Pioneer Studies on Metagenomic Evaluation of Diversity of Microbial Community in Banded Iron Formation (BIF) from Iron Ore Mining Belt of Goa, India

Abstract Goa is situated in the northwestern part of the Western Dharwar Craton (WDC) which is Asia’s major metallogenic province. The iron ore of Goa is associated with greenstone and occurs as bands, reefs, and lenses of Banded Hematite Quartzite (BHQ) and Banded Magnetite Quartzite (BMQ) none of these are explored for geo-microbiological dimensions, such as detection of microbioform Gold. The presence of metalliferous WDC in Goa affords sampling of auriferous materials from mining area having hitherto BHQ at latitude 15°29′54″ N and longitude 74° 03′44″ E) and BMQ at latitude 15°24′12″ N and longitude 74° 09′31″ E were collected, surface sterilized and drilled with a sterile driller to get the endolithic material under sterile conditions and sent for metagenomic analysis using Oxford nanopore sequencing. Both the samples showed the presence of microorganisms with Archea, such as Haloferax, Nitrososphaera, and Eubacteria, i.e., Bacillus, Ralstonia, Cupriavidus, Burkholderia, and Acetobacter. The traditional model of Banded Iron Deposition assumes precipitation by the oxidation of hydrothermal Fe (II), either via abiotic oxidation or biotic oxidation through chemo lithotrophic Eubacteria, such as cyanobacteria which produce oxygen. This paper reports the diversity and the presumptive role of these microorganisms in the biogeochemical cycling of metals, such as Fe, Mn, and gold (Au).