Total procurement spend with Indigenous-owned businesses has reached $5.83 billion, with mining and resources now the largest single driver of demand for Supply Nation–registered suppliers. The State of the Indigenous Business report points to major contracts in mine site services, civil works and haulage as key growth areas, with Tier 1 miners increasingly using mandated Indigenous participation targets in procurement panels. For engineers and project managers, this signals more joint ventures, Indigenous subcontracting on bulk earthworks and haul road construction, and tighter reporting on Indigenous spend.

A new report on Australia’s battery supply chain positions graphite as a strategic material for lithium‑ion anodes, noting that graphite makes up most of the active material in current EV battery chemistries. The analysis points to Australia’s existing natural graphite resources and emerging synthetic graphite projects as a way to reduce reliance on Chinese processing capacity, which currently dominates anode production. For miners and processors, the report signals growing scrutiny of flake size distribution, impurity control and downstream spherical graphite and coating capacity as key value drivers.

Rio Tinto’s first Pilbara-made iron ore rail car has rolled off the production line in Karratha, built under a local manufacturing partnership with Gemco Rail. The project aims to replace imported rolling stock for Rio’s 1,700km Pilbara heavy-haul network, which routinely runs 2–3km-long, 30,000+ tonne trains from inland mines to coastal ports. Local fabrication is expected to shorten maintenance and refurbishment lead times for high-axle-load wagons and create a regional supply chain for wear components and structural repairs.