Phytomining and the Plants That ‘Bleed’ Nickel
In the heart of Sulawesi, an Indonesian island, is a small mining town by the name of Sorowako. The town is one of the biggest areas for mining nickel in the world, with one firm extracting 5% of the world’s supply of nickel from this one location. Since 2004, Aiyen Tjoa, a lecturer and soil biologist, has been on a mission to locate rare plants that can absorb nickel from nickel-rich surroundings. The plants have the potential to absorb high amounts of the mineral from the soil and store it in high quantities. The plants could also offer an alternative…