Phytomining and carbon removal
Metalplant
A record of Metalplant's evolution from an olivine nickel problem into a phytomining company, followed through research, grants, field reporting, and broadcast coverage.
The project
Metalplant combines nickel-hyperaccumulating plants with enhanced rock weathering. The plants recover nickel from soils and crushed rock while the weathering pathway removes atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Period
- 2021-present
- Status
- Active company
- Records
- 10
Chronology
From origin to public record
Publication dates come from the linked publisher or project record. Archive-only dates are labeled.
- Milestone
A nickel problem becomes a company
Work on olivine weathering raised a question about nickel. Eric Matzner, Sahit Muja, and Laura Wasserson developed the answer into Metalplant: use hyperaccumulator plants to recover the metal.
ACS reports that the three co-founders formed Metalplant in 2021.
ACS Central Science - Press
New Scientist visits the nickel flower harvest
Reporting from Albania followed the cultivation and harvest of nickel hyperaccumulators and the prospect of supplying lower-impact nickel for electric-vehicle batteries.
New Scientist - Funding
DOE ARPA-E selects the Verinomics-Metalplant team
The PHYTOMINES program awarded $1.722 million to develop sterile, higher-yield nickel hyperaccumulators for potential U.S. cultivation.
U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E - Film
Metalplant reaches the NYSE floor
In a Floor Talk interview, Eric Matzner discussed scaling carbon removal while producing nickel for the clean-energy transition.
New York Stock Exchange - Film
A long-form public debut
Reversing Climate Change devoted an episode to Metalplant's model: co-producing nickel and carbon removal, and the difficult question of additionality when climate projects create valuable products.
Reversing Climate Change - Press
The Wall Street Journal reports on plants as a mineral strategy
The Journal placed Metalplant in a broader effort to diversify critical-mineral supply and reconsider which landscapes can produce battery metals.
The Journal page is marked updated Jan. 25, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. ET.
The Wall Street Journal - Research
ACS Central Science documents the field-to-product system
The open-access feature examined Metalplant's Albanian fields, nickel recovery, enhanced rock weathering, and the economic barriers facing commercial phytomining.
Published online Jan. 28, 2025; the print issue date is Feb. 26, 2025.
ACS Central Science - Film
DW Planet A reports from northern Albania
The reported film follows Metalplant's fields, harvest, nickel recovery ambitions, and the practical work required to turn phytomining into a supply chain.
DW Planet A - Press
Deutsche Welle publishes the companion field report
DW's written feature adds context on hyperaccumulator biology, nickel yields, the team's Albanian operation, and the gap between a promising crop and industrial scale.
Deutsche Welle - Film
RAZOR Science Show follows the plants changing mining
The science feature visits Metalplant's operation and explains how nickel-hungry plants could recover metal from soils that conventional agriculture cannot use.
Month shown follows the preserved Metalplant press archive.
RAZOR Science Show
