RESEARCH conducted by a young scientist at a historic North Wales copper mine could help combat pollution at pits world-wide. Using new DNA techniques, Chris Bryan, of Bangor university's school of biological sciences, is studying microbes thriving in the acid wastes of the Bronze Age mines at Parys Mountain, Anglesey. His findings will be compared with research from mines in the United States and Portugal. The 25-year-old has even discovered new micro-organisms in the highly acidic copper mines. Millions of gallons of acidic water were last year pumped out of Parys Mountain, near Amlwch, which has not been mined fully for two centuries. The Environment Agency warned of increased pollution in streams and rivers fed by the mountain. "Drainage from active and disused mine sites present one of the largest pollution problems in the world," said mineral microbiologist Chris. "It is not the exposed mineral in itself that causes pollution to the areas surrounding a mine, as the minerals are insoluble. The pollution is caused by 'specialist' microbes that thrive in these areas. "They gain their energy from digesting the minerals, dissolving the metals into a sulphuric acid solution. "It is this solution, if it escapes into the surrounding water courses, that causes pollution. "My research involves using new DNA techniques and applying molecular biology to the natural environment, assessing the changes in these populations of microbes over time. "What I've discovered so far suggests the mine may begin to return to a more natural state, finding organisms more related to those you'd expect to find in ordinary soil. "However, even after hundreds of years it's not somewhere you could plant your roses." Barrie Johnson, Chris's PhD supervisor, said: "There are two benefits to this type of research. Knowing your enemy helps in the prevention or clean-up of pollution from copper mines. "While in some areas of the world, these microbes are actually used to extract the last vestiges of copper ore out of the rock or slag." At its peak in the 1700s, Mynydd Parys, was the most important copper mine in the world. | 
