Toxic waste could be turned into gold

Toxic waste could be turned into tiny particles of gold, according to researchers at McMaster University in Ontario.

Indeed, it is reported that the researchers have found a bacterium that can transform poisonous ions into toxic solutions which can then make small gold particles.

When added to toxic solutions of the precious metal, the bacterium delftia acidovorans secretes a metabolite that protects it from the toxins by transforming the dangerous ions into tiny gold nuggets, which it wears in “dark haloes of gold nanoparticles", Nature reports.

According to Frank Reith, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, a microbe-assisted gold rush might yet happen using this type of toxic waste.

"The idea could be to use a bacterium or metabolite to seed these waste-drop piles, leave them standing for years, and see if bigger particles form," he said.

Mr Reith was one of the first scientists to discover the potential of turning toxic waste into gold.

Indeed, Nature reports that Mr Reith and his team found the bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans living in biofilms on gold nuggets.

The bacteria dissolved gold by accumulating it in nanoparticles inside their cells.

According to Nature, Mr Reith and his colleagues have spent the past decade working out how, but have not yet published their complete conclusions.

It also explained how this new work compliments his really well.

"The two bacterial species might live in symbiosis, with D. acidovarans using delftibactin to diminish the soluble gold to levels that both species can cope with," it noted.