There is an increasing interest in the study of fungi that inhabit extreme environments that can provide new biotechnological applications in treating contaminated land.
Fungi are versatile biosorbents as they can tolerate extreme levels of metal concentration, nutrient availability, pH and temperature (Gadd, 2009).
In this work, heavy metals contaminated soil was collected from Geevor Tin Mine in Penzance, Cornwall. Arsenic and antimony were found in high concentration of 18970 ± 227.0 mg/kg and 196.57 ± 1.91 mg/kg respectively in an extremely acidic soil pH of 1.13.
Acidomyces acidophilus strain shows promise in tolerating elevated levels of As (>20,000 mg/L) and Sb (>300 mg/L)
