Iron Sticks are locked behind Electric Energy Distribution 1, meaning you cant build Mining Drones or Depots until then. Just kinda sits there on your Crafting menu unable to be used.

Will the recipe change, or will Mining Drone just move itself behind Logistic Science instead? If the latter, whats the point in researching Mining Drone Speed/Productivity 1 before you can even use it?

You can use the command /c game.player.force.recipes["iron-stick"].enabled = true
Then you can craft iron sticks

No, Iron Sticks are locked behind Circuit Network or Concrete or Electric Energy Network or Railway.

I opted to do https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Mining_Drones_Remastered instead, it allows you to set a recipe in the Mod Settings menu. I replaced Iron Sticks with Electric Miners. I feel that its more balanced. Feel free to disregard this thread.

The file seems to be empty, which i don't expect to work :)

Since you want to help, i invited you to collaborate. So you can upload your fix directly.

im a fan of the little animation when drone put ore in the mining depot :P

thing that the remaster dont have :(