Core Sample

In This Episode What critical minerals mean for defense, energy, AI, and advanced manufacturing. How abandoned mine lands and tailings may fit into the domestic mineral security conversation. Why mineral security is not only about new mines. The policy changes that could improve U.S. mineral security. What may drive future demand for critical minerals. How to balance environmental remediation, min...

We hit 1,000 downloads recently, so a big thank you. In this shorter Fourth of July episode of Core Sample, I’m reinforcing two signals that matter right now. First: gold tested the $4,000 level, commodities are still feeling heavy, and the tape is uncomfortable. But the strategic thesis hasn’t changed. Government-backed financing, uplistings, DOE awards, loan commitments, and public-market positi...

On June 25th, the Department of War released a PR email about the Investment Intelligence Center, a public dashboard tracking more than $6.5 billion in national-security capital across hundreds of investments. In this episode of Core Sample, I walk through what the map shows, what it confirms about the industrial-base rebuild thesis, why the recent commodity selloff doesn’t break the signal, and w...

At one point this year, the United States reportedly had roughly two months of rare earth supplies left for the materials that go into precision munitions, radar, night vision, and the F-35. In this episode of Core Sample, I show you how the public documents connect rare earth processing bottlenecks, the Strait of Hormuz crisis, the largest defense budget request in US history, federal small busin...

SHOW NOTES: Title: Run Your Own Race Subtitle: Joan Benoit Samuelson broke away from the pack at mile three and won the first women’s Olympic marathon mostly alone. I just spent three days at the Elko Mining Expo, and what I saw there told me something the tape didn’t. Going it alone isn’t always wrong. There is something deeply uncomfortable about being the only person walking in the opposite dir...

I started my career as an equity trader straight out of college at an asset management firm. Later I went into investment banking and then hedge funds. Long before cybersecurity, I was reading the data. And the data right now is telling a story most people aren’t hearing. In 2025, gold returned over 63 percent. Silver between 140 and 180. Energy is outperforming broad equities. The US debt is over...

Jumping in to add a note - I know these recordings are not perfect, they are not supposed to be but the information needs to be shared and that is why I’m doing this. Show Notes: There is a specific feeling that shows up when you’re standing at a crossroads. A career that stopped fitting. A sector shifting underneath you. A hunch you can’t quite name yet. That feeling is loud. And it makes it very...

I started this episode differently as yesterday (5/14/2026) I gave a talk to ISACA Phoenix and I wanted to make the presentation available to this audience. The link to the PDF presentation with the worksheets is on page 5 and 17. The worksheets help guide a career pivot and this may be relevant if you listened to Episode 3 and are interested in how Cybersecurity connects with mining, resources an...

There is an ore body in the mining and critical minerals space that nobody is talking about. It’s not a deposit. It’s a workforce gap. And it sits right at the intersection of cybersecurity governance, capital markets, and resource sector expertise. In this episode of Core Sample, I’m naming it out loud — because I don’t think enough people are. The SEC’s 2023 cybersecurity disclosure rules change...

I ran a race this weekend. I didn’t run a great one. The time was off. My splits weren’t where I wanted them. And standing at mile 26, I made a choice about the story I was going to tell myself — the timing was off. Not the runner. There’s a difference. And it matters. In this episode of Core Sample, I’m pulling that thread through everything I do — endurance sport, entrepreneurship, and capital m...

Show Notes. EPISODE 1: SHOW NOTES PACKAGE Show Notes: This is the episode where it all begins. I’m Sydnie Beckman — founder of Sturnella, capital markets cybersecurity advisor, endurance athlete, and gold bug since 2001. In this first episode of Core Sample, I’m telling you exactly how I got here. Not the polished version. The real one. I walked away from a corporate career — cybersecurity, risk,...

This is Core Sample — a podcast about the women who work across the full length of the mining and critical minerals supply chain. From the pit to the boardroom, from the assay lab to the trading desk, their work powers the energy transition, national defense, and the global economy. Most people have no idea. In this first episode, I’m sharing why I started this show, who it’s for, and what I hope...