“At Genomines, we integrate the latest advancements in biotechnology and chemistry to create a sustainable method for producing nickel, leveraging the natural ability of hyperaccumulator plants to extract metals from the soil. By genetically enhancing these plants (non-GMO) and developing a targeted soil microbiome, we significantly boost their nickel absorption capacity. Genomines’ innovative solution allows us to produce nickel through a net-carbon-neutral process that is both cheaper and more sustainable than conventional mining practices. While we have started with nickel specifically, our overarching mission is to accelerate the green transition by providing a reliable supply of other cheap and clean battery-grade metals.”

--Fabien Koutchekian, Co-Founder & CEO Genomines

Interview with Fabien Koutchekian

By Suzanne Forcese

WT: Please tell us about the journey that brought you and Dr. Rashid to found Genomines.

Koutchekian: I hold dual master’s degrees in political sciences and mining engineering from Sciences Po Paris and École des Mines d’Alès. I have experience as a strategy consultant with an extensive network in the mining world.

Natural resources are a passion of mine. It is important to understand that everything around us has either been cultivated or extracted from the earth, making the mining industry the basis of almost all production.

From the bronze age to the battery age our civilizations have been shaped by our ability to extract materials from the earth. When biology meets technology we can rethink how we mine.

Having a positive impact on the mining sector is essential to create beneficial repercussions throughout the entire value chain of the ecological transition.

Dr. Rashid’s work sits at the intersection of synthetic biology, genome engineering and systems design. Together we founded Genomines where we’re building a new class of technologies to unlock the potential of hyperaccumulator plants for sustainable metal extraction and carbon capture, all aimed at creating scalable, real-world impact from cutting-edge science.

We are currently based in France and South Africa.

WT: What are hyperaccumulators?

Koutchekian: Dr.Rashid had been working with Asteraceae (a family of plants which includes daisies) an unusual group known as hyperaccumulators. These species soak up metals from their roots and store them at exceptionally high concentrations in their tissues, a capacity that probably evolved as a defense mechanism against herbivores and pathogens.

WT: Describe how your mining process works.

Koutchekian: 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. Agro-mining is the science where specific kinds of plants called hyperaccumulator plants have the capacity to bring up heavy metals from the soil concentrating them around the roots and then above ground in vacuoles in the leaf cells

Of the 750 known hyperaccumulator species, most can thrive in fields with otherwise toxic levels of copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements.

Our plants are perennials that last up to 15 years before the need to re-plant. We optimize plant growth by enhancing the microbiome, allowing harvest in only a few months, with limited use of synthetic fertilizer.

Harvest happens after six months in a typical agricultural process. We recover metal from biomass by combining different techniques, including bioleaching to form precursors. We are extracting up to 2.5 Tonnes of nickel per hectare per year. Our downstream processing aims to achieve carbon neutrality.

Not only does this process yield nickel, but by extracting the metal, the plants also remediate the land.

Researchers have previously extracted nickel from hyperaccumulator plants by burning or dissolving them in sulfuric acid. Genomines uses a patent pending method that heats in the absence of oxygen and thus avoids emitting CO2. At one point in the industry, plants were incinerated, releasing the carbon into the environment, which is counter to what we are doing. What you end up with is a concentrated biochar instead of ash because the carbon is still retained.

And we have managed to achieve battery grade nickel.

WT: Mining critical metals is slow and dirty producing 4-7% of total GHGs; taking up to 15 years to become operational plus another 10+ years to close and remediate a mining site. Yet the demand for critical metals set by the Paris Agreement (for 2040) is 6X today’s total global metal output.

How are your results an improvement on traditional methods?

Koutchekian: Today we are capable of going from 1 plant to 95 million plants and with that we can cover hundreds of thousands of hectares per year. It’s a scalable business.

Genomines can be cleaner quicker cheaper than the conventional industry. We can operationalize a farm in 1-2 years. What we can do with our technology is make the supply chain more resilient by producing in many different countries. Second, we are producing at a cost that is lower than the rest of the industry. The industry median is around $16,000 per Tonne expected to degrade expected to degrade to $19,000 by 2030, while we target to produce at $10,000 –$11,000 per Tonne. Our capex intensity is significantly discounted. In regard to the industry we believe we could be 40-50% below the capex intensity of the current mining industry.

WT: Tell us more about your operations and where you are located.

Koutchekian: Genomines clones the plants which are sterile, so they can be exported internationally. Our growing operations are in facilities in France. We then export the plants to South Africa at eight weeks old, when they weigh one gram. They are then planted in Genomines’ fields in South Africa. By 2030, GenoMines aims to produce 150,000 Tonnes of bio-nickel per year, which could provide batteries for up to three million electric cars.

WT: Since the inception of Genomines in 2021 there have been a plethora of awards recognizing your revolutionary start-up – more than we can list here. Within the past two years there have been several prestigious recognitions including Uplink Top Innovator; Global Clean Technology Innovators’ GreenMaterials Solution Award 2025; and interestingly Grand Prix ACF AutoTech. Please tell us about this last award.

Koutchekian: Grand Prix ACF AutoTech Award 2024 is not only a testament to our innovative spirit and dedication but also a beacon of the future for agromining and the automotive tech space.

Genomines is proud to be featured in the latest issue of Ingénieurs de l’Auto, the magazine of the Société des Ingénieurs de l'Automobile, as a rising talent in sustainable metal extraction.

The article highlights Genomines’ mission to transform critical mineral sourcing for the automotive sector. Through agromining, our plant-based technology not only supplies high-quality nickel, but it also reduces carbon emissions of battery supply chains and can restore degraded land.

The automotive industry is accelerating toward decarbonization, and Genomines will be by its side with our clean, scalable supply chain that aligns environmental responsibility with industrial performance.

WT: Moving forward...what is your vision?

Koutchekian: The vision excites me. We are proving that we can be competitive with the current industry. The fact that with what we have today we can actually change how the world is mining metals. The fact that we can do this with a plant and basically overcome an entire ancient industry is crazy.