ARLYX Technologies has launched a fully electric, autonomous underground material-handling system combining a 5,000 kg-capacity utility vehicle with an AutoLatch module that can load, transport, and unload consumables during blasting periods while crews are evacuated. By shifting rock bolts, pipes, and concrete deliveries off production shifts and clearing ramp traffic, ARLYX claims mines can gain roughly one extra ore truckload per day, worth up to C$27 million annually, with a single teleoperator supervising up to ten vehicles. The LTE/5G/WiFi/radio-agnostic platform, developed and trialled in Quebec and now adding fire suppression, dust control, and ore-transport modules, also targets ventilation and maintenance cost reductions through zero diesel emissions and simplified mechanics.

Copper prices just below $14,000/ton in London, around $500 off January’s record, are drawing sharply higher forecasts from Goldman Sachs at $13,735/ton by year-end and Citigroup at $14,500/ton this month and $15,000 within a year. Goldman has cut its global mine supply outlook by 350,000 tons after major incidents at Grasberg (Indonesia) and Kamoa-Kakula (DRC), with both mines unlikely to reach full capacity before 2028. The bank now sees the ex-US copper deficit jumping to 640,000 tons, driven by stronger US imports, tight inventories and electrification demand, with Citi adding tariff risk on refined copper to the bullish case.

USA Rare Earth will invest $1.2 billion in a rare earth metals and NdFeB magnet plant at Bailey Industrial Park, Blacksburg, South Carolina, targeting 6,400 tpa of sintered NdFeB magnets and 5,000 tpa of strip-cast metal and alloy, with commissioning from 2028. Together with an expanded Stillwater, Oklahoma facility, US domestic capacity is expected to reach 10,000 tpa of NdFeB magnets and 10,000 tpa of heavy rare earth strip-cast metal and alloy, fed by the Round Top project in Texas and the proposed Serra Verde acquisition in Brazil. The vertically integrated mine-to-magnet chain faces regulatory scrutiny in Brazil, a contested $1.58 billion CHIPS-backed funding package, and a technology theft lawsuit from MP Materials.