biominingn.
/ˈbʌɪə(ʊ)mʌɪnɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈbaɪəˌmaɪnɪŋ/, /ˈbaɪoʊˌmaɪnɪŋ/ The practice of using bacteria to extract metals and minerals from ores. Cf. bioleaching n. at bio- comb. form 2c.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > mining > [noun] > other specific mining processes
gadding1753
costeaning1778
refinement1815
rope boring1852
piping1869
chlorination1875
opencasting1886
resue1903
resuing1905
biomining1982
1982 Mining Jrnl. (Nexis) 1 Oct. 229 The use of biomining will require the collection and analysis of large volumes of operating data and the development of remote sensing systems together with the instrumentation to control optimum conditions for the process to work efficiently.
1995 M. R. El-Gewely in Biotechnol. Ann. Rev. 1 Introd. 1 Hopefully, biomining could deliver the required minerals with environmentally sound procedures at a feasible cost that permits its use even with lower grade ores.
2011 Sci. Amer. Dec. 28/3 Nearly 20 percent of the world's copper comes from biomining, and production has doubled since the mid-1990s.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1982