# Turner Caldwell

> Turner Caldwell is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mariana Minerals, a San Francisco-based startup rewriting the rulebook on how critical minerals are found, dug up, and refined. After nearly a decade ascending Tesla's battery supply chain from factory design to heading the metals and minerals team, Caldwell left to build Mariana in 2024. The company now operates Copper One in southeastern Utah - the world's first mine running autonomous haul trucks, robotic drills, and AI-driven refining under a single proprietary operating system called MarianaOS. Backed by a16z, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Khosla Ventures with $85M in Series A funding, Mariana targets 10 mineral projects in 10 years, compressing a timeline that traditionally stretches 15+ years for a single mine.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Mariana Minerals
- **Organizations:** Mariana Minerals, Tesla
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Mariana Minerals in 2024, the world's first software-first, vertically integrated critical minerals company, Raised $85M Series A from a16z, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Khosla Ventures, Deployed the world's first mine operating autonomously across all three domains (mining, refining, capital project execution) under a single OS (MarianaOS)

## Career timeline

- **~2014-2015** — Joined Tesla; began in factory design and battery cell manufacturing
- **~2015-2022** — Progressed through Tesla roles: cathode materials, refining, and upstream battery supply chain; worked extensively in Asia with Panasonic
- **~2022-2024** — Led Tesla's metals and minerals team as Senior Manager, Battery Minerals and Metals; oversaw billions in deployments across lithium and battery facilities; was part of groundbreaking of Tesla's $375M lithium refining plant in Corpus Christi, TX
- **2024** — Departed Tesla after nearly a decade and co-founded Mariana Minerals
- **2025-07** — Mariana Minerals closed $85M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Khosla Ventures
- **2025-10** — Mariana and Select Water Solutions broke ground on Texas's first commercial produced water lithium extraction facility in Joaquin, TX
- **2025** — Mariana Minerals restarted Copper One mine in southeastern Utah as world's first autonomous-first mine and refinery under MarianaOS
- **2026-04** — Mariana tapped Pronto (acquired by Travis Kalanick's Atoms Inc.) to deploy autonomous haul trucks at Copper One; held ceremonial first blast at Copper One

## Achievements

- Co-founded Mariana Minerals in 2024, the world's first software-first, vertically integrated critical minerals company
- Raised $85M Series A from a16z, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Khosla Ventures
- Deployed the world's first mine operating autonomously across all three domains (mining, refining, capital project execution) under a single OS (MarianaOS)
- Cut mining costs 50% and refining costs 30% through autonomous operations at Copper One, Utah
- Led Tesla's metals and minerals team, overseeing billions in deployment across lithium and battery supply chains
- Partnered with Select Water Solutions on Texas's first commercial produced water lithium extraction facility
- Integrated autonomous haul trucks (Pronto AHS), autonomous drilling (Sandvik AutoMine), and robotic monitoring (Boston Dynamics Spot) at a live mine
- Set a production target of 50,000 metric tons of high-purity copper cathode annually by 2030 at Copper One

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Mariana Minerals held ceremonial first blast at Copper One mine in San Juan County, Utah; tapped Pronto (Atoms Inc.) for autonomous haul truck deployment
- **2026-04** — Mariana and Sandvik launched autonomous drilling operations at Copper One with Sandvik's autonomous-ready drill rig
- **2025-10** — Broke ground on Texas's first commercial produced water lithium extraction facility in Joaquin, TX (with Select Water Solutions)
- **2025-07** — Mariana Minerals closed $85M Series A led by a16z; Turner Caldwell appeared on a16z podcast 'Critical Minerals: Mining for the Industrial Future'

## Links

- Website: https://marianaminerals.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/turner-caldwell-75673060
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/tbc415

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/turner-caldwell
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-11