True. The gold isn’t manufactured. But its rate of discovery is a function of technology and demand. Bitcoin’s is pre-set. That constantly trips people up when they think of mining. Dhruv’s way of thinking about it is better. The network already has the bitcoin: they just haven’t sold them to the miners yet in exchange for hash.
Discussion
The term "mining" actually seemed to have actually smoothed funding for Bitcoin mining from traditional mining investors: it's a commodity where you spend on infrastructure up-front with unknown returns which depend on market factors outside your control.