Mineral exploration startups are the tech startups of the physical world
Most people think of mining as industrial and slow-moving: the opposite of a startup. But early-stage mineral exploration companies operate much more like tech or biotech startups than most realize. They’re small, high-risk, high-upside teams searching for the metals that power AI, EVs, cloud infrastructure, and clean energy: copper, silver, rare earths... The business model is lean: raise capital, generate data, iterate through targets, and (ideally) make a discovery that creates massive leverage. Now add modern tools: - AI-assisted geological modeling - Remote sensing + satellite data - Predictive exploration algorithms - Carbon-aware permitting strategies These aren’t old-school miners, they’re critical path startups for the electrified world. As mineral demand is exploding, the workforce isn’t keeping up. This space needs software engineers, data scientists, roboticists, mechanics — people who can help rebuild the infrastructure of discovery itself. We need more bridges between tech and this domain. The future depends on what we can find — and whether we can build the teams to find it. Inspiration: https://youtu.be/ib0fW1NfyLI 0 comments on Hacker News.
Most people think of mining as industrial and slow-moving: the opposite of a startup. But early-stage mineral exploration companies operate much more like tech or biotech startups than most realize. They’re small, high-risk, high-upside teams searching for the metals that power AI, EVs, cloud infrastructure, and clean energy: copper, silver, rare earths... The business model is lean: raise capital, generate data, iterate through targets, and (ideally) make a discovery that creates massive leverage. Now add modern tools: - AI-assisted geological modeling - Remote sensing + satellite data - Predictive exploration algorithms - Carbon-aware permitting strategies These aren’t old-school miners, they’re critical path startups for the electrified world. As mineral demand is exploding, the workforce isn’t keeping up. This space needs software engineers, data scientists, roboticists, mechanics — people who can help rebuild the infrastructure of discovery itself. We need more bridges between tech and this domain. The future depends on what we can find — and whether we can build the teams to find it. Inspiration: https://youtu.be/ib0fW1NfyLI
Most people think of mining as industrial and slow-moving: the opposite of a startup. But early-stage mineral exploration companies operate much more like tech or biotech startups than most realize. They’re small, high-risk, high-upside teams searching for the metals that power AI, EVs, cloud infrastructure, and clean energy: copper, silver, rare earths... The business model is lean: raise capital, generate data, iterate through targets, and (ideally) make a discovery that creates massive leverage. Now add modern tools: - AI-assisted geological modeling - Remote sensing + satellite data - Predictive exploration algorithms - Carbon-aware permitting strategies These aren’t old-school miners, they’re critical path startups for the electrified world. As mineral demand is exploding, the workforce isn’t keeping up. This space needs software engineers, data scientists, roboticists, mechanics — people who can help rebuild the infrastructure of discovery itself. We need more bridges between tech and this domain. The future depends on what we can find — and whether we can build the teams to find it. Inspiration: https://youtu.be/ib0fW1NfyLI 0 comments on Hacker News.
Most people think of mining as industrial and slow-moving: the opposite of a startup. But early-stage mineral exploration companies operate much more like tech or biotech startups than most realize. They’re small, high-risk, high-upside teams searching for the metals that power AI, EVs, cloud infrastructure, and clean energy: copper, silver, rare earths... The business model is lean: raise capital, generate data, iterate through targets, and (ideally) make a discovery that creates massive leverage. Now add modern tools: - AI-assisted geological modeling - Remote sensing + satellite data - Predictive exploration algorithms - Carbon-aware permitting strategies These aren’t old-school miners, they’re critical path startups for the electrified world. As mineral demand is exploding, the workforce isn’t keeping up. This space needs software engineers, data scientists, roboticists, mechanics — people who can help rebuild the infrastructure of discovery itself. We need more bridges between tech and this domain. The future depends on what we can find — and whether we can build the teams to find it. Inspiration: https://youtu.be/ib0fW1NfyLI
Hacker News story: Mineral exploration startups are the tech startups of the physical world
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July 24, 2025
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