Abstract:
Nickel (Ni) phytomining is an emerging mining
technique that uses hyperaccumulator plants to recover Ni
from low-grade metal-rich soils such as serpentine. The
Ginigalpelessa serpentinite deposit in Sri Lanka contains high
concentrations of Ni, Cr, and Co where the phytomining
potential is not well-documented. Therefore, the present study
determines Ni, Cr, and Co contents in the soil and assesses the
relationship between Ni content and plant diversity to identify
potential areas for phytomining in the deposit. Thirty-one soil
and twenty-five rock samples were collected from the deposit
to analyze their metal contents. The abundant plant species
were recorded at each location to analyze the plant diversity
and species evenness using the Shannon Weiner Diversity
Index. Based on soil analysis, Ni concentration in
Ginigalpelessa serpentine soil ranged from 4,005 to 17,352
mg/kg which is within the range of global Ni phytomining
grade (6,000 – 12,000 mg/kg). Moreover, areas having low
diversity (0.0919 - 0.3061) showed high enrichment of Ni (7,000
- 12,000 mg/kg), emphasizing that low diversity areas with high
Ni-enriched soils are suitable for in-situ Ni phytomining.
However, further studies are required to assess the Ni
hyperaccumulation ability of the abundant plant species to
implement Ni phytomining in the Ginigalpelessa serpentinite
deposit.
Citation:
P. Dilshara et al., "Assessment of Ni phytomining potential in Ginigalpelessa serpentinite deposit, Southeast Sri Lanka," 2023 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, 2023, pp. 31-35, doi: 10.1109/MERCon60487.2023.10355467.