Lots of reasons to not be a producer of metals. If you find any material in California good luck - its more than a 25 year process to open a new mine, including payoffs to various politicians and an endless environmental review process.
For massive lode and pit operations for major corporations, sure. I own four agate mines and one manganese minein the Mojave. It costs not much at all if you're a small miner.
I know the Mojave and know I love agates so I'm going out on a limb and saying I'm the man for the job.
It is not uncommon to see me walking out with some 150+ pounds of rock in my hands and on my back, though, as once I get an area picked, it is usually highly-productive and I'm going for my body weight in material every single change I can get.
When you want to sell some of this stuff, in my typical case as lapidary stone, you spend a good bit of time taking GOOD pictures, as at that specific market, you aren't selling the stone, you're selling the picture of the stone in order to make that stone move. Crappy pictures = no sales. Make it look as best as you can without any sort of doctoring, that's the trick.
If you're ever in SoCal, I'll show you the full experience. It is a hell of a busy hobby, one that takes up most of my free time outside of my normal job. It's addictive. I have a 400 square mile playground that I constantly explore.
https://i.imgur.com/CxEnUF5.mp4 https://imgur.com/sKyVuyX https://imgur.com/EA2QXMe
It's an adventure!
When I was at 29 Palms I had a friend who was a geology major and he built a contraption that fit in the back of his pickup to enable him to rapidly pan for gold in the streams of Joshua Tree. When we first arrived in Okinawa we were brainstorming how to leach platinum out of catalytic converters using chemical baths, but the automotive centers on base wouldn't sell us cats so that idea died. I think he went back to get a Masters in Petroleum Engineering and then wanted to move into undersea robotic mining.
I can see how it can become an addictive yet rewarding hobby.
Considering what mining tends to do to the surrounding environment, I say good for California.