using bacillus cereus as a geo-biological marker for gold prospecting in iran

Abstract

Several methods have been developed for gold exploration in the past, among which biological base method is known to be the most efficient with least expenses. This method can also be used for latent gold prospects exploration. In the present study, the possibility of applying Bacillus cereus frequency in soil as a biological marker was investigated for the exploration of latent gold prospecting in Iran. The study was performed on three gold sources in Iran known as Moteh, Zarmehr and Mahallat, however, the major focus was on Mahallat gold reserve. The results of bacterial cultivation showed that no bacteria have been isolated in samples taken from Moteh soil. On the other hand, the presence of bacteria was observed in cultural media which were prepared from the collected samples from Zarmehr and Mahallat.In Mahallat gold reserve the frequency of bacteria was noticeable, particularly in the soils with in-situ fine-grained. In addition, it was seen that when the gold grad increases the bacterial frequency of Bacillus cereus will also increase. Finally, a linear correlation was developed between bacterial frequency and the gold semi-quantified grad. Using this correlation the monitoring of semi-quantified gold grad can be undertaken.