Microbes are early environmental indicators of mining impacts and recovery

The Challenge

Mining of metals is critical for the global adoption of greener technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines. But extraction of these resources may affect the surrounding soil, water, air, and biodiversity.

Mining companies must balance the unprecedented demand for materials with their own sustainability goals and government regulations to mitigate environmental impacts.

Current tools and methods used to monitor environmental impacts of mining processes often fail to provide timely, sensitive, and actionable data. Delays in intervention can not only harm the environment, but can increase remediation costs for companies.

The Solution

Compared to other bioindicators like animals and plants, microbes are early, accessible, and sensitive sensors of environmental changes (1). Using microbes for environmental assessment of mining practices can replace or bolster existing methods.

Using microbes as a monitoring tool allows companies to intervene early, ultimately improving sustainability efforts, saving costs, and ensuring that regulatory requirements are met.

Koonkie’s Approach

At Koonkie, we leverage the power of microbial communities as sensitive and timely indicators of environmental impacts of mining activities. For example, by sampling the microbial communities in water, soil, and sediment around mine sites over time, we’ve assessed how standard operating procedures affect the surrounding environment. Using data from the microbial communities, we’ve assessed the long-term impacts of these mining practices and provided compelling evidence to support the continuation or suspension of the procedure at mine sites.

Koonkie's team of biologists, bioinformaticians, and computer scientists have the highly-specific expertise required to create a sampling plan, identify the microbes present in these communities, and track changes in their composition over time. Koonkie uses DNA sequencing to decode which and how many microbes are present in specific samples, and what they can do in the environment. This timely and sensitive method can improve the effectiveness of monitoring environmental impacts overall, and align with the needs of regulatory bodies.

Want to learn more? Reach out to services@koonkie.com to schedule a consultation.

Reference: 

1. Ma et al (2022). Int J Environ Res Public Health.

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