The mining industry, long reliant on heavy machinery and environmentally harmful chemical processes, is undergoing a quiet revolution, powered not by drills or dynamite, but by genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
These organisms can reduce waste, minimizing the environmental impact in a traditionally pollution-intensive industry. From dissolving unwanted impurities to selectively binding valuable minerals, making them available for extraction, GMOs are paving the way for cleaner, smarter, and more efficient mining practices.
Synthetic biology, the science of genetic engineering, is emerging as a game-changer in mining. By leveraging the abilities of certain organisms, like plants or microbes, to extract minerals from unprocessed ore, synthetic biology holds the potential to upend the mining industry with sustainable solutions for extracting metals.
Why does the world need Biomining ?
While biomining has been around for over 60 years, with more than 20% of the world’s copper extracted using microbes or bioleaching, associated technologies have been evolving rapidly of late. The ability to extract metals from low-grade deposits in a cost-effective manner is a much needed solution to meet the rising demand for critical minerals, required for electrification, renewable energy and other high tech sectors. According to the IEA Global Minerals Outlook 2025:
- Copper will face a shortage of 30% by 2035
- Nickel will face a shortage of 15% post 2030
- Cobalt surplus declines post 2030
- Geographic concentration of rare earth mining and refining poses risks to supply security
With new mines taking an average of 17 years to progress from discovery to production, the mining and metals industry needs to transform urgently to meet the future requirements of an evolving global economy, while addressing climate change and geopolitical disruptions. Biomining has thus emerged as a viable solution for forecasted critical minerals supply shortage and current rare earths supply concentration.
How does Biomining work?
Biomining involves the use of living organisms to extract metals from the earth. Biomining could involve the practice of phytomining, biometallurgy, or both.
Phytomining is the practice of using genetically modified plants grown on metal-rich growth media, such as mine tailings or metal-rich soil commonly found at mining sites, to extract metals. Through their roots, these plants absorb metal ions in the soil and store the desired metals in their tissue. Depending on the metal to be recovered, different species of hyperaccumulator plants are required. For some elements, such as nickel and zinc, hyperaccumulator plants have been documented and verified to be effective. Still, for other elements, such as palladium, effective hyperaccumulator species have yet to be verified.
After these plants have absorbed the desired elements into their tissues, they are harvested like crops and burned. Subsequently, the metal-rich ashes are treated to recover the concentrated metals, through methods such as pyrometallurgy or hydrometallurgy.
Pyrometallurgy involves smelting at extremely high temperatures, whereas hydrometallurgy often necessitates the use of toxic chemicals, such as cyanide and mercury, to extract metals from ores. These methods are commonly more environmentally harmful due to their energy-intensive nature or toxic runoff.
Over the last ten years, however, a new approach, biometallurgy, has gained popularity for recovering metals. Biometallurgy is the practice of using genetically modified organisms, such as microbes, fungi, or yeasts, to absorb metals from the metal-rich ash through natural processes, offering a more sustainable method for mines to operate.
Biometallurgy encompasses two main fields:
- Bioleaching – for recovering metals from ores
- Heap leaching and slope leaching involve microorganisms on sorted ore
- In-situ leaching treats the ore in its original location
- Bioremediation – for removing or detoxifying metals from contaminated environments
- In-situ – microorganisms used at the location
- Ex-situ – microorganisms used away from the location.
Together, the practices of phytomining and biometallurgy represent a new paradigm in the way mines operate. Shifting from environmentally harmful processes to a more sustainable form of resource recovery, biomining offers a way for the mining industry to meet global energy needs while remaining committed to sustainability goals.
“Synthetic biology is one of the more interesting technologies on the market today in sustainable mining. Previously, metal extraction required large amounts of energy and reagents that were often environmentally harmful. Now, with synthetic biology, we can now conduct metal extraction with lesser energy and reagent inputs from primary, secondary, and tertiary feedstock. We can also perform bio-remediation of waste streams, turning what was once a liability into an additional revenue source.”
-Dr. Sundar Singh, Technology Advisor, Prospect Innovation
What are some limitations of phytomining, and how can they be overcome?
Phytomining faces several limitations that affect its economic feasibility and practical application. A significant limitation is that it is a slow process, as it depends on plant growth to yield metal extracts. This reliance on growing conditions, such as climate and soil quality, makes phytomining subject to the forces of nature, unlike traditional mining methods.
