Phytomining or turning plants into miners
Professor Om Parkash Dhankher specializes in “phytoremediation” at UMASS Amherst. He first studies how plants could possibly aid in detoxing the soil, effectively cleaning it, as all plants derive their food source by extracting nutrients.
The next logical step in his work would be to apply the same natural system of extraction to harvest minerals. And one plant, in particular, the Odontarrhena (formerly Alyssum murale) “hyperaccumulates” nickel.
Only one company, the press release states, is mining nickel conventionally in the US. Science wants to introduce a plant-based approach to evade the adverse environmental impact of mining.
This is important as nearly one million acres of topsoil contains trace amounts of nickel.