So they turn Au.Cl into pure gold. Pretty sure (if I remember my high school chemistry) that if you throw in a chunk of aluminium, gold (pure) will be precipitated out of solution. Simply a transfer of electrons from the more reactive metal to the lesser reactive. Not sure why this is so ground breaking ?
Bio concentration is the cool bit. Feed the bacteria dirt containing minute particles of gold, get concentrated pure gold. You get your refining and mining done at the same time. Discover new areas of gold containing soil and just grow more bacteria, it's not like you are paying them a wage. Run out of gold bearing soil? Just let your bacterial workforce starve to death. No need to fly your workforce in and out of remote locations, just grow them on site. The ocean is full of gold, just set up a few pods of bacteria and let the water pass through the pod and collect the gold from the seawater, easy money. No need to manufacture sacrifical aluminium, no need to dispose of Aluminium Chloride waste, no need to build mineshafts big enough for people to get down. Plenty of reasons why this is interesting.
This is absolutely nothing new - everything the Russians & ex-Eastern Bloc have touched since the Wall came down consistently turns to concentrated shit. x