Additionally, metal hyperaccumulator plants often exhibit low biomass and limited survival in harsh environments, such as those found in minefields. The economic viability of phytomining can also be challenging, even in areas with elevated soil concentrations of valuable elements.
The core challenge in advancing phytomining lies in simultaneously increasing two critical yet opposing traits: plant biomass and metal accumulation capacity. Modern genetic engineering allows scientists a powerful tool to improve both traits simultaneously. By developing high-yield, resilient phytomining crops through biotechnology, the metal output per hectare can be significantly increased, generating improved returns on investment.
Another technique being looked at is the modification of the soil microbiome to help the plants extract more metals from the soil, by decreasing the toxic stress such metals have on the plants, along with increasing the plant’s ability to absorb metals from the soil. Scientists are discovering that these microbial partners can play a crucial role in boosting a plant’s ability to extract, tolerate, and accumulate metals from contaminated or metal-rich soils.
Together, these techniques can increase the efficiency of phytomining and allow more mining companies to adopt a more sustainable approach to metal extraction.
Spotlight: Genomines
The Problem:
Traditionally, mining is slow, dirty and insufficient to meet global demand. Around 4–7 % of total GHG emissions come from mining, while it takes around 15 years to set up a mine, with demand expected to increase drastically in the next two decades.
The Solution:
Genomines, headquartered in Paris, France, was founded in 2021 by Dr. Dali Rashid and Fabien Koutchekian, and focuses on sustainable metal extraction using genetically enhanced plants.
Using genetic modification , Genomines develops hyperaccumulator plants that are able to absorb nickel from contaminated soil at mining sites, which then concentrate the nickel in their tissues.
These plants will then be harvested through bioleaching and the nickel extracted, turning what used to be a liability for mining companies into a profitable, low-carbon source of nickel while simultaneously cleaning the contaminated land.
🔹 Impact snapshot: Up to 2.5 tonnes of nickel per hectare per year can be extracted from toxic mine soil, along with remediating the land.
Prospect Innovation is proud to have supported Genomines during the 2021 cohort of the Sustainable Mining Challenge, in partnership with Uplink-World Economic Forum, where we served as the main sponsor of the series.
-Vivek Salgaocar, Founder, Prospect Innovation
What commercial benefits does biomining have over existing methods?
The adoption of GMOs offers companies more than just the opportunity to reduce a mine’s environmental impact. Synthetic biology also helps mining companies reduce costs by providing a cost-effective solution that enables them to comply with ESG guidelines more easily.
By leveraging natural processes, which are often harmed by conventional mining, synthetic biology offers an elegant solution for companies seeking to reduce their environmental impact and costs. These companies can use synthetic biological methods at numerous points in their process chain to extract more critical minerals, remediate soil at their mines, and sustainably treat waste runoff.
Dr Singh predicts: “In the future, with genetic modification technology developing, scientists can augment the performance of hyperaccumulator plant species with enhanced microbes. These microbes enhance the uptake of metals by plant roots, allowing for even greater extraction of metals through the plant.
He also believes that “Another interesting future application of synthetic biology involves pumping microorganisms underground to solubilize the ore, producing a metal-rich solution. This mixture could then be pumped up to the surface, where the metal can be extracted with simpler methods. This would turn the whole mine into a much quieter, low-impact facility that requires fewer trucks, crushers, and toxic reagents.”
What are the barriers to widespread adoption of biomining?
While synthetic biology holds immense promise, its widespread adoption still faces several challenges, like:
- Regulatory Hurdles: Public concerns about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) may lead to stricter regulations, delaying implementation. Certain countries rich in critical minerals also lack legal frameworks for the use of GMOs in industry, which can create uncertainty for mining companies operating in these nations and hinder the adoption of synthetic biology solutions in mining operations.
- Public Perception: Public controversy about the use of GMOs can deter companies from using them in their operations, owing to the reputational risk involved and reduced consumer trust.
- High Initial Costs: Developing and deploying synthetic biology solutions often involves significant upfront investment in biotechnology, which can pose financial challenges for smaller mining companies or regions with limited access to advanced scientific infrastructure.
Despite these challenges, the potential benefits may help to pave the way for a sustainable energy transition, helping the industry in a time where it is under increasing pressure to adapt. As regulatory frameworks improve and public perception changes, coupled with advances in lowering implementation costs for maturing technologies, the sector stands to gain immensely from embracing this new approach to mining. The integration of synthetic biology into mining operations can position companies as leaders in ethical, forward-thinking practices and help to ensure long-term viability and resilience in a fast-changing world.
