Abstract
Cobalt is economically considered as a critical metal. The globally most important Co ore deposits are found within the Katangan Copperbelt (Democratic Republic of Congo), where a great abundance of Cu- and Co-tolerant and accumulator plants have evolved. Cobalt mining activities in this region have disseminated large quantities of wastes into the environment during the last decades and become a major environmental issue. The reduction of environmental risks and Co dispersion can be explored by considering phytoremediation and/or agromining technics that select tolerant and putative hyperaccumulator plants from the regional pool of species. Accumulation of foliar Co to >300 μg g−1 is rare globally and known principally from the Copperbelt. This chapter gives an overview of the current knowledge on Co accumulation by plants, examines the potential for Co bio-ore production using Co-accumulators from the region, and proposes a plant trait-based approach that maximizes ecosystem services provided by Co agromining.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bani A, Echevarria G, Sulçe S, Morel JL (2015) Improving the agronomy of Alyssum murale for extensive phytomining: a five-year field study. Int J Phytoremediation 17:117–127
Banza CLN, Nawrot TS, Haufroid V, Decrée S, De Putter T, Smolders E, Kabyla BI, Luboya ON, Ilunga AN, Mutombo AM, Nemery B (2009) High human exposure to cobalt and other metals in Katanga, a mining area of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Environ Res 109:745–752
Boisson S, Le Stradic S, Collignon J, Séleck M, Malaisse F, Shutcha MN, Faucon MP, Mahy G (2015) Potential of copper-tolerant grasses to implement phytostabilisation strategies on polluted soils in South DR Congo. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23:1–13
Brooks RR, Reeves RD, Morrison RS, Malaisse F (1980) Hyperaccumulation of copper and cobalt—a review. Bull Soc Roy Bot Belg 113:166–172
Chaney RL, Angle JS, Broadhurst CL, Peters CA, Tappero RV, Sparks DL (2007) Improved understanding of hyperaccumulation yields commercial phytoextraction and phytomining technologies. J Environ Qual 36:1429–1443
Cheyns K, Banza Lubaba Nkulu C, Ngombe LK, Asosa JN, Haufroid V, De Putter T, Nawrot T, Kimpanga CM, Numbi OL, Ilunga BK, Nemery B, Smolders E (2014) Pathways of human exposure to cobalt in Katanga, a mining area of the D.R. Congo. Sci Total Environ 490:313–321
Crundwell FK, Moats MS, Ramachandran V, Robinson TG, Davenport WG (2011) Extractive metallurgy of nickel, Cobalt and Platinum Group Metals. Elsevier, Oxford
Delhaye G, Violle C Séleck M, Ilunga wa Ilunga E, Daubie I, Mahy G, Meerts P (2016) Community variation in plant traits along copper and cobalt gradients. J Veg Sci 27:854–864
Delhaye G, Lange B, Faucon M-P, Grandjean C, Mahy G, Meerts P (2018) Functional traits of a broad-niched metallophyte along a toxicity gradient: disentangling intra and inter-population variation. Environ Exp Bot 156:240–247
Dupin L, Nkono C, Burlet C, Muhashi F, Vanbrabant Y (2013) Land cover fragmentation using multi-temporal remote sensing on major mine sites in Southern Katanga (Democratic Republic of Congo). Adv Remote Sens 2:127–139
Egoh BN, Reyers B, Rouget M, Richardson DM (2011) Identifying priority areas for ecosystem service management in South African grasslands. J Environ Manage 92:1642–1650
Faucon M-P (2015) Ecologie et biogéochimie des interactions sol-plante et leurs implications en conservation de la biodiversité, ingénierie écologique et agroécologie, HDR dissertation, Université de Picardie, UniLaSalle, 106 p
