Uses synthetic biology to enhance hyperaccumulator plants' ability to extract nickel and other metals from contaminated soils and mine tailings, enabling sustainable metal recovery in months with minimal synthetic fertilizers. This method addresses the environmental and operational challenges of traditional mining, which is slow, carbon-intensive, and often leaves land degraded for decades.
Funding
$5.1M raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
Founders
Product
Problem
Traditional mining methods for nickel and other metals are environmentally damaging, carbon-intensive, and slow, often requiring extensive land degradation and long operational timelines. Meeting the increasing demand for these metals, crucial for electrification, exacerbates these issues.
Solution
Genomines employs synthetic biology to enhance the ability of hyperaccumulator plants to extract nickel and other valuable metals from contaminated soils and mine tailings. This phytomining approach offers a sustainable alternative to conventional mining, enabling metal recovery in a few months with minimal use of synthetic fertilizers and reduced environmental impact. By optimizing plant growth through microbiome enhancement, Genomines facilitates efficient and economical metal extraction while simultaneously remediating polluted land. The recovered metal is extracted from the plant biomass using techniques such as bioleaching, with a focus on achieving carbon neutrality in downstream processing.
Target Audience
The primary target audience includes companies seeking sustainable metal sourcing, environmental remediation firms, and industries requiring nickel and other metals for electrification and battery production.
Features
- Enhanced hyperaccumulator plants with improved metal extraction capabilities through synthetic biology
- Identification of metal-rich fields and mine tailings unsuitable for traditional mining
- Optimized plant growth via microbiome enhancement, enabling rapid harvesting cycles
- Metal recovery from biomass using bioleaching and other carbon-neutral downstream processing techniques