Mining and mine tailings: Use of plants and filamentous fungi for mitigating toxic elements as an assisted phytoremediation technique
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59741/agraria.v23i2.752Keywords:
Mine tailings; microorganisms; bioleaching; soil contamination; filamentous fungiAbstract
Mining is an important global economic activity, where Mexico is among the world's largest metal producers in the mining sector. However, this has led to serious environmental problems due to the generation of mine waste, which is usually deposited in open land areas and contains potentially toxic elements (PTEs) such as Ni, Cd, Pb, As, Cr, etc. These PTEs provoke the water and soil contamination, and remain indefinitely at the site. In recent decades, biological technologies have been developed using plant species in combination with filamentous fungi to mitigate and restore sites contaminated with PTEs, such as mine tailings. This work integrates the knowledge about plant species with filamentous fungi to evaluate their characteristics and effects for potential application in the rehabilitation and/or restoration of soils contaminated with toxic mining tailings.
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