LEME gold research features in the prestigious journal 'Science'
BIOMINERALIZATION OF GOLD: BIOFOLMS ON BACTERIOFORM GOLD
Authors: Frank Reith (1,2), Steve Rogers(1,4), Bear McPhail(1,2) and Daryl Webb(3)
1- CRC LEME
2- Dept Earth and Marine Science, The Australian National University (ANU)
3- Research Sch of Biological Sciences, Electron Microscopy Unit, ANU
4- CSIRO
The journal article highlights Dr Frank Reith's research, while a LEME-ANU PhD Student, which led to the discovery of a species of bacteria, Ralstonia metallidurans, that precipitates gold out of solution.
Go here to read the article in ‘Science.' 14.7.06 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/313/5784/159a
Go here to read Dr Frank Reith's complete paper. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/313/5784/233
Go here to read 'Nature' Article 13.7.06
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060710/full/060710-13.html
Frank's study of gold grains from the Tomakin Park and Hit or Miss gold mines in southern New South Wales and northern Queensland, respectively, led to a series of discoveries, which showed that specific bacteria present on these gold grains precipitate gold from solution.
“The origin of secondary gold grains is a controversial topic that is widely debated within the scientific community,” Dr Reith said.
“There are those who believe the grains are purely detrital, while others believe they form by chemical accretion."
“A third theory suggest that microbial processes are involved in gold grain formation which may be responsible for one of the largest gold deposits in the world, the Witwatersrand deposit in South Africa.”
Applying molecular biology techniques, Dr Reith discovered a living biofilm on the surface of gold grains collected. DNA profiling of this biofilm identified 30 bacterial species with populations unique to the gold grains when compared to the surrounding soils.
One species was identified on all of the DNA-positive gold grains from both locations. DNA sequence analysis of this species identified it as the bacterium Ralstonia metallidurans.
“The next step was to see if we could observe gold precipitation in the presence of a culture of this bacteria,” Dr Reith said.
“By placing a culture of the R. metallidurans in the presence of dissolved gold, which is highly toxic to microorgansims, I observed active gold precipitation.
A unique attribute of R. metallidurans is that it is able to survive in concentrations of gold that would kill most other micro-organisms.”
This research has significance for the mineral exploration industry – as current models of gold formation do not include a biological mechanism.
“There may be new opportunities for the bio-processing of gold ores now that we have discovered bacteria that precipitants gold out of solution,” Dr Reith said.
Dr Reith is currently employed as a Post Doctoral Fellow with CSIRO Exploration and Mining and contributes a major percentage of his time to LEME Program 2 (Mineral Exploration) research.
Contact: Frank Reith: frank.reith@csiro.au. Tel: 08 8303 8469.
Or Co-author and LEME CEO Steve Rogers: steve.rogers@csiro.au. Tel: 08 6436 8695
Bacterioform-gold1: Coloured scanning electron image of bacterioform gold on a gold grain from the Hit or Miss Mine in northern Queensland.
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