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The objective of this work was to identify hyperaccumulator plants and evaluate their capacity on copper mine tailings in the Antofagasta Region (Chile), considered one of the most arid in the world.

Two native plant species, Gazania rigens and Pelargonium hortorum, were grown during 11 weeks on mine tailings. The physico-chemical characterization of the mine tailings under study indicated that the substrate required conditioning to support a phytoremediation system. In this respect, organic and inorganic amendments and mycorrizhal fungi were added to the substrate. Three treatments were designed to assess the effects of the amendments through an analysis of variance.

Indicators of plant growth and development were measured weekly, and concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Al, and Zn in roots of tailing-grown plants and substrate were measured at the end of the experiment.

The results were used to determine the bioconcentration factor (BCF), which demonstrated that both species act as excluders of Fe, Mn, Pb, Al, and Zn. In addition, it was found that both species present characteristics of potential accumulators of Cu.