SANY has shipped 50 SKT145E autonomous pure battery wide body mining trucks to a surface coal operation in Inner Mongolia, pairing them with an in‑house autonomous haulage system rather than a third‑party AHS provider. The SKT145E trucks, already proven in unmanned operation at multiple Chinese coal and aggregate sites, use swappable battery packs and high‑precision positioning for fully driverless haulage on fixed routes. For mine planners and geotechs, the deployment signals continued standardisation around wide body truck haul roads, consistent ramp geometry and controlled dump‑point design to support large‑scale autonomy.

Silver inventories at COMEX and London have fallen sharply from pandemic-era peaks – COMEX registered stocks are down more than 75% to about 79.9 million oz., while LBMA vaults hold 27,454 tonnes (≈883 million oz.), 20% below their 2021 record – yet analysts argue this does not prove a structural shortage. The World Silver Survey 2026 projects a 46.3 million oz. deficit and estimates 762 million oz. drawn from above-ground stocks since 2021, but CPM Group stresses that investment flows, working inventories and scrap – including “billions of ounces” in jewellery and electronics – can rapidly re-enter the market.

Depletion of high-grade deposits, declining ore grades and sustained high commodity prices are pushing miners towards frontier resources in the Arctic, on abyssal plains and eventually in space. Capital is already moving into Arctic projects targeting onshore and offshore deposits in ice-affected conditions, while proposed deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules on abyssal plains faces an intensifying regulatory battle at the International Seabed Authority. Asteroid mining remains a long-dated, largely conceptual option, but is shaping early research into in-situ resource utilisation, autonomous extraction systems and ultra-remote operations.