Historic mine waste contains diverse microbial communities that reflect waste type and geochemistry.

ABSTRACT: Waste rock and tailings left behind by historic mining operations can contain substantial critical mineral resources. However, over the decades and centuries, since these deposits were emplaced, microbial communities developed that can catalyze rock weathering and elemental cycling, which could have impacted the economic resources but also might be harnessed for future biomining or other metal recovery efforts. Here, we combined microbial cell counting, rRNA gene and transcript sequencing, and whole rock geochemistry to compare the composition and abundance of microbial communities from five inactive mine sites in south-central New Mexico that contain critical minerals. While acidic seeps and adits at the sites contained organisms commonly found in acid rock drainage and bioleaching operat

SUBMITTER: Best MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12366339 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature