Mining & Technology: Two Industries Dancing for Investors

David here. In the next 5 min, you’ll get:

💡What’s New: Trouble brewing for EVs, big mining investments, and where to find job growth.

🤔 Opinion: Thinking like an investor to manage career transitions.

🛠️ Tools & Data: Opensource tools and new datasets you should know about.

Want to feature your service or product in DRIFFT? Grab an ad spot here.

💡What’s new

Geopolitics - Christmas comes early to Australia as the White House announced it will strengthen its partnership, even naming specific companies to benefit. Meanwhile, the Indian government reports +12% mining output for August! The tit-for-tat embargo battles continue into 2023: The US restricts high-end GPUs to CN, so CN retaliates by limiting metals supply. Could this showdown hinder the EV boom? Or, even worse for the West, make their electric vehicles uncompetitive? Keep in mind that many EU and US cities are implementing internal combustion engine bans, which will trigger at the same time higher EV production costs hit consumers.

Mining - In previous posts, I’ve discussed 5 major areas of mining technology R&D: digitalization (e.g., AI, software, etc), robotics, space, the ocean, and deep underground. Last week I touched on moon mining, and now Wired has published a more comprehensive survey of the space mining industry. It has been suggested that deep underground mines will feature more prominently in the future. Speaking of deep dives, check out this Springer journal on metallurgy. If you’re a miner evaluating ways to improve mining processes, see Metso’s newsletter.

Technology - If you want a peek at how AI in mining works before calling a sales person for a demo, Kobold Metals recently discussed their software in an IEEE review. Here are some examples of how AI works in gemstone identification, in mineral liberation, and even grinding mill energy optimization. Undersea mining robots look nothing like what you imagined. Speaking of robots, here’s a major investment you never heard about. Markets are heating up!

Jobs & Growth - There seems to be consensus forming that AI is going to impact jobs. An S&P article reported the benefits realized due to AI in mining. Surprisingly, it’s been reported that AI job growth in mining has dropped substantially–though, not surprisingly, the US remains the hottest market. At the same time, MSFT is reportedly investing $5B in mine digitalization. Vale mining is opening an AI center in Brazil. As reported last week, there’s a severe shortage of qualified mining engineers, and apprenticeships are a viable option. Maybe start with some courses on EdX. (I‘m surprised that the Colorado School of Mines has not pursued an opensource strategy like MIT, Stanford, Yale, and Harvard.) The gig economy is growing and mining is a hot market; so if you’re a data scientist in mining, take note of this developer’s approach to selling growth data.

🤔 Opinion

A friend just mentioned their company recently went through a layoff. And now they’re moving the rest of their sizable workforce to the southern United States.

Career transitions are inevitable, whether they show you the door or ask you to move. But only some moves are intentional. In this economic cycle, consider making your career intentional.

When I say intentional, I don’t mean to simply follow your passions. I don’t subscribe fully to the “purpose-driven life.” Like every idea, that one is enjoying its own hype cycle. But there are too many other people who do just fine without making their job their life. If you can blend work and life, good for you! In my experience, it’s not enough to just find something you like. That alone cannot make one financially resilient in the face of global and technological changes like we’re experiencing.

The attitude I recommend is that of an investor and trader. What do investors do? They study markets, read trends, and evaluate their resources. Then they deploy those resources to make a return.

So imagine you’re investing, because you are. Even if you’re jobless and flat broke, you’re rich in time (and probably energy). And those are remarkable resources you can turn into other types of wealth.

The way I think about investing my resources in transitions is like so:

1. Determine the types of things I like to do and what I might be happy working on when I’m 60.

2. Follow the money! – Find places where people are investing heavily and where these skills can add value.

3. Invest!! – Get to work. Take courses. Do projects. Seek out opportunities to work.

4. Periodically evaluate my investments and redeploy as necessary.

I can’t say you won’t ever fail using my heuristic. Every investor…let me say that again, EVERYONE…fails, usually more often than they succeed (or report). The point is not to avoid failure, but to learn from it and to make sure I don’t invest more than I can stand to lose. A changing world requires that we must be adaptable, keep learning, and keep investing.

Whether you’re long or short on battery metal markets, you have to admit that the tech space in this industry is looking pretty interesting.

🛠️ Tools and Data

Thanks for reading! Want me to look into a particular topic? Email your suggestions and and I will dig.

David

This article is my opinion only. This is not financial or investment advice, nor am I a financial advisor.