Faucon MP, Shutcha MN, Meerts P (2007) Revisiting copper and cobalt concentrations in supposed hyperaccumulators from SC Africa: influence of washing and metal concentrations in soil. Plant Soil 301:29–36
Faucon M-P, Colinet G, Mahy G, Luhembwe MN, Verbruggen N, Meerts P (2009) Soil influence on Cu and Co uptake and plant size in the cuprophytes Crepidorhopalon perennis and C. tenuis (Scrophulariaceae) in SC Africa. Plant Soil 317:201–212
Faucon M-P, Parmentier I, Colinet G, Mahy G, Ngongo Luhembwe M, Meerts P (2011) May rare metallophytes benefit from disturbed soils following mining activity? The case of the Crepidorhopalon tenuis in Katanga (D. R. Congo). Restor Ecol 19:333–343
Faucon M-P, Tshilong BM, Van Rossum F, Meerts P, Decocq G, Mahy G (2012) Ecology and hybridization potential of two sympatric metallophytes, the narrow endemic Crepidorhopalon perennis (Linderniaceae) and its more widespread congener C. tenuis. Biotropica 44:454–462
Faucon M-P, Houben D, Reynoird J-P, Dulaurent-Mercadal AM, Armand R, Lambers H (2015) Advances and perspectives to improve the phosphorus availability in cropping systems for agroecological phosphorus management. Adv Agron 134:51–79
Faucon M-P, Le Stradic S, Boisson S, wa Ilunga EI, Séleck M, Lange B, Guillaume D, Shutcha MN, Pourret O, Meerts P, Mahy G (2016) Implication of plant-soil relationships for conservation and restoration of copper-cobalt ecosystems. Plant Soil 403:153–165
Faucon MP, Houben D, Lambers H (2017) Plant functional traits: soil and ecosystem services. Trends Plant Sci 22:385–394
Garnier E, Navas ML, Grigulis K (2016) Plant functional diversity: organism traits, community structure, and ecosystem properties. Oxford University Press, 256 p
Gyssels G, Poesen J, Bochet E, Li Y (2005) Impact of plant roots on the resistance of soils to erosion by water: a review. Progr Phys Geogr 29:189–217
Homer FA, Morrison RS, Brooks RR, Clemens J, Reeves RD (1991) Comparative studies of nickel, cobalt, and copper uptake by some nickel hyperaccumulators of the genus Alyssum. Plant Soil 138:195–205
Ilunga wa Ilunga E, Mahy G, Piqueray J, Séleck M, Shutcha MN, Meerts P, Faucon M-P (2015) Plant functional traits as a promising tool for the ecological restoration of degraded tropical metal-rich habitats and revegetation of metal-rich bare soils: a case study in copper vegetation of Katanga, DRC. Ecol Eng 82:214–221
Kabeya FI, Pongrac P, Lange B, Faucon MP, van Elteren JT, Šala M, Šelih VS, Vanden Eeckhoudt E, Verbruggen N (2018) Tolerance and accumulation of cobalt in three species of Haumaniastrum and the influence of copper. Environ Exp Bot 149:27–33
Kaya Muyumba D, Pourret O, Liénard A, Bonhoure J, Mahy G, Luhembwe MN, Colinet G (2019) Mobility of copper and cobalt in metalliferous ecosystems: results of a lysimeter study in the Lubumbashi Region (Democratic Republic of Congo). J Geochem Explor 196:208–218
Keeling SM, Stewart RB, Anderson CWN, Robinson BH (2003) Nickel and cobalt phytoextraction by the hyperaccumulator Berkheya coddii: implications for polymetallic phytomining and phytoremediation. Int J Phytoremediation 5:235–244
Lange B (2016) Tolérance et accumulation du cuivre et du cobalt—implication pour la phytoremédiation des sols contaminés. Thèse de doctorat, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Université Picardie Jules Verne, 160 p
Lange B, Faucon MP, Meerts P, Shutcha M, Mahy G, Pourret O (2014) Prediction of the edaphic factors influence upon the copper and cobalt accumulation in two metallophytes using copper and cobalt speciation in soils. Plant Soil 379:275–287
Lange B, van der Ent A, Baker AJM, Echevarria G, Mahy G, Malaisse F, Meerts P, Pourret O, Verbruggen N, Faucon MP (2017) Copper and cobalt accumulation in plants: a critical assessment of the current status of knowledge. New Phytol 213:537–551
