Glencore Technology has partnered with XPS in Falconbridge, Ontario, to expand Jameson Cell flotation test work coverage across North America, using XPS’s piloting facilities and state-of-the-art mineral processing laboratories. The multidisciplinary XPS team will run laboratory and pilot-scale campaigns for operations and projects, integrating metallurgical test work with consulting and flowsheet development. For concentrator engineers, this should simplify scale-up of Jameson Cell applications in brownfield and greenfield plants, potentially shortening test programmes and de-risking circuit design changes.

Rio Tinto’s first Pilbara-made iron ore rail car has rolled off the production line in Karratha under a A$150 million partnership with Gemco Rail to build 100 wagons in Western Australia. The milestone follows completion of 40 cars at Gemco’s Forrestfield facility near Perth, with the balance to be manufactured closer to Rio’s Pilbara rail network. Local fabrication and maintenance capability for heavy-haul rolling stock is being strengthened, which could shorten overhaul cycles and reduce logistics downtime for Rio’s long-distance ore trains.

XCMG Machinery has begun shipping a fleet of 230 t-payload XDE260 diesel-electric haul trucks from its Xuzhou intelligent manufacturing base to the SimFer-operated Simandou Blocks 3 & 4 iron ore project in Guinea. The 240 t-class trucks will support large-scale open-pit development at Simandou, where haul profiles, ramp geometry and crusher feed rates demand high-capacity, long-haul units. Deployment of diesel-electric drives at this scale signals continued preference for trolley-ready, high-efficiency truck fleets on West African greenfield iron ore projects.