TY - JOUR

T1 - Tailings microbial community profile and prediction of its functionality in basins of tungsten mine

AU - Chung, Ana Paula

AU - Coimbra, Carina

AU - Farias, Pedro

AU - Francisco, Romeu

AU - Branco, Rita

AU - Simão, Francisco V.

AU - Gomes, Elsa

AU - Pereira, Alcides

AU - Vila, Maria C.

AU - Fiúza, António

AU - Mortensen, Martin S.

AU - Sørensen, Søren J.

AU - Morais, Paula V.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - In a circular economy concept, where more than 300 million tons of mining and quarrying wastes are produced annually, those are valuable resources, supplying metals that are extracted today by other processes, if innovative methods and processes for efficient extraction of these elements are applied. This work aims to assess microbiological and chemical spatial distribution within two tailing basins from a tungsten mine, using a MiSeq approach targeting the 16S rRNA gene, to relate microbial composition and function with chemical variability, thus, providing information to enhance the efficiency of the exploitation of these secondary sources. The tailings sediments core microbiome comprised members of family Anaerolineacea and genera Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Cellulomonas, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus and Rothia, despite marked differences in tailings physicochemical properties. The higher contents of Al and K shaped the community of Basin 1, while As-S-Fe contents were correlated with the microbiome composition of Basin 2. The predicted metabolic functions of the microbiome were rich in genes related to metabolism pathways and environmental information processing pathways. An in-depth understanding of the tailings microbiome and its metabolic capabilities can provide a direction for the management of tailings disposal sites and maximize their potential as secondary resources.

AB - In a circular economy concept, where more than 300 million tons of mining and quarrying wastes are produced annually, those are valuable resources, supplying metals that are extracted today by other processes, if innovative methods and processes for efficient extraction of these elements are applied. This work aims to assess microbiological and chemical spatial distribution within two tailing basins from a tungsten mine, using a MiSeq approach targeting the 16S rRNA gene, to relate microbial composition and function with chemical variability, thus, providing information to enhance the efficiency of the exploitation of these secondary sources. The tailings sediments core microbiome comprised members of family Anaerolineacea and genera Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Cellulomonas, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus and Rothia, despite marked differences in tailings physicochemical properties. The higher contents of Al and K shaped the community of Basin 1, while As-S-Fe contents were correlated with the microbiome composition of Basin 2. The predicted metabolic functions of the microbiome were rich in genes related to metabolism pathways and environmental information processing pathways. An in-depth understanding of the tailings microbiome and its metabolic capabilities can provide a direction for the management of tailings disposal sites and maximize their potential as secondary resources.

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-019-55706-6

DO - 10.1038/s41598-019-55706-6

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31862994

VL - 9

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

SN - 2045-2322

M1 - 19596

ER -