The Future is Metal - Mariana Minerals | a16z American Dynamism

The gist

1. Over 90% of critical minerals refined globally come from China, creating serious national security risks for AI, EVs, batteries, and defense.
2. Caldwell says software and machine learning can make small mining teams far more productive by cutting repetitive tasks like spreadsheet entry and paper reporting.
3. Mariana deployed autonomous haul trucks at its Utah copper project in weeks, not the industry-standard two years, to learn faster with a small fleet.
4. Caldwell argues pure software or pure physical operations both fail; combining hardware automation with intelligent software is what actually moves output.