Agromining: Farming for Metals Extracting Unconventional Resources Using Plants

Dr Antony van der Ent is an ecophysiologist and biogeochemist whose research focuses on trace elements in soil and plant systems. He has a specific interest in the application of phytotechnologies that utilize hyperaccumulator plants (including agromining and phyto-extraction). He has had the opportunity to study trace element hyperaccumulator plants all around the world in temperate and in tropical regions.

Professor Alan J. M. Baker is an ecophysiologist and evolutionary biologist and is a pioneer in the study of metal uptake, tolerance, and accumulation in plants. In his long research career, he has been at the forefront of the development of phytotechnologies using hyperaccumulator plants for the decontamination and restoration of metal-polluted soils and for phytomining applications.

Professor Guillaume Echevarria is a soil biogeochemist who dedicated 25 years of research to the understanding of the fate of nickel in soil–plant systems globally. He has focused on both thespecific biogeochemistry of nickel in natural ultramafic environments and the agronomy of Ni hyperaccumulator plants in agromining contexts.

Professor Marie-Odile Simonnot is a chemical engineer specialized in separation science with a special interest in environmental issues. She has been working for more than a decade on the valorisation of metals contained in bio-ore derived from hyperaccumulator plant biomass, specifically by using hydrometallurgy. She is also interested in the environmental assessment of processes by life cycle assessment.

Professor Jean Louis Morel is an expert on environmental biology and applications for soil remediation, ecosystem restoration, and agromining. He has a background in soil science with a strong interest in anthropized areas, including mining, industrial, and urban areas. His group developed phytoremediation, especially phytoextraction of metals. He proposed the term “agromining” for the chain of technologies that make up metal farming.