TRANSFER OF RESULTS OF THE MAECI MINCYT PROJECT TO AREAS IMPACTED WITH HEAVY METALS FROM VOLCANISM

MAECI-MINCyT project entitled Integrated multidisciplinary approach for the identification and recovery of raw materials from mining waste, by remote sensing, AR21MO03-2019-Call-VIII-Executive-Program for Scientific Cooperation between the Argentine Republic and the Italian Republic, yielded interesting results in terms of detection of areas impacted by mining through satellite images and their management through mycorrhizal-assisted phytoremediation (MAP) with the subsequent recovery of raw materials from the biomass through hydrometallurgy. Some of the results allowed us to identify MAP capable of increasing phytostabilization, hyperaccumulating and reducing translocation to flower, all within the framework of an engineering design that allows scaling the technology to the territory for the recovery of critical and secondary raw materials in a circular economy context. As part of the transfer actions, talks and seminars were held in secondary schools and universities. Another of the results allowed us to identify native mining plant species (Senecio subulatus and Baccharis salicifolia), that, in symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi from impacted soils, manage to hyperaccumulate cadmium (Cd) in its biomass to values well above the average recorded in the bibliography. This result was transferred to the Fontagro-ATN/RF-18951-RG project entitled Bioprocess to reduce the solubility of rhizospheric Cd with the participation of Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina and Spain, in which it is intended to provide a technological solution capable of reducing the concentration of Cd in cocoa beans due that the EU regulations (2019) establish a maximum limit of 0.8 mg kg-1DM. The cadmium found in the aforementioned Latin-American region comes mainly from volcanism, for this reason, we propose the application of Remote sensing (spectral maps) /MAP/hydrometallurgy already tested in Paramillos (Argentina) and Montevecchio (Italy) mining areas in the cocoa-growing areas of Ecuador. Finally, we propose the extrapolation to other areas impacted by metal(loids), whether it comes from volcanism, extractive activities or fertilizers (agricultural) of Italy.