Bacteria Precipitate Gold

nchste Meldung 29.07.2002

Roman A. Amosov and a team of Russian scientists from the Central
Institute for Geological Exploration of Non-ferrous and Noble Metals,
Institute of Paleontology, Russian Academy of Sciences, and from the
Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, led by, have
managed to simulate in the laboratory the process of precipitation of
gold which in the natural geothermal wells is promoted by blue-green
algae (cyanobacteriae).

For the purposes of the experiment Vladimir Orleanski of the
Institute of Microbiology, grew cyanobacteriae in the medium
containing high percentage of gold chloride (from 200-300 mg up to
500 mg per milliliter). Each day Vladimir Orleanski would alternate
the above medium with a regular one, which did not contain gold
chloride. This way the microbiologist simulated the environment of
the pulsatory thermal wells located in the geological break-up areas.
The matter is that such wells regularly discharge from the lower
crust the hot solutions rich in chlorides of noble metals. The
microbiologist has achieved a remarkable result - in the course of
the experiment gold was precipitating on the surface and inside the
cells of cyanobacteriae.

It is worth noting that precipitation of gold from chloride solutions
takes place only in the daylight, the process ceasing in the dark.
Precipitation of gold appears to be a previously unknown
photochemical process. Evidently, biological molecules serve as
catalysts in the process. For half a year the scientists continued to
grow the blue-green algae in the medium containing gold chloride. The
algae colonies obtained this way had an evidently expressed laminated
structure, where regular sections alternated with auriferous ones.
Spectroscopic analysis of dried up cyanobacteriae has proved that
they contain gold in the form of oxide. The way the microorganisms
oxidise gold is still unclear, since noble metals are extremely
difficult to oxidise.

The microorganisms` remnants are rather frequently found in the ores
of non-ferrous metals, bauxites, phosphorites and other raw
materials. The scientists have repeatedly made the assumptions that
bacteria play a certain role in the formation of raw materials,
including non-ferrous metal deposits. When R. A. Amosov found the
remnants of blue-green algae in the gold mined from the Vorontsovo
deposit in the Urals, this finding prompted him the hypothesis that
the cyanobacterae were able to precipitate gold from geothermal
solutions. As a result, R. A. Amosov has come to the idea of
simulating this process in the laboratory.

The environment of a natural geothermal well can be simulated via the
replacement of regular medium by the medium with high content of ions
of gold and via the reverse replacement. However, the concentration
of gold in the course of the experiment significantly exceeded its
concentration in a natural geothermal well. Nevertheless, it should
be acknowledged that it takes thousands of years for the deposit to
be formed in the natural environment, while in the experiment gold
was precipitated within half a year only.

Now the scientists have got solid experimental proof of the
hypothesis that some gold deposits are of biological origin (at
least, the Vorontsovo deposit is). The researchers also believe that
it may be possible to get gold from thermal wells with the help of
microorganisms.