Understand that the Earth's resources of metal ores, such as copper ores, are limited and becoming increasingly scarce.
Describe phytomining and bioleaching as new, alternative methods for extracting copper from low-grade ores.
Explain how these alternative methods are advantageous because they avoid traditional, environmentally damaging mining methods of digging, moving, and disposing of large amounts of rock.
Describe the process of phytomining, which uses plants to absorb metal compounds, followed by harvesting and burning the plants to produce ash containing the metal compounds.
Describe the process of bioleaching, which utilises bacteria to produce leachate solutions containing metal compounds.
Explain how metal compounds derived from alternative extraction methods can be further processed to obtain the pure metal (e.g., obtaining copper from solutions via displacement using scrap iron or by electrolysis).
Evaluate the effectiveness and viability of alternative biological methods of metal extraction when provided with appropriate information.
