Coal mine drainage refers to the acidic drainage caused by surface mining, deep mining or coal refuse piles. Being highly acidic with elevated levels of dissolved metals, it is otherwise known as “Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)”. Formation of AMD is due to a series of geochemical and microbiological processes involving acidophilic chemolithotrophs such as Thiobacillus, Thiomispora, Leptospirillum etc...

Following the trend of studies that investigate microbial ecosystems using different metagenomic techniques, we propose a new integrative systems ecology approach that aims to decipher functional roles within a consortium through the integration of genomic and metabolic knowledge at genome scale. For the sake of application, using public genomes of five bacterial strains involved in copper biol...

An unusually thick ( approximately 1 cm) slime developed on a slump of finely disseminated pyrite ore within an extreme acid mine drainage site at Iron Mountain, near Redding, Calif. The slime was studied over the period of 1 year. The subaerial form of the slime distinguished it from more typical submerged streamers. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA genes revealed a diversity of sequences tha...

Surface colonization and microbial dissolution of pyrite were studied in the laboratory and by in situ surface colonization experiments conducted at Iron Mountain, California. Laboratory experiments involved organisms obtained from Iron Mountain and cultured in pH ,1.0, 42 8C solutions designed to enrich for chemolithotrophic species present at acidgenerating sites. Planktonic and sessile micro...

The Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) hosts one of the world's largest accumulations of acidic mine wastes and pit lakes. The mineralogical and textural characteristics of the IPB ores have favored the oxidation and dissolution of metallic sulfides, mainly pyrite, and the subsequent formation of acidic mining drainages. This work reports the physical properties, hydrogeochemical characteristics, and mi...

Acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD) occurs when sulphidic minerals, such as arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite and pyrite, are exposed to oxygen and water. Climate, geology and mine site practices can have a significant impact on AMD composition. The elemental composition of the AMD can also affect the bacterial community. Our hypothesis was that in the dry season the AMD at two mine sites, Rum Jungl...