en.Wedoany.com Reported - Researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have found that certain strains of Fusarium oxysporum can extract gold from their surrounding environment and incorporate it into their own structure, a process that also promotes fungal reproduction.

Gold is chemically inert, making such metabolic interactions rare in nature. This study provides the first direct evidence of fungi participating in the gold cycle within the Earth's crust. The research was initially conducted in the Boddington region, south of Perth, and is seen as a tool for locating new mineral deposits. Australia is the world's third-largest gold producer, and previously, the positions of eucalyptus forests or termite mounds have been used as indicators of underground deposits. This new discovery offers a novel approach to detecting marginal reserves.

Industry interest has since shifted to a concept known as "metabolic mining." This approach aims to use living organisms or engineered microbial strains to process and extract ore, replacing or supplementing traditional mechanical and chemical industrial methods. The application of biotechnology in metal extraction is particularly critical for space mining, as conventional mineral processing is high-risk, costly, and logistically unfeasible in space. Experiments have already generated platinum under microgravity conditions, and the development of "metabolic copper" has attracted substantial international investment. Multiple research teams continue to screen microorganisms, with the goal of making the biological production of gold a commercial reality.