Edgar Basto, Chief Enterprise Performance Officer at BHP, is targeting the next wave of performance gains by combining the company’s existing operational expertise with new technology deployments and a group-wide safety programme, outlined at IMARC 2026 in Sydney. The enterprise-level approach centralises performance improvement across BHP’s portfolio rather than by individual asset, signalling more standardised operating systems, data architectures and decision-support tools across iron ore, copper and coal. For engineers and managers, this points to tighter integration of technology, process discipline and safety metrics in future project and operations planning.

Anfield Energy has received draft renewal documents for the radioactive materials licence and groundwater discharge permit for its Shootaring Canyon Mill in Garfield County, Utah, one of only three constructed conventional uranium mills in the US. The draft licence would cap production at 1,500 tonnes, or 3 million lb, of yellowcake per year and mandates a financial surety, a defined groundwater monitoring network, and best available technology standards for process ponds, the South Cell and decontamination pad. Anfield is stripping legacy mill equipment ahead of targeted licence renewal in Q2 2027, while its Velvet-Wood project holds 4.6 million lb eU3O8 measured and indicated plus 552,000 lb inferred.

Perpetua Resources has secured a 36‑month, US$40 million cost‑share award from the US Army’s Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium to evaluate tungsten concentrate production at the Stibnite gold‑antimony project in Idaho, with Perpetua matching the funding. The programme covers surface drilling to define a tungsten resource, metallurgical test work on a 550 kg sample grading 9.2% antimony and 4.2% tungsten, and design and permitting of an exploration decline beneath the Hangar Flats pit. Drilling to date has returned up to 9.8 m at 4.6% tungsten and 8.3% antimony, indicating potential high‑grade feed beneath existing gold–antimony resources.