Extracting metal with plants

We enhance plants' natural biology to renewably mine nickel.

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Nickel and other metals are critical to electrification, but mining them is slow and dirty.

4-7% of total GHG

One of the most polluting industries

The current target of GHG reduction published by mining companies range from 0 to 30 percent by 2030, far below the Paris Agreement goals.

15+ years backyard

Long term environmental degradation

Digging up an underground or open-pit nickel mine can take up to 15 years just to become operational. After a few years of resource extraction, it can take 10+ years to close the mine and many decades more to remediate it.

6x metal demand

Unable to match future metal needs

Hitting the 2040 goals set out by the Paris Agreement will require 6x today's global metal output. IAE forecast a 19x nickel demand increase.

At Genomines, we recover metals from plants.

1. Enhance plants' natural biology.

We use synthetic biology to improve these plants' ability to efficiently and economically extract metals while remediating land along the way.

2. Identify metal-rich fields and mine tailings.

We identify soils with nickel concentrations that cannot be economically extracted using traditional mining methods. These include mine tailings as well as fields with toxic levels of nickel and other heavy metals.

3. Plant and harvest hyperaccumulators.

We optimise plant growth by enhancing the microbiome, allowing harvest in only a few months, with limited use of synthetic fertilizer.

4. Recover metal from biomass.

We recover metal from biomass by combining different techniques, including bioleaching, to form prescursors. Our downstream processing aims to achieve carbon neutrality.

Don't believe it's that simple?

Well, you are right. For more details, feel free to reach out!

Our partners talk about us

Matt Clifford, Co-founder & Chief Executive Entrepreneur First - EF

Genomines represents everything we love in an early stage company: two brilliant founders, a huge and inspiring mission and world-leading technology. We feel lucky to have been investors from the very beginning

Nicolas Douay, Venture Partner
‍Entrepreneur First - EF

Genomines and its founding team has the most ambitious vision and promising technology to revolutionize the mining industry and significantly decrease its impact on the environment

Michel Bonnemaison, World Class Expert
INRA

The energy transition requires an unprecedented increase in the production capacity of critical metals and the discovery of new deposits, the commissioning of which will take many years.

Interested in a collaboration?

And you’re damn right! Contact us here.