Phytoremediation of Metal Contaminated Mining Sites

Mining activities generate a large amount of waste rocks and tailings which deposited at the surface and become source of metal pollution. Most of conventional metal remedial technologies are expensive and inhibit the soil fertility; this subsequently causes negative impacts on the ecosystem. Phytoremediation, an emerging cost- effective, and environmental-friendly alternative technology, uses plants to reduce, remove, degrade, or immobilize environmental toxins, with aim of restoring area sites to a condition useable for private or public applications. Phytoremediation of heavy metals at mining sites mainly includes the two technologies, phytoextraction and phyostabilisation. Phytoextraction involves the removal of heavy metals by the roots of the plants with subsequent transport to aerial plant organs while phytostabilization focuses on establishing a vegetative cap that does not shoot accumulate metals but rather immobilizes metals within the contaminated soils. Therefore plant community established on mine spoils, wastes and tailings is useful to minimize the impacts of mining by making soil productive either by reducing the metal concentration or immobilizing the contaminants in soil. In this paper characteristic of metal contaminated mining sites, basic concept of phytoremediation is included; phytostabilization and phytoextraction are discussed along with recent research and review.