Turner Caldwell, former Tesla engineer and now the brain behind Mariana Minerals, is shaking up the copper industry with automation. His vision involves self-driving trucks and software that coordinates every move at a mine, much like SpaceX’s tech revolutionised space travel.

The partnership with Pronto, Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick’s latest robotics venture, brings these dreams to life. Autonomous haulage trucks will operate next week at Copper One in Utah, marking the first step towards a fully automated mining operation. This is all part of Caldwell’s broader plan to use reinforcement learning to optimise mine operations.

While Caldwell sees this as a way to increase efficiency and attract new talent, some may worry about the impact on human jobs. However, he believes that automation will create more roles for miners who can operate these advanced systems. After all, SpaceX wouldn’t be selling just landing software, would it?

The future of mining looks set to change dramatically, with software playing an increasingly central role in operations. It’s not just about cutting costs; it’s about making the industry more productive and sustainable.