Eko Handayanto, Nurul Muddarisna, Baiq Dewi Krisnayanti
The discharge of gold cyanidation tailings containing 1628-3002 mg Hg / kg to agricultural land has seriously reduced crop growth in West Lombok. However, the tailings also contain 1.2 to 6.28 mg Au/kg. The challenge is thus to find accumulator plants that are capable to accumulate Hg and Au at the same time. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of Lindernia crustacea (L.) F., Paspalum conjugatum L., and Cyperus kyllingia Endl., for phytoextraction of Hg and Au form small-scale gold mining tailings. Seeds of the plants were grown for 9 weeks on 5 kg of tailings. Ammonium thiosulfate with a rate 2g/kg or sodium cyanide with a rate of 1g/kg was applied when the plant reached 8 weeks old. At harvest (9 weeks), plant shoots and roots were analyzed for Hg and Au contents. The results showed that application of ammonium thiosulfate or sodium cyanide increased accumulation of Hg in the shoots by 76% and 45%, respectively, in comparison with the treatments without application of ligands. The application of f ammonium thiosulfate or sodium cyanide also increased Au concentration in the shoots by 106% and 30%, respectively, compared to treatments without application of ligands. © 2014 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved.
IRC-MEDMIND, University of Brawijaya, Malang 65145, Jl. Veteran No 1, Indonesia; Wisnuwardhana University, Malang 65139, Jl. Danau Setani No 99, Indonesia; Department of Soil Science, University of Mataram, Mataram 83125, Jl. Pendidikan 37, Indonesia
