Biotechnology Offers a Lifeline for Ageing Mines in the Global Metals Race

In a pine forest on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the United States’ only active nickel mine approaches the end of its productive life just as demand for battery metals accelerates. At Eagle Mine, declining nickel concentrations threaten the economic viability of continued extraction. In response, the mine’s owner has begun testing a biotechnology developed by Allonnia that enables the recovery of nickel from lower-quality ore. The approach relies on a fermentation-derived broth, housed in shipping containers at the mill, which binds impurities and allows usable nickel to emerge where traditional methods would fail. As Allonnia’s chief technology officer Kent Sorenson notes, the focus shifts from discovering new deposits to extending the value of existing ones, effectively squeezing more metal from resources long considered exhausted.

This effort forms part of a broader movement that seeks to address surging demand for nickel, copper, and rare earth elements driven by electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure, and data centers. The mining industry has long relied on microbial processes for copper extraction, yet recent advances in genetic and analytical tools permit far more active management of microbial systems. Startups such as Endolith now analyze DNA and RNA from ore heaps to tailor microbial communities for higher yields, while others pursue more radical paths. 1849 aims to engineer microbes for customized performance, and firms such as Alta Resource Technologies and REEgen apply fermentation products rather than live organisms to recover valuable metals from ore and waste. Despite skepticism from industry veterans and analysts who question scalability, investment timelines, and operational risk, the potential remains substantial. As researchers argue, the pressure of global demand may prove strong enough to push biomining from niche application to systemic transformation, provided these technologies move from promise to practice at sufficient speed.