Sandvik Australia has launched its 2026–2028 Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan, marking a decade of formal reconciliation work and setting a minimum target of 3.5% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation in its workforce. The two-year RAP also commits to increased First Nations supplier participation in Sandvik’s mining equipment and services supply chain and to structured cultural capability training across its Australian operations. For mine owners and contractors, the plan signals growing expectations for Indigenous employment and procurement benchmarks in OEM tendering and project partnerships.

Accenture has launched Accenture Construct, a global business combining its capital projects advisory, engineering, project delivery and technology services to support large, complex infrastructure and mining developments. The unit consolidates a capital projects practice that has grown fourfold in three years, targeting fragmented delivery across EPCM contracts, multi-vendor digital systems and dispersed project controls. For mine owners, the move signals more integrated support for mega-project planning, schedule and cost control, and data-driven optimisation across the full asset lifecycle.

AIC Mines is moving to acquire the Mt Cuthbert copper project in north-west Queensland via a $120 million deal to purchase 100 per cent of Materra Metals. The transaction comprises $100 million in AIC shares and a $20 million cash component, giving AIC a second operating hub alongside its Eloise copper mine, 60km away. The close proximity of Eloise and Mt Cuthbert suggests potential for shared processing, consolidated infrastructure and regional optimisation of underground and open-pit copper operations.