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Gamuda Engineering has secured the Sydney Metro Stations Package West as principal contractor, covering design and construction of five new underground stations at Westmead, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock and The Bays on the 24km Sydney Metro West line between Greater Parramatta and the CBD. The scope includes deep station boxes, entrances and access points, full station fit-out and integration with surrounding precincts, with Laing O’Rourke and DT Infrastructure joining as MetroVista delivery partners. Site works are scheduled to start on Monday, 5 January 2026.

The Metals Company’s NORI and TOML subsidiaries have submitted 2013–2022 exploration data from the eastern Clarion‑Clipperton Zone to the ISA’s DeepData system, including 777 equipment deployments, over 4,800 environmental samples, 76,000 biological records and 69,185 geochemical data points from depths beyond 4,000 m. The dataset now accounts for roughly one‑third of all CCZ entries in DeepData and 54% of biological records in the OBIS‑ISA node, positioning it as a key reference for Environmental Impact Assessments. TMC argues this evidence base is sufficient to start monitored commercial nodule collection, despite ongoing calls from NGOs for a moratorium.

Fast-tracking US critical minerals projects under President Trump’s March 2025 executive order has seen some mining permits issued in as little as 20 days, prompting Oxfam America to warn that compressed timelines without robust environmental review and community consultation could trigger force majeure events, legal challenges and multimillion-dollar delays. Oxfam policy leads Emily Greenspan and Andrew Bogrand argue that IFC performance standards should be treated as a minimum and that US-backed export credit and development finance should be tied to IRMA’s more stringent audit regime. They also caution that the industry-led Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative could dilute existing benchmarks and that policymakers still underestimate the globalised nature of refining and processing, particularly in regions such as Africa’s Copperbelt.

Oxford University spinout Ascension has raised £1.7 million in new funding, combining a £670,490 Innovate UK Growth Catalyst grant with £1 million from UKI2S, Oxford Science Enterprises and East X, bringing total capital raised to £6.2 million. The company’s Selective Recovery programme targets rare earths and other critical minerals in deep volcanic glass, aiming to separate metals in situ and cut surface processing stages. Ascension’s process uses natural geothermal heat in volcanic rock deposits, avoiding excavation, high-temperature surface processing and associated land disturbance.

Holcim UK is deploying 20 LiuGong 870HE pure electric wheel loaders across its quarry fleet, expanding one of the highest-tonnage battery-electric loader deployments in the sector. The 870HE units, among the largest pure electric loaders currently available, are targeted at high-duty quarry loading cycles traditionally dominated by diesel machines. For geotechnical and quarry operators, this signals accelerating adoption of heavy battery-electric equipment for primary load-and-haul, with implications for power supply design, charging infrastructure layout and ventilation requirements in future pit and plant planning.

Gold jumped 1.7% to about $4,887/oz, its highest level since 17 March, after Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz, restoring commercial traffic through a corridor that carries roughly 20% of global oil flows. Silver climbed more than 5% to $83/oz, a five-week high, as easing energy-price and inflation fears revived expectations of interest rate cuts that favour non-yielding assets. Analysts at Zaner Metals and MKS PAMP see scope for a move back towards $5,000/oz in the near term, while Goldman Sachs keeps a bullish $5,400/oz year-end target.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reports that 2025 copper production deviated sharply from company guidance, with CMOC beating its target by 111,000 tonnes while Zijin Mining missed by 65,000 tonnes due to delays at the Julong expansion and weaker African output. The analysis explicitly separates stated guidance from realised tonnages, showing that most copper supply models still treat guidance as production. For mine planners and market modellers, the data signal that project delays and operational volatility can materially distort supply curves if guidance is used unadjusted.

USA Rare Earth has produced its first commercial pour of 2N–2N5 purity (99%–99.5%) yttrium metal via subsidiary Less Common Metals at its Cheshire, UK facility, joining the small group of non-Chinese commercial yttrium suppliers after 2025 prices spiked about 1,500% on Chinese export curbs. The output underpins USAR’s mine-to-magnet plan anchored by the Round Top rare earth deposit in Texas, targeted for 2028 production, and a newly commissioned sintered neodymium magnet line in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with a potential second magnet plant in France. Backed by a US$1.58 billion Trump administration investment for an 8%–16% equity stake, USAR is positioning to supply aerospace, defence and advanced ceramics users seeking alternatives to Chinese yttrium.

