulphate, ammonia (or
nitrate) and carbon dioxide coming from genera such as Bacillus,
Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and Thiobacillus (Boucabeille et al.,
1994; Hutchinson et al., 1965). The benchmark OECD ‘Closed
Bottle’ biodegradation test shows that ammonium thiocyanate is
degraded 80% within 28 days (Garttener and van Ginkel, 1999), and
in OECD countries thiocyanate is regarded as biodegradable. Ebbs
et al. (2011) investigated the degradation of chemicals used in
a phytomining operation and concluded that these chemicals are not
inherently persistent and that natural attenuation may lead to their
rapid degradation in soil. This work was conducted on milled gold
ore, with a very low level of organic carbon (less than 0.15%) which
was likely to have had low biological activity. The soil or ore in the
root zone of plants being used for phytomining, where the chemicals
are placed, will have a higher level of biological activity due to root
exudation, and biodegradation may be much greater. The environ-
mental concerns regarding the use of chemicals in gold phytomining
are real, and represent the greatest drawback in acceptance of the
technology. Further research is needed to establish more clearly the
environmental risks involved in using chemical to promote gold
uptake by plants and to design strategies to mitigate these risks.
6. Global opportunities for gold phytomining
The safe and effective management of abandoned mine sites is
a global issue which is especially prevalent in many arid and semiarid
255
regions of the world (Mendez and Maier, 2007). The locations of these
areas include northern Mexico, western United States, the Pacific
coast of South America (Chile and Peru), the South of Spain, West
India, South Africa and Australia (Tordoff et al., 2000). Associated with
these legacy mining areas are large expanses of barren mine tailings;
The United States alone has about half a million abandoned mines
with about 45 billion tons of mine waste (USEPA, 2004). Many of these
abandoned mines were gold mines, or mines where base metals were
targeted, but where gold was also present in the rock. In addition to
gold, the tailings often contain elevated concentrations of other
contaminants, such as arsenic, mercury and cyanide compounds
which can present unwanted environmental risk.
Despite the high gold price in 2012, conventional mining tech-
niques are not generally suitable to exploit the gold left in the tailings,
and the material is often left idle. An option to exploit these areas of
tailings is phytomining. Application of this technology could poten-
tially create the added benefits of employment of local communities
in agricultural production, and the clean up or management of the
contaminated sites. Thus, phytomining for gold extraction could be
considered as an economically viable and environmentally sustain-
able technology that might operate alongside conventional tech-
nology at operating mining sites, or alone at legacy sites.
A case study for the phytomining of historic gold mine wastes in
India was published during 2005. The subject of this report was the
development of phytomining at the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Kar-
nataka, locally known as Bangarapet (city of gold). This area was
once considered to be the premier gold mining area in India and was
operated by the Bharath Gold Mines Limited (BGML). The mines
have a recorded history of nearly 200 years of operation. Studies
have shown that there are about 33 million tons of tailings that have
been accumulated over the years which may be a source of 24 tons of
gold (Mohan, 2005). According to the author of the Indian report,
phytomining could prove to be a novel and cost-effective technology
to extract gold from these tailings and also from low-grade ore in the
area (grade less than 3 g/t). Phytomining in this area would re-
vitalize the mining sector, creating employment, revenue, and
opportunities for new technology development.
7. Recommendations for future work
Gold phytomining is a technique with great potential for appli-
cation to mineralized soils and gold mining waste around the world.
However the conditions of water scarcity and extreme weather that
prevail at many potential phytomining locations will limit the plant
species that can be used. Many regions of the world that host historic
mining wastes currently offer limited choices for economic activity.
The economic estimates presented in Table 4 suggest that phyto-
mining could provide for new activity that will generate employ-
ment, revenue and infrastructure in phytomining areas. Research is
ongoing in Mexico and elsewhere under both greenhouse and field
conditions to assess the economic returns that could be generated
by the implementation of phytomining. Considering the scientific
studies reported in this manuscript, the following objectives are
highlighted for active research: a) standardized systems to evaluate
the potential of ore, tailings or waste produced by mining activities
to gold phytomining; b) standardized tests to identify plant species
that can be used in these areas for gold phytomining; c) robust
economic assessment to determine the potential profits that could
be gained through application of the technology; and d) the
implementation of commercial scale phytomining operations.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the license granted by Facultad de
Ingenieria of the Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa for the
 Author's personal copy
256 V. Wilson-Corral et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 249e257
development of this work. The financial support of the Programa de
Fomento a la Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion of Fundacion
Educacion Superior-Empresa (FESE) from Mexico (project
I þ D þ i  051) is acknowledged.
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