Microbial communities in low permeability, high pH uranium mine tailings: characterization and potential effects

Aims To describe the diversity and metabolic potential of microbial communities in uranium mine tailings characterized by high pH, high metal concentration and low permeability. Methods and Results To assess microbial diversity and their potential to influence the geochemistry of uranium mine tailings using aerobic and anaerobic culture‐based methods, in conjunction with next generation sequencing and clone library sequencing targeting two universal bacterial markers (the 16S rRNA and cpn60 genes). Growth assays revealed that 69% of the 59 distinct culturable isolates evaluated were multiple‐metal resistant, with 15% exhibiting dual‐metal hypertolerance. There was a moderately positive correlation coefficient (R = 0·43, P