Phytomining, sometimes called agromining,[1] is the concept of extracting heavy metals from the soil using plants.
[3] The approach exploits the existence of hyperaccumulators, proteins or compounds secreted by plants to bind certain metal ions.
[4] A 2021 review concluded that the commercial viability of phytomining was "limited"[1] because it is a slow and inefficient process.
[5] They, as well as Jay Scott Angle and Yin-Ming Li, filed a patent on the process in 1995 which expired in 2015.
[2] Phytomining could also remove low-grade heavy metals from mine waste.