Mariana Minerals and Pronto announce partnership to automate mining truck ops at Copper One
Mariana Minerals, which describes itself as the world’s only software-first vertically integrated minerals company, has begun integrating autonomous haulage capabilities into MarianaOS through a partnership with Pronto, the Silicon Valley-based autonomous haulage pioneer. The deployment will take place across heavy truck operations at Copper One, Mariana’s fully operational copper mine and refinery in southeastern Utah. Pronto was recently acquired by Atoms, the physical AI company founded by Travis Kalanick.
This partnership accelerates autonomous vehicle deployment at Mariana Copper One with a partner on the forefront of industrial vehicle autonomy and enables seamless integration of Pronto Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) with MineOS, Mariana’s broader software-defined mining platform. Rather than operating as a standalone system that operators interface with manually, data from Pronto AHS feeds directly into MineOS, where it informs planning, dispatch, and fleet optimisation systems to enable coordinated, site-wide autonomy with zero human-in-the-loop control decisions.
“Mariana’s software-first approach perfectly aligns with our physics-first philosophy,” said Anthony Levandowski, CEO of Pronto. “Restarting a major domestic copper operation requires technology that actually works in the dirt, not just in a simulation or demo. By deploying our AHS at Copper One, we are proving that autonomous haulage isn’t a future concept – it’s a scalable production tool available today that fundamentally changes the economics of mining.”
This milestone represents one of several technology integrations Mariana will introduce in the coming weeks, all designed to expand the capabilities of MarianaOS and reinforce the company’s approach to building a fully integrated, autonomy-first mining and refining operation.
The US currently imports approximately 50% of its refined copper. With domestic demand projected to nearly double by 2035, driven by energy storage, defence systems, electric vehicles, and grid modernisation, the ability to restart and scale permitted domestic operations quickly – using systems that improve efficiency, reliability, and coordination – has become a national priority. Mariana’s approach centres on using MarianaOS as the unifying layer to bring these technologies together into a cohesive, high-performance operation.
Heavy haul trucks play a central role in mining operations, moving large volumes of material between extraction areas, processing facilities, and stockpiles. By integrating autonomous capabilities with MineOS, Mariana says it can optimise fleet utilisation in real time, reduce operational disruptions, and enable more consistent production. The result is not just autonomy at the vehicle level, but a more intelligent and responsive mining system overall – directly strengthening the resilience of domestic copper production.
The transition to more autonomous, software-driven operations it says “directly addresses the labour shortage plaguing the US mining industry by maximising utilisation, availability, and tonnes mined per employee, while drastically reducing interfaces between humans and heavy machinery. “Deployment of autonomy will ultimately lead to more jobs and creates meaningful opportunities for workforce development to meet the need for positions supporting the maintenance and operation of highly instrumented, autonomous equipment.”
“The US has a copper problem and a narrow window to fix it. Deploying Pronto’s autonomous haulage tech stack and integrating it with MineOS is the first step in building an operation that closes that gap faster than anyone thought possible – and we’re just getting started,” said Turner Caldwell, Co-Founder and CEO of Mariana Minerals.
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