Microbes have genetically-determined metabolism for most elements in the chemical Periodic Table that affect BioMining processes, both those required for growth and bio-extraction and those for resistances to toxic inorganic forms. The genes for arsenic and for silver afford just two examples.  Microbes cope with  inorganic arsenic by enzymatic transformations including reduction from As(V) to As(III) and oxidation of As(III) to As(V). Both processes confer resistance. In addition, microbes methylate inorganic arsenic and other microbial enzymes digest organoarsenicals to inorganic arsenic. Intracellular arsenate reductases are small monomeric proteins that use cysteine thiol cascades for reduction. Cell-surface arsenate reductase and arsenite oxidase are larger dimeric proteins with Mo-pterin cofactors and [Fe-S] cages, and are connected for electron transport to membrane respiratory chains. Surprisingly, each class of arsenic proteins appears to have evolved more than once by convergent evolution. The genes (and proteins) involved in bacterial resistance to Ag have been defined only recently in enterobacteriaceae.  Nine genes are involved: in addition to two regulatory genes, these encode two periplasmic Ag+-binding proteins and two transmembrane efflux pumps (one an ATPase and the other membrane-potential linked). Structural information is available on the small periplasmic binding proteins.  Silver products are currently of widespread commercial use, for example as antimicrobials on wounds from burns, trauma and diabetic ulcers, although frequently unfamiliar.