mykytczuk - mining microbes: harnessing the power of the small – ogi life sciences and mining...
DESCRIPTION
On May 6, 2014, the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI) and its Scintelligence division hosted a one day life sciences and mining workshop in Sudbury, Ontario. The workshop featured speakers discussing opportunities around the application of life sciences and genomics approaches in environmental assessment, monitoring and remediation. More than 40 workshop participants from mining companies and environmental firms, academia, industry associations and funding agencies discussed how to apply these technologies to the mining industry. As a result, discussions are on-going in terms of potential new collaborations, and ways to move forward with the application of the life sciences in mining.TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Nadia C.S. Mykytczuk
Mining Microbes:
Harnessing the Power of the Small
Research Scientist, Vale Living with Lakes Centre
May 6th , 2014
The Sudbury Restoration Story
Terrestrial and aquatic restoration: re-greening, and pH recovery
Turning the Bad & the Ugly… into the Good
Recover metals
from
tailings using
microbes
Grow fuel crops
On tailings
Water treatment
wetlands
- Microbial communities in tailings and AMD
- Well adapted to the specific conditions/extremes
- Potential to harness key species and consortia
- Discover new metabolic functions/networks
Meta-omics in the bioleaching/remediation framework
meta-omics/
microbial isolation
bioleaching/
remediation
environment /
geochemistry abiotic
vs.
biotic
specific
metabolism
selected
traits
Meta-Omics: exploding the “black box”
MICROBIAL DIVERSITY
High-throughput sequencing
High resolution
community diversity
and functional profile
DNA
RNA
protein
healthy contaminated
ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME
Unraveling biodiversity and
ecosystem function
Adapted from Del Chierico et al., 2012
Tapping the AMD microbial community
Have we underestimated diversity? Do we fully understand the microbial
mechanisms ?
general oxidation reaction
FeS2 Fe3+ + H2SO4
Iron & metal sulphides
waste rock/tailings
AMD Cu, Ni, Zn, U, Mo
Everything we thought we knew about AMD: Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
SEM of A. ferrooxidans © IMPMC/Hydrosciences
AMD
waste rock
• Most widely studied AMD species • Considerable strain variation • Unique adaptation of interest for tailored biomining
(Mykytczuk et al., 2010 a,b,c; 2011)
100751023270
50501019859
1504010R1
20015010F1
155.02D7
501502D6
MIC* Nickel (mM)MIC* Copper
(mM)
Lower growth
Temp.
Limit (°C)
Strain
100751023270
50501019859
1504010R1
20015010F1
155.02D7
501502D6
MIC* Nickel (mM)MIC* Copper
(mM)
Lower growth
Temp.
Limit (°C)
Strain
Culturing: The importance of strain libraries
type strains
Falconbridge(GlencoreINO) Denison &
Rio Algom mines
D6, D7, R1 F1
Strain selection
Uranium? > 5mM Arsenic?
Northern AMD microbial communities opening the black box
collaboration with L.Leduc
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
and ferrivorans
Genomics of
Cold- and highly
Metal- adapted strains
Metagenomic diversity
of microbial community in AMD (water)
AMD (sediment) tailings
collaborations with T. Merritt, A. Poulain
Diversity and Temporal Variation in AMD microbial community:
Vale Copper Cliff
(Auld et al., 2013, 2014 manuscript)
AMD pond sediments
(Valiquette , 2014 BSc thesis) (> 1% of community
Microbial ecology of Arsenic tailings at Long Lake in Sudbury
(NSERC CREATE: Mine of Knowledge)
Long Lake gold mine tailings: 75-100 years old
Finding high
community
diversity even in 35000 ppm Arsenic tailings
And these microbes are viable
Ecology and molecular biology of the effects of cold temperatures on AMD microbial communities.
NSERC Discovery Goals:
Characterize the AMD “microbiome” to better understand and exploit cold-adapted microbes for biomining in the North
Use meta-omics technology to define AMD
biogeochemistry at cold temperatures
NSERC Discovery Grant 2013-2018
Environmental remediation through bioleaching
• Characterize microbial diversity in seed mixtures
• Build strain library (novel isolates)
• Metagenomic study of bioleaching microbial consortia
Information will help with
tailoring and biomonitoring
active bioleaching tanks
(NSERC ENGAGE: BacTech Environmental)
Snow Lake Manitoba, Arsenic stockpiles
Passive biomining with microbes: the Northern version
Ore pile is leached with community of mining microbes
In situ leaching of mining wastes Using locally adapted strains/consortia
Dilute acid and microbes
Ore pile
Leach liquor with dissolved metals
Electroplating waste rock
AMD metal recovery
Acid/AMD Sprinkler
Leachate
Rubber Lining
Collection ditch
SX/EW
Recirculation
slope
Extraction
Stripping
Electrowinning
Heap
Bioleaching potential in Sudbury
Pilot-scale bioleaching heap as proof of principle of passive bioleaching potential
(NSERC ARD: Cambrian College, Vale)
Existing tailings
Use local AMD as leach liquor
Encourage native microbial community (monitor activity)
Conduct year long test (seasonal variation)
Metagenomic analyses
Determine M+ yields
Determine optimization and scale-up strategies
Cambrian/Vale: Passive leach heap
Harnessing the microbial community
Exploit AMD processes and active microbial
communities
Mining microbes
Metal recovery Waste reduction Remediation Management Molecular technology Understand processes
that promote sustainability
Key microbes In environmental recovery
Completing the mining cycle with: re-mining, remediation, and reclamation
Acknowledgements
Dr. Josef Hamr
Stephen Gravelle
Laurentian University Dr. John Gunn
Dr. Leo Leduc
Dr. Graeme Spiers
Dr. Peter Beckett
Dr. Thomas Merritt
Ryan Auld
Nicole Valiquette
Dr. Leslie Warren
Dr. Alex Poulain
Varun Gupta
Maxime Rivest
Ontario Genomics Institute
Oscar Alvarado
Ross Orr
NSERC CREATE: Mine of Knowledge program
Scientific Mentoring, Applied Research and Training for sustainable MINEs ($1.65 million)
9 PIs, 26 collaborators, >10 affiliated industry/company partners
Train students in a multi-disciplinary research program that will provide highly qualified personnel who will allow the mining industry to maintain its world leadership in environmental management, increasing the global competitiveness
and sustainability of this critical Canadian sector *total of 96 HQP over 6 years
Geomicrobiology Molecular geochemistry and microbiology
biogeochemistry ecotoxicology
Aquatic ecology
Analytical chemistry
M. Amyot
A. Poulain
L. Warren
C. Baron D. Fortin
J. Gunn C. Fortin K. Wilkinson
P. Campbell