A Worcestershire vehicle maintenance firm has been fined £30,000 plus £4,325 in costs after a worker was crushed beneath a one-tonne concrete block, sustaining what the court described as “devastating” injuries. The incident involved a precast block used on the company’s site, with inadequate control of lifting and securing operations identified as the core failure. The case signals continued regulatory pressure on small depots and workshops to apply full CDM- and LOLER-level rigour to handling heavy concrete units and temporary yard structures.

A UK Government-commissioned feasibility assessment on building new nuclear power plants at existing Scottish nuclear sites is now unlikely to be released before the Scottish Parliament elections on 7 May. The study is expected to focus on brownfield nuclear locations such as Hunterston and Torness, assessing grid connection capacity, cooling water availability and regulatory constraints under Scotland’s current anti-nuclear policy. The delay leaves developers and consultants without key data on potential reactor siting, licensing timelines and supporting civil works for any future large-scale or SMR projects.

Over 75% of residents in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire back reopening the former rail links from Dyce to Ellon and onward to Peterhead and Fraserburgh, according to polling by the local chamber of commerce. The corridors, closed under Beeching-era cuts, would reconnect coastal towns of more than 30,000 people to the Aberdeen–Inverness main line, offering an alternative to the A90 and A952. For civil and rail engineers, the figures signal strong political cover for route safeguarding, new alignments around developed sections, and potential phased heavy rail or tram-train options.

Development consent has been granted for the 1.5GW Outer Dowsing offshore wind farm, to be constructed 54km off the Lincolnshire coast in the North Sea. The nationally significant infrastructure project will require extensive marine foundations, subsea cabling and grid connection works sized for utility-scale export of 1.5GW to the onshore network. Geotechnical and marine contractors can now progress detailed design for turbine foundations, seabed surveys and installation methodologies under the Development Consent Order framework.

Mandatory biodiversity net gain (BNG) for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) has been pushed back to November 2026, a six‑month delay from the original May 2026 start. The deferral affects DCO‑consented schemes such as major highways, rail corridors and large energy projects, which will ultimately need to evidence at least 10% biodiversity uplift using habitat units and metric‑based baselines. Designers and environmental consultants gain extra time to refine baseline surveys, habitat creation plans and long‑term management obligations before BNG becomes a legal requirement.

Critical Metals Corp’s share price jumped 23.6% in pre-market trading to $11.46, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, after Greenland approved the indirect transfer of the Tanbreez rare earth mining licence, allowing Critical Metals to move to a 92.5% stake, with European Lithium retaining 7.5%. The Tanbreez deposit at Killavaat Alannguat hosts a 45-million-tonne resource grading 0.40% total rare earth oxides, with 27% heavy rare earths (Dy, Tb, Y), and a March 2025 PEA valued the project at about $3 billion. A phased plan targets initial output of ~85,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides per year, scalable to 425,000 tonnes, backed by a 10-year offtake to Ucore’s Louisiana plant, a Qaqortoq pilot facility, and eligibility for up to $120 million in US EXIM financing.

Aluminum Corp of China is deploying over $700 million in the next three years at the 4,500-metre-high Toromocho open-pit in Junín to lift concentrator capacity from 117,000 to 170,000 tonnes per day and add molybdenum recovery via a new ore classification system. The staged $1.7 billion programme includes a $1.35 billion plant expansion plus about $350 million of technical modifications, expanded low-grade stockpiles inside and west of the pit, and autonomous drilling and fleet management developed with Huawei Peru. Toromocho currently produces about 250,000 tonnes of copper concentrate annually, accounts for roughly 10% of Peru’s copper output, and is expected to run to 2042 amid rising political risk over unused concessions.

Ørsted has lost a UK Supreme Court case over whether it could claim tax relief on geotechnical and environmental surveys for offshore wind farms that never progressed to construction. The ruling confirms that expenditure on early-stage site investigation and feasibility work for prospective projects does not qualify as “research and development” for UK tax purposes when no tangible asset is created. Developers may now need to reprice front-end survey campaigns and reconsider how they structure pre-consent ground investigation and design studies.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander’s ministerial car has been damaged by a UK pothole, prompting the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) to warn that such defects are “a curse for road users” but “not inevitable”. The AIA stressed that systematic, funded programmes of planned resurfacing and structural maintenance are needed, rather than reactive patching, to prevent tyre, wheel and suspension damage and reduce collision risk. For highway engineers, the incident is likely to intensify scrutiny of condition surveys, whole-life asset management and backlog estimates on the local road network.

