Biomining is a biotechnological approach where microorganisms are used to recover metals from ores and waste materials. While biomining applications are motivated by critical issues related to the climate crisis ( e.g. , habitat destruction due to mine effluent pollution, metal supply chains, increasing demands for cleantech-critical metals), its drawbacks hinder its widespread commercial applications: lengthy processing times, low recovery, and metal selectivity. Advances in synthetic biology provide an opportunity to engineer iron/sulfur-oxidizing microbes to address these limitations. In this forum, we review recent progress in synthetic biology-enhanced biomining with iron/sulfur-oxidizing microbes and delineate future research avenues.