Biomining

One method of extracting minerals from the earth is to dig them up and purify them yourself. Another is to cultivate a variety of fungi, plants, & friends which deliver them to you. This latter method is known as biomining, and is in the Borld a very common way of both extracting and processing minerals. Where our biomining is a relatively new technology, the Bep & others have been doing it for many thousands of years, cultivating numerous species to bioaccumulate desired elements, alongside the occasional purification or chemical processing. Biomining has for a long time allowed the Bep reliable streams of stuff from below without the need for high-grade ore or the extensive personnel needed for manual- and mechanical mining operations.

While techniques and technology vary greatly, perhaps the most impressive feat of Bep biomining is the successful development of fungi which deposit their findings in external structures, typically modified fruiting bodies. A notable example is the $$$$NAME$$$$, an early cultivar used to mine lead, derived from a species that concentrated various heavy metals in its mushrooms as a defence. Nowadays, the Bep usually apply biomining to low-grade ores to poorly suited areas or to shafts/residue remaining from mechanical mining operations. For most of history, however, extraction of most substances was done almost entirely by biomining, even with pure ores available, to avoid the adverse effects found to affect miners.

Many terms in mining are coined relating to fungi to this day; cf. mine labourers' title being "$$$$WORD$$$$", also the name of a zinciferous fungus' fruiting body.

Terminology?

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