MMD Group has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with CiDi Inc. to embed CiDi’s autonomous driving technology into MMD’s TraxIQ material handling platform, adding driverless capability to its existing digital haulage management. MMD will retain responsibility for global commercialisation and deployment of TraxIQ, while CiDi supplies the autonomy stack, sensors and control software for mobile equipment operating within the system. The move signals further integration of fleet autonomy with real-time material tracking, dispatch and crusher-feed optimisation in brownfield and greenfield haulage circuits.

McLaughlin & Harvey has completed the University of Edinburgh’s 6,500 m², five-storey steel-framed Engineering Forum building, delivered through the SCAPE Scotland Framework for the School of Engineering’s Institute for Energy Systems. The facility is designed as a “living lab” for renewable energy, power systems and electronics, directly supporting experiential teaching and active research. Construction was carried out within the live King’s Buildings Campus, adding to McLaughlin & Harvey’s recent projects there, including the Nucleus Building (opened 2022) and the Usher Institute (2024).

Ridge has appointed Steve Williams as head of infrastructure, following its 2025 acquisition of Adept Management and a targeted senior recruitment drive to expand its infrastructure portfolio. Williams previously led major programme advisory work at Turner & Townsend for clients including Thames Tideway, Thames Water, Transport for London, Anglian Water, Heathrow Airport, the Ministry of Defence and Babcock. He will focus on project readiness before planning applications, robust business cases and data-led investment decisions to future‑proof large UK infrastructure schemes.

Julie White, managing director of diamond drilling and concrete sawing specialist D-Drill & Sawing, has been appointed a trustee of social mobility charity Construction Youth Trust. She will help connect young people from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds with employers across the construction sector, drawing on experience running a subcontractor where around 80% of the workforce began as apprentices. White also sits on the Government’s Construction Skills Mission Board, tasked with delivering a workforce action plan to recruit 100,000 new workers annually until 2029.

Henry Brothers Construction has begun a £1.9m first-phase project at Lincoln County Hospital to expand the Stroke Unit by reconfiguring Navenby Ward into a single Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU) from two existing five-bay wards. Works include full mechanical, electrical and plumbing modernisation plus new joinery, floors, doors, ceilings and lighting to refresh the existing ward environment. Procured via the Pagabo Refit and Refurbishment Framework, the scheme involves Day Architectural for architecture, project management and QS services, with DSSR delivering M&E engineering design.

Persimmon Homes South Coast and CBRE Investment Management are expanding their partnership at the 1,250‑home St Peter’s Place scheme in Salisbury to deliver 365 affordable units. The new agreement adds 152 homes in this phase alone, split into 78 for affordable rent and 74 for shared ownership. Across the project the partners will now provide 220 affordable rent homes and 145 shared ownership units, materially increasing tenure mix and long‑term institutional ownership within this large greenfield community.

Case Construction Equipment has appointed Ernest Doe & Sons as its authorised dealer for London, the South East, East Anglia and parts of the Midlands, covering 16 counties. The dealership will supply the full Case range – including excavators, loaders and compaction equipment – with aftersales supported by parts from Case’s Daventry distribution centre. For contractors, the move consolidates access to OEM service and spares across a wide geographic area, potentially simplifying fleet support and standardising equipment specifications on Case platforms.

NG Bailey has created a new low carbon director role and appointed Jonathan Kershaw, former managing director of Dalkia Energy Services, to lead development of its low carbon business across the group. Kershaw will design and implement a strategic plan that uses data insight, engineering expertise and on-site delivery to cut operational carbon in building and infrastructure assets and quantify long-term value. With 15 years’ experience in carbon reduction and resilience on large infrastructure projects, he is tasked with accelerating clients’ transition to more efficient, resilient building portfolios.

Publication of the UK government’s Better Connected: a strategy for integrated transport signals a shift towards devolving more powers and funding to city regions and combined authorities to plan rail, bus and active travel networks as a single system. The approach leans on existing models such as Transport for London and Transport for the North, aiming to integrate local rail timetables, bus franchising and multimodal ticketing under regional control. For engineers, this points to more corridor-based, cross‑modal schemes and long‑term pipelines shaped by devolved transport bodies rather than central departments.

Newmont is steadily ramping up processing operations at the Cadia gold mine in New South Wales after a magnitude-4.5 earthquake on Tuesday, with inspections so far indicating no material impact to underground workings or surface infrastructure. Geotechnical and structural assessments are ongoing across key assets including the tailings storage facilities, process plant foundations and underground openings. The event will interest operators of deep and seismically sensitive mines reviewing ground support design, real-time seismic monitoring and business-continuity planning for moderate local seismicity.

