Why EV makers are backing a startup that mines metals with daisies

In the rolling grasslands of South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, a field of genetically enhanced daisies is quietly pulling critical metals from the soil – and catching the attention of some of the world’s top investors and automakers.

The plants to French startup Genomines which recently secured €45m from investors including Engine Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, and Teampact Ventures to scale its ‘phytomining' technology.

Also on Genomines' cap table is Hyundai. Alongside an investment, the South Korean car giant is running an active pilot with the startup.

Fabien Koutchekian, CEO and co-founder of Genomines, tells Impact Loop the company is also running tests with Landrover-Jaguar and one of the world's largest automakers, which he refused to disclose.

“Car companies are trying to secure new nickel sources very early on,” he says.

Nickel is a critical component in EV batteries, but supply of the metal is largely concentrated to mines in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Russia. The metal is actually very abundant in the Earth’s crust, but it is hard to find in high concentrations. Plants could change that.

“The implication, if we succeed, is that automakers will have access to a lot of metal that previously was unreachable by the traditional mining industry,” says Koutchekian.

Genomines tap plants called hyperaccumulators, which naturally absorb metals like nickel, even from soil too poor for traditional mining. The company has genetically engineered a South African daisy to grow three times bigger and pull up even more metal. After harvesting, the plants are burned, and the nickel is extracted from the ash.

Phytomining is designed to unlock new sources of critical metals without the need for expensive open-pit mines. The process is also billed to be carbon neutral, because the plants absorb CO2 when they grow. They also draw nutrients into soil that is otherwise too toxic for most crops to survive. And there enters another potential benefit: overtime, the daisies will slowly deplete the land of nickel and other metals. Once the phytomine eventually closes down it could open up new land to farming.

It’s not the sustainability claims that have automakers circling, though, says Koutchekian. The founder estimates the nickel it produces will be over 30% cheaper than mined nickel – once it reaches economies of scale.

Backing metal-sucking plants also holds promise from a supply chain security perspective. While nickel extraction using plants isn’t particularly viable in Europe, due to the underlying geography, Koutchekian says there are dozens of countries – including South Africa – where it is. That could diversify the sources in case one market closes off.

"Today, Europe and the US are very dependent on Asia for their nickel production, which is putting them at risk," he says. “But if you’re dependent on 15, 20, 30 countries, actually you’re dependent on no one."

Genomines is currently expanding its farm in South Africa to prove the technology – and produce more nickel. It is already shipping small quantities of the metal to automakers and mining companies.