Gary Agnew (Ideon): Mapping Earth with Cosmic Rays—Fixing Mining’s Uncertainty Problem

Presented by Playground Global at SF Deep Tech Week 2025 (https://luma.com/dtw2025-playground)
https://www.playground.vc/


Deep Tech Week is a decentralized conference hosting the worlds best entrepreneurs and investors bringing science fiction technologies to life
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Ideon’s CEO shows how muon “X-rays” from supernovae can turn pixel-wide geology into data-rich 3D maps—so we find critical minerals faster, cleaner, and with confidence.

Gary Agnew, CEO & co-founder of Ideon Technologies, explains why the company is building the subsurface intelligence layer for the planet—starting with mining. With a looming $12T supply gap by 2050 (copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, etc.) and a broken supply chain (discoveries, grade, and productivity down; energy intensity up), mining suffers from crippling geological uncertainty.

Ideon’s answer: quantum sensing using naturally occurring muons (born from cosmic rays triggered by supernovae). By deploying underground sensors and measuring muon intensity and direction, Ideon generates 2D “X-ray–like” and 3D “CT-like” images across hundreds of millions to billions of cubic meters—turning low-res guesses into high-signal maps that guide where to drill, how to extract, and when to remediate.

This isn’t greenfield exploration; it’s the engine room of critical-minerals production at the world’s largest mines. The goal: reduce uncertainty → better decisions → faster, lower-impact metals for energy transition, national security, and global prosperity.