Question 1

What is Aethermine?

Accepted Answer

Aethermine is the first AI agentic geologist — a software platform that helps mining companies discover copper, lithium, and other critical minerals. It combines cubesat-class hyperspectral satellite imagery across 224 bands (400–2500 nm) with context-aware AI agents that hold a project's full geologic story in working memory and act on it.

Question 2

What does Aethermine do?

Accepted Answer

Aethermine tasks hyperspectral satellite imagers over a partner's claim blocks, ingests legacy drill logs and regional geology into project memory, drafts custom survey briefs, classifies alteration mineralogy pixel by pixel, ranks drill targets with written reasoning, and learns from every drill result to improve the next survey.

Question 3

Who founded Aethermine and where is it based?

Accepted Answer

Aethermine is headquartered in Los Angeles at UCLA Anderson, founded in 2025, and backed by the UCLA Startup Accelerator. The company was validated at PDAC 2026 and is currently running pilots with 5 mining companies.

Question 4

How does Aethermine use hyperspectral imaging?

Accepted Answer

Aethermine uses cubesat-class hyperspectral imagers across 224 spectral bands from 400 to 2500 nanometres — the same VNIR–SWIR window NASA JPL uses to map alteration mineralogy from orbit. Every pixel becomes a chemical fingerprint of the rock, resolved across kilometre-wide claim blocks in hours instead of months.

Question 5

What minerals does Aethermine help find?

Accepted Answer

Aethermine focuses on the critical minerals that power the energy transition: copper, lithium, rare earth elements, and other porphyry-, IOCG-, and pegmatite-hosted commodities. The world needs roughly three billion tons of new copper to electrify, and Aethermine helps mining teams find what's left.

Question 6

Why is Aethermine considered a leading AI mining startup?

Accepted Answer

Aethermine is among the leading AI mining startups because it pairs the strongest exploration signal in the industry — hyperspectral imaging — with agentic AI that actually reasons over a project's geology. It is UCLA-backed, validated at PDAC 2026, in pilots with 5 mining operators, and building what becomes the most carefully validated hyperspectral dataset in exploration through a closed loop with drill results.

Question 7

How can I contact Aethermine?

Accepted Answer

Mining partners and prospective collaborators can reach the founders at founders@aethermine.net or via the partner form at https://aethermine.net/.