Heather Somerville

We have companies in Silicon Valley that are using AI and machine learning to try to improve outcomes from mining.

There's one company in particular that I profiled, Brimstone, out here in Oakland, focusing on producing critical minerals out of rocks that are abundant and cheap.

So the idea is if you can get...

a whole bunch of cheap rocks easily and produce these critical minerals that we need and China dominates, the U.S.

might have a shot at producing economically some of these pretty precious materials that we are lacking.

And it's focused on aluminum, magnesium, titanium to start.

Other companies that we've looked at are focused on

Antimony, which is a rare earth that is essential to a lot of critical industries.

And there's other companies that are focused on rare earth magnets.

Who is funding these startups?

It's private and public money.

On the private capital side, there's venture capital interest for the first time that I've ever seen in this space.

We have a huge initiative from J.P.

Morgan investing in all sorts of national security projects.

essential industries and critical minerals is a focus.

And then there's the government money.

The Trump administration has invested in, among others, Vulcan Elements, a rare earth magnet startup out in North Carolina.

ReElement Technologies, which works on recycling of those rare earth magnets.

And notably, the Pentagon took a 15% stake in MP Materials, a rare earth mine.

So we are seeing a huge amount of state capital going into this space, which certainly boosts investor interest because it indicates a commitment from the administration to sustain a domestic supply.