Australia’s asphalt sector, led by guidance from the Australian Flexible Pavements Association (AfPA) and Projects Technical Advisor Trevor Distin, is pushing performance-based mix design to exploit asphalt’s 100 per cent recyclability and cut pavement carbon. Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is being reprocessed into new surface and base courses, with higher RAP contents enabled by rejuvenators, tighter binder grading and improved plant controls. For designers and asset owners, the shift means specifying functional performance (rutting, fatigue, texture, skid resistance) and lifecycle cost rather than prescriptive mix recipes.

Exploration activity is ramping up across Australia, with Rincon Resources expanding gold–copper targets at its Telfer South project, Hillgrove Resources progressing work at the Kanmantoo copper mine, and Auravelle Metals advancing its battery metals portfolio. Rincon is extending drilling and geophysics south of Newcrest’s Telfer operations, targeting deeper intrusive-related mineralisation, while Hillgrove focuses on resource growth and underground potential at the existing open pit. For geotechs and mine planners, the work signals more near-mine drilling, deeper targets and potential future cutbacks or underground access designs.

Rising global defence spending on missiles, drones and advanced electronics is sharply increasing demand for critical minerals such as rare earths, high‑purity aluminium, titanium, nickel and specialised battery metals. Modern defence platforms now embed complex materials across guidance systems, radar, propulsion and armour, tightening specifications on purity, magnetic behaviour and high‑temperature performance. For miners and processors, this points to long‑term offtake potential for Australian rare earths, titanium and nickel projects, but also stricter ESG, traceability and supply‑security requirements in defence‑linked supply chains.

Catalyst Metals is advancing towards first gold production from the Trident underground mine at Plutonic after reporting strong grade control drilling results that confirm continuity of high-grade lodes. The work forms part of Catalyst’s broader Plutonic gold strategy in Western Australia, where detailed grade control is being used to refine stope designs and de-risk early mining panels. For geotechs and mine planners, the results support tighter reconciliation, more confident ore–waste boundaries and potentially improved scheduling for initial stoping blocks.

AIC Mines reported strong March quarter 2026 growth driven by the Eloise copper mine, where successful drilling extended high-grade mineralisation and a process plant expansion lifted nameplate throughput. The upgraded concentrator, incorporating additional grinding capacity and upgraded flotation cells, is targeting higher copper recovery and lower unit costs as ore feed ramps up. For engineers, the key watchpoints are how the expanded plant handles variable underground ore characteristics and whether further debottlenecking of crushing and tailings infrastructure will be required as throughput approaches design limits.

LiuGong’s 856T wheel loader has been selected by Australian Sandstone Merchants in New South Wales as the primary machine for high-duty quarry operations, handling dense sandstone blocks and continuous loading cycles. The 856T, part of LiuGong’s long-running wheel loader line dating back to 1958, is being used for both face loading and stockpile management, where breakout force and stability on uneven quarry floors are critical. For operators, the choice signals growing confidence in Chinese-built loaders for heavy quarry applications traditionally dominated by established Western brands.

Orica has moved into copper processing chemistry by acquiring FMC Corporation’s Danafloat™ range of high-performance flotation collectors, used for copper and other “future facing” commodities. The deal covers proprietary formulations designed to maximise sulphide ore recovery and improve concentrate grade while reducing reagent dosage and environmental impact. For concentrator operators, this adds a major explosives and blasting supplier into the flotation reagent supply chain, potentially enabling tighter integration between upstream fragmentation and downstream recovery optimisation.

Queensland-based mining services provider National Group is sponsoring a community-focused award recognising resources companies that show strong engagement and deliver measurable change across the sector. The award targets operators and contractors working in Queensland’s coal, metals and quarrying projects, with assessment centred on local employment, training programmes and long-term community investment rather than short-term donations. For geotechnical and mining teams, this signals growing scrutiny of how project delivery, contractor selection and site rehabilitation strategies translate into tangible regional benefits.

Smarter filtration solutions in wet mineral processing are focusing on high-pressure tower filter presses for slurry dewatering, such as Thejo’s vertical plate designs that deliver low-moisture filter cakes and high filtrate recovery. Suppliers are pairing these presses with automated cloth washing, cake discharge monitoring and optimised cycle control to stabilise throughput and reduce unplanned downtime. For plant designers, the shift is towards integrating filtration with upstream thickening and downstream dry stacking to cut fresh water intake and tailings storage volumes.

