Nickel is targeted for absorption by special organic acids excreted by the plant’s root system. These acids bind the metal ions into chemical structures that are transported throughout the plants tissue and eventually deposited in the above-ground biomass.

Metal can’t be stored anywhere as it’s toxic – so to keep it away from sensitive machinery, the plant stores the metal in its vacuoles, i.e. big empty storage tanks inside plant cells, that allows it to safely house high levels of nickel content.

High-levels of nickel concentration are toxic to nearly all living organisms and can cause fatality at high-doses. The plant evolved this superpower of safe metal storage to ward off wild predators.

Our lines are developed through non-targeted mutagenesis, meaning we do not insert foreign DNA or do selective point mutations. The plants do not meet the EU definition of a GMO.

Our enhancement process induces sterility in our plants to make sure that uncontrolled spread is biologically impossible. We control where the plant grows by controlling whether it can reproduce at all.

Selected bacteria secrete organic acids and chelating compounds that mobilize nickel ions otherwise trapped in the soil mineral matrix. The microbiome expands the surface of available metal that the plant can actually reach.

The microbial consortium supplies nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients to the plant in exchange for carbon. Our fields run with less synthetic fertilizer inputs than conventional agriculture depends on.

The consortium defends the plant against pathogens specific to each operating soil. The plant arrives in a new geography with a robust biological immune system already deployed around its roots.

The consortium is optimized for each operating soil. By adjusting consortia make-up, we add an adaptive layer to our technology that allows a single enhanced line to operate productively across multiple soils and continents.

Consistent plant microstructures and organic bonds lowers energy and material requirements necessary to isolate pure metal content, resulting in a more predictable and cheaper processing flowsheet.

The plant acts as a natural filter for other metals and elements contained in the soil, removing an additional processing step necessary for traditional ore bodies.

Process byproducts (syngas, electricity) can be recycled back into the production chain, enabling net-positive energy production and a carbon-neutral footprint.