Abstract
Domiasiat (25°30′N 91°30′E) located in the west Khasi hill district of Meghalaya in northeast India is one of the largest sandstone-type uranium (U) ore deposit in India containing 9.22 million tonnes of ore reserves with an average ore grade of around 0.1 % U3O8. This geographically distinct U deposit of Domiasiat is un-mined and harbours diverse group of bacteria surviving the stressful environmental conditions prevalent in the ore deposit. Studies show that the diverse bacteria belonged to 10 different bacterial groups with occurrence of some previously uncharacterized bacteria. The cultured identified bacteria have been reported to tolerate substantial concentration of U and other metals and showed potent capacity for uptake and precipitation of U. Studying the bacterial community associated with such pre-mined U ore deposit are advantageous as it not only generates the baseline information on microbial community structure as resourceful indicator to estimate the impact of mining to be undertaken in future but also identifies the bacteria which can be explored for their potential as bioremediation agents for radionuclide/multi-metal waste sites.
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