There’s still nickel in them thar hills
Chemists have developed a benign substance that can help extract base metals from tailings dams and low-grade ore bodies
15 August 2024 - 05:00
About 10 years ago scientists at Curtin University in Western Australia discovered gold particles on plant leaves. They theorised that the gold molecules had been brought together by glycine, an amino acid in the plant that also turns up in foods such as tofu and gives umami flavour its distinctive taste.
The science came to the attention of pipette-toting chemists at Draslovka, a 118-year-old business founded in the Czech Republic when it was still a vassal of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The chemists subsequently discovered that glycine also bonds base metals such as nickel and copper...
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