Canadian scientists from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver have managed to find diamond-bearing kimberlite rocks deep underground using microbes found in surface soil. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Communication Earth and Environment (Commsenv).
When kimberlite ore interacts with soil, it affects bacterial communities in the soil. Experts confirmed this in laboratory experiments by adding kimberlite to soil microorganisms and observing how their numbers and types changed.
Using these “indicator” microbes and DNA sequences, the team tested topsoil at a research site in Canada’s Northwest Territories, where the presence of kimberlite had previously been confirmed by drilling. They found that 59 of 65 tracers (90%) were present in the soil, while 19 were present in large amounts directly on the ore. They also identified new indicator microbes that could be added to test kits.
“Microbes are better geochemists than we are, and there are thousands of them. You may run out of items to test, but you never run out of microbes,” said Dr. Rachel Simister, the study’s lead author.
The new method complements initial soil scans and analysis of elements in the overlying rock, along with a relatively limited set of instruments that help find underground ores.
The researchers believe they are the first to use modern bacterial DNA sequencing to search for minerals.
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