Wirtgen has launched its next-generation WR series stabilisers, led by the WR 240 X, for cold recycling and in-situ pavement stabilisation across Australian road projects. The machines build on the previous WR range with higher fuel-efficiency, integrated operator assistance systems and smarter process control for mixing, water and binder dosing. For geotechnical and pavement engineers, the focus is on more consistent subgrade and basecourse treatment in a single pass, improving layer uniformity and shortening construction windows on rehabilitation jobs.

Exploration and evaluation spending in British Columbia hit a record C$751 million in 2025, up 36% year-on-year, even as other major provinces such as Ontario and Quebec saw exploration budgets fall. Copper became BC’s top exploration target for the first time, attracting C$384 million—just over half of total spend—driven by large porphyry systems in the Golden Triangle and projects such as Galore Creek and Eskay Creek. Juniors led the rebound, lifting their outlay 47% to C$479 million on improved financing and expanded grassroots drilling and geophysics.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pressing the World Bank at the IMF–World Bank spring meetings to redirect green lending towards “high-quality, durable” critical minerals mining and processing projects, particularly rare earths, to counter China’s control of over 90% of global rare earth supply. Managing the dominant US shareholding, he called for rapid support across all Bank arms for projects and associated infrastructure that diversify supply chains and increase domestic value capture. Bessent also welcomed the expiry of the Bank’s climate change action plan, labelling its climate finance targets “myopic” and signalling a broader shift in multilateral funding priorities.

War with Iran has pushed antimony’s defence role into focus, yet Canada still has no antimony-specific strategy despite classifying the metal as critical and committing more than C$3.6 billion to broad critical minerals funds. Canagold’s New Polaris in British Columbia, with 5,173 tonnes of contained antimony and testwork producing a 59.1% Sb concentrate at 93.1% recovery, is Canada’s most advanced project but receives no antimony revenue in its feasibility and has been denied federal funding. Earlier-stage efforts such as Antimony Resources’ Bald Hill (10,000 metres drilled, three rigs turning) and Critical One Energy’s 30 km-long Howells Lake belt face the added hurdle of no North American processing route for future concentrate.

US Critical Materials Corp. and Columbia University have launched a two-year “Mud to Metal” programme to extract defence-critical gallium, scandium, titanium and rare earth elements from red mud waste sourced from multiple alumina refineries, including operations linked to Alcoa. Led by Columbia’s Greeshma Gadikota, the work will trial oxidative leaching, selective separations and co-recovery of titanium dioxide and iron oxide, coupled with techno-economic and lifecycle modelling to test commercial viability. Success could create a domestic byproduct supply chain that complements USCM’s high-grade Sheep Creek rare earth project in Montana.

Rio Tinto has commissioned a C$135 million, 1.1‑kilometre alumina conveyor at its BC Works aluminium smelter in Kitimat, designed for a 50‑year life and capacity of 800,000 tonnes per year. The sealed pipe system is engineered to cut particulate emissions by about 40% by enclosing the alumina stream, reducing transfer points and integrating high‑efficiency dust collectors. Recovered alumina is returned to the process, simplifying maintenance and stabilising raw material feed to the long‑running British Columbia operation.

Blue Moon Metals’ updated feasibility study for the Nussir copper project in northern Norway outlines a 13‑year underground operation producing an average 19,000 tonnes CuEq per year, including 3,600 oz gold and 546,000 oz silver, from measured and indicated resources of 28.72 million tonnes at 1.2% CuEq. The base case gives an after‑tax NPV8 of $235 million, 19% IRR and initial capex of $184 million, with copper accounting for 77% of payable metal. Hot commissioning of the process plant is targeted for Q3 2027, with first production in December 2027 and scope to extend mine life using inferred resources and the separate Ulveryggen deposit.

Uranium Royalty is acquiring Sweetwater Royalties in a US$1.1 billion cash-and-stock deal that values Sweetwater at about US$1.9 billion including debt, creating a new US-based parent listed on Nasdaq and backed by Orion Resource Partners and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan with 43% and 16% stakes respectively. Sweetwater brings about 10.5 billion tonnes of trona and a land package of roughly 3,400 km² of fee surface rights plus over 18,210 km² of mineral rights, making the combined entity the largest landowner in Wyoming. The enlarged royalty platform, holding 2.3 million lb U₃O₈, is positioned to use stable soda ash cash flows to fund further uranium royalty acquisitions amid a primary supply deficit.