The issue isn't a lack of economic interest.
It might be a lack of training data in addition to inherent complexity, but it's certainly not a lack of economic interest.
I guess what I'm saying is that "domain knowledge" is taking software development for a ride here. The software is just the vehicle, the science is the engine here and I can see why companies like OpenAI start going for the low-hanging fruits first instead.
Your specific company might be profitable, but does automating "mineral exploration" give you leverage over quite literally all other domains? My guess is not. For "CRUD" it is a resounding yes, it provides gigantic leverage. Once you automate basic software development you enter a new world. 10 billion, 10 trillion, all bets are off. You automate the creation of the next iteration of automation and on we go. Let's hope it takes a while for this take off. I can't see ourselves being ready for it.
My guess is it'll take a decade or so for real AI science to start taking off though - if that soon - so you're probably fine for now.
(And yes, a lot of science is software. Analysis is software.)