Garcés Molina, Adelaida MaríaAgudelo Betancur, Lina MarcelaMacías Mazo, Karina IsabelSalinas Alzate, Natalia Andrea2012-06-072012-06-0720061794-4449http://hdl.handle.net/10567/424Introduction. Cyanide is used in the mining industry to recover gold, in the shape of a solution, from mother material. This compound is highly toxic and generates great environmental problems, therefore several physical and chemical technologies have been developed to solve them. Materials and methods. Three microogranisms´ consortiums were isolated from soils coming from gold mines in the municiple of Amalfi, Antioquia, where the gold extraction is made with mercuriy. o select the most efficient microorganisms the consortiums were cultivated in nutritive broth, increasing the potasium cyanide concentration from 2x10-4 ppm to 2000 ppm. All the process was made under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Later, the nutritive broth was replaced, step by step, with minimum mineral medium, with 2000 ppm of potasium cyanide as a source of carbon and nitrogen. All the cultivation mediums were prepared at a pH value of 7. During this last stage, the consumed cyanide was quantified with a cyanide selective ion electrode. Results. During the development of this work consortiums of microorganisms were isolated from soils coming from mining zones, and their efficiency for the degradation of potasium cyanide was determined. Conclusion: The biological degradation can be a better alternative to eliminate this contaminant.esBiodegradaciónCorporación Universitaria LasallistaMineríaOro - ProducciónContaminaciónContaminación del sueloCianuroMicroorganismos degradadores de cianuroContaminación por cianuroArticle