Lange B, Delhaye G, Boisson S, Verbruggen N, Meerts P, Faucon MP (2018) Variation in copper and cobalt tolerance and accumulation among six populations of the facultative metallophyte Anisopappus chinensis (Asteraceae). Environ Exp Bot 153:1–9
Leteinturier B (2002) Evaluation du potentiel phytocénotique des gisements cuprifères d’Afrique centro-australe en vue de la phytoremédiation de sites pollués par l’activité minière. PhD thesis, Faculté des Sciences agronomiques de Gembloux, Belgium, 361 p
Li L, Tilman D, Lambers H, Zhang FS (2014) Plant diversity and overyielding: insights from belowground facilitation of intercropping in agriculture. New Phytol 203:63–69
Lynch J-P (2011) Root phenes for enhanced soil exploration and phosphorus acquisition: tools for future crops. Plant Physiol 156:1041–1049
Malaisse F, Schaijes M, D’Outreligne C (2016) Copper-cobalt flora of Upper Katanga and Copperbelt. Field guide. Over 400 plants, 1000 photographs and 500 drawings. Presses agronomiques de Gembloux, 422 p
Malik M, Chaney RL, Brewer EP, Li YM, Angle JS (2000) Phytoextraction of soil cobalt using hyperaccumulator plants. Int J Phytoremediation 2:319–329
Morrison RS, Brooks RR, Reeves RD, Malaisse F, Horowitz P, Aronson M, Merriam GR (1981) The diverse chemical forms of heavy metals in tissue extracts of some metallophytes from Shaba province, Zaïre. Phytochem 20:455–458
Pourret O, Faucon M-P (2018) Cobalt. In: White WM (ed) Encyclopedia of geochemistry: a comprehensive reference source on the chemistry of the earth. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 291–294
Pourret O, Lange B, Bonhoure J, Colinet G, Decrée S, Mahy G, Séleck M, Shutcha M, Faucon M-P (2016) Assessment of soil metal distribution and environmental impact of mining in Katanga (Democratic Republic of Congo). Appl Geochem 64:43–55
Reeves RD, Baker AJM (2000) Metal-accumulating plants. In: Raskin I, Ensley BD (eds) Phytoremediation of toxic metals. Wiley, NY, pp 193–221
Slack JF, Kimball BE, Shedd KB (2017) Cobalt. In: Schulz KJ, DeYoung JH Jr, Seal RR II, Bradley DC (eds) Critical mineral resources of the United States—economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply. US geol survey prof paper 1802–F, pp F1–F40, https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1802F
Squadrone S, Burioli E, Monaco G, Koya MK, Prearo M, Gennero S, Dominici A, Abete MC (2016) Human exposure to metals due to consumption of fish from an artificial lake basin close to an active mining area in Katanga (DR Congo). Sci Total Environ 568:679–684
USGS (2020) Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019 https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2020/mcs2020.pdf
van der Ent A, Baker AJM, Reeves RD, Chaney RL, Anderson CWN, Meech JA, Erskine PD, Simonnot M-O, Vaughan J, Morel JL, Echevarria G, Fogliani B, Qiu R-L, Mulligan DR (2015) Agromining: farming for metals in the future? Environ Sci Technol 49:4773–4780
Violle C, Navas ML, Vile D, Kazakou E, Fortunel C, Hummel I, Garnier E (2007). Let the concept of trait be functional!. Oikos 116:882–892
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Faucon, MP., Pourret, O., Lange, B. (2021). Element Case Studies: Cobalt. In: van der Ent, A., Baker, A.J., Echevarria, G., Simonnot, MO., Morel, J.L. (eds) Agromining: Farming for Metals. Mineral Resource Reviews. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58904-2_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58904-2_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-58903-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-58904-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)