Prokaryotic communities in the historic silver mine Reiche Zeche

The research and education mine “Reiche Zeche” in Freiberg (Saxony, Germany) represents one of the most famous mining facilities reminiscent to the century-long history of silver production in the Ore Mountains. The mine was set up at the end of the fourteenth century and became part of the “Bergakademie Freiberg” in 1919. Galena, pyrite, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, and chalcopyrite are the most common minerals found in the mine. As acid mine drainage is generated from the dissolution of sulfidic ores, the microbial habitats within the adits and galleries are characterized by low pH and high concentrations of metal(loid)s. The community composition was investigated at locations characterized by biofilm formation and iron-rich bottom pools. Amplicon libraries were sequenced on a MiSeq instrument. The taxonomic survey yielded an unexpected diversity of 25 bacterial phyla including ten genera of iron-oxidizing taxa. The community composition in the snottites and biofilms only slightly differed from the communities found in acidic bottom pools regarding the diversity of iron oxidizers, the key players in most investigated habitats. Sequences of the Candidate Phyla Radiation as, e.g., Dojkabacteria and Eremiobacterota were found in almost all samples. Archaea of the classes Thermoplasmata and Nitrososphaeria were detected in some biofilm communities.

A new mineral assemblage from the diorite complex in the Fe-Oxide-Cu-Au ores of the Kis-Kuel deposit (Eastern Yakutia, Russia)

This research continues our investigations of the iron-oxide copper-gold deposits in the Western Verkhoyansk region, where recent years efforts of the IGABM SB RAS led to the discovery of a new gold Kiskuel deposit. The Kis-Kuel intrusion-related IOCG deposit in Eastern Yakutia (Russia) with a wide range of mineral styles has a direct genetic link with a cooling intrusion during its formation. The IOCG worldwide and the Kis-Kuel deposit have common features for this style - the abundance of iron oxides and low of sulfides. Magmatic contribution to the Kis-Kuel deposit is significant. Intrusive rocks range from diorite to granodiorite in composition. The Kiskuel deposit hosted in diorites and granodiorites; xenoliths confirming deep mineralization represented by pyrrhotite (main), pyrite, chalcopyrite, and clinosafflorite (Co, Fe, Ni)As2, chromite, pentlandite. Clinosafflorite localized at the contact of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite and at the contact of pyrrhotite and biotite. Chalcopyrite is found in intergrowth with pyrrhotite, were it forms bands and lenses. Parallel to the biotite cleavage, the thinnest layers of chalcopyrite are common. Clinosafflorite is rare and discovered in hydrothermal cobalt-nickel ores of the Bou-Azzer (Morocco), Cobalt (Canada), Glassberg (Germany), Silver Mine (England) and several others. Mineralization of rich mica processes occur in connection with the chromite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and pyrrhotite; a common feature of the mineralized dark-colored rock is phlogopite abundance, ilmenite, potassium feldspar, calcite, rarely quartz; clinoenstatite metasomaticaly replaced with phlogopite and dolomite. This new evidence supports a magmatic-hydrothermal model for the formation of IOCG deposit in the Kis-Kuel, where iron-oxide mineralization sourced from intermediate magmas. The deep complex predominantly composed of chromite, ilmenite, magnetite, pentlandite, and clinocafflorite; less of galena and sphalerite. Many diverse mineraization systems from Kis-Kuel classified together as iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits. The obtained data suggest deep ore-bearing structure of the Kis-Kuel ore-magmatic cluster with the potential for discovering of a new mineral ores style. All of this help in developing a new robust prospecting model.

Food, Mobility, and Health in a 17th and 18th Century Arctic Mining Population in Silbojokk, Swedish Sápmi

Established in 1635, the silver mine of Nasafjäll and the smeltery site in Silbojokk in Swedish Sápmi were used during several phases until the late 19th century. Excavations in Silbojokk, c. 40 km from Nasafjäll, have revealed buildings such as a smeltery, living houses, a bakery, and a church with a churchyard. From the beginning, both local and non-local individuals worked at the mine and the smeltery. Non-locals were recruited to work in the mine and at the smeltery, and the local Sámi population was recruited to transport the silver down to the Swedish coast. Females, males, and children of different ages were represented among the individuals buried at the churchyard in Silbojokk, which was used between c. 1635 and 1770. Here we study diet, mobility, and exposure to lead (Pb) in the smeltery workers, the miners, and the local population. By employing isotopic analysis, δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, 87Sr/86Sr and elemental analysis, we demonstrate that individuals in Silbojokk had a homogenous diet, except for two individuals. In addition, both local and non-local individuals were all exposed to Pb, which in some cases could have been harmful to their health.

Distribution without representation? Beyond the rights of nature in the southern Ecuadorian highlands

Despite the fact that Ecuador has arguably the most biocentric constitution in the world, deepening national investment in extractive development projects has left communities on the frontlines of these projects desperate for greater participation in decision-making processes currently monopolized by centralized ministries. The result has been a flourishing over the past two years of sub-national judicial and non-judicial challenges to strategic mining projects. Integral to these challenges is the constitutional language of rights for nature (Articles 71–4). Drawing on ethnographic research around the Río Blanco gold and silver mine in the southern highland province of Azuay, this article explores the diverse and surprising ways in which these environmental rights are being taken up as part of fundamental challenges to the decision-making monopolies of the Ministries of the Environment and of Mining. While numerous scholars of human and indigenous rights have recently lamented the fact that ‘rights-talk’ often appears unable to arrest or destabilize extractive imperatives, the case of Río Blanco suggests that, when embraced as part of wider social struggles for representation, rights-based approaches might be more potent than is currently being recognized. They may even encourage an important reorientation of some of the binaries that continue to preoccupy critical scholars of development.