China’s Zijin Mining is expanding RG Gold’s Raygorodok operation in Kazakhstan with a $500 million processing plant while deploying SKRI’s ‘phytocapture’ system, planting over 100,000 Scots pines across more than 20 hectares about 1.7 km downwind of the open pit. Supercomputer modelling using regional wind-rose data sets tree species and spacing to form multilayered vegetative barriers, not simple landscaping. SKRI reports particulate-matter reductions above 40%, with the forest belt expected to capture roughly one-third of dust emissions as mining advances towards the barrier.

Orica is targeting smaller North American mines and quarries with the same digital blasting toolkit used on large sites, including its BlastIQ cloud platform for blast design and performance tracking and on-bench digital loading systems. Area Business Manager Elliott Giles told IM that these operations, aggregated, form a major explosives volume market, and are now adopting electronic detonators and precise blast modelling to cut oversize and improve fragmentation. For geotechs and drill‑and‑blast engineers, the shift means more consistent burden control, tighter vibration management and better data for pit wall stability assessment even on “small” jobs.

Komatsu Germany Mining Division has launched the PC9000-12 hydraulic mining excavator globally, after an initial rollout in Canada, positioning it as the largest and most advanced unit in Komatsu’s surface mining fleet. The machine targets large-scale open-pit operations, pairing with ultra-class haul trucks and leveraging Komatsu’s global dealer network for deployment and support. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the PC9000-12 signals further upscaling of primary loading fleets, with implications for bench geometry, truck fleet sizing, and pit infrastructure design.