Could Plants Help Solve Our Addiction to Mining?

Agro-mining is the process of growing plants that absorb metals from the ground. The science is solid, but will this innovation ever be scalable enough to reduce traditional, destructive mining practices?
Environmental effects of mining can occur at local, regional, and global scales through direct and indirect mining practices.
The effects can result in erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, or the contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface water by the chemicals emitted from mining processes.
This new type of mining method looks to solve those problems. We will have to wait and see in the upcoming years how the technology is developing.