Flexco is using the Queensland Mining & Engineering Exhibition in Mackay to showcase next‑generation conveyor reliability tools for coal operations facing tighter maintenance windows and labour shortages. The company is focusing on fast-install belt cleaners, condition‑monitoring hardware and data platforms that allow remote inspection of idlers, pulleys and splices without shutting down production. For mine operators, the pitch is higher conveyor availability on long overland and plant belts, reduced manual belt-walks, and more predictable shutdown planning in high‑throughput Queensland coal plants.

Southern Copper’s Tía María greenfield copper project in Arequipa will be the first mine in Peru to operate Komatsu autonomous haulage system (AHS) trucks, supplied and supported by Komatsu-Mitsui. CEO Julio Molina told Día1 de El Comercio that the deployment will use Komatsu’s state-of-the-art AHS platform, signalling a shift towards driverless haul fleets in the country’s large open pits. The move will require detailed redesign of haul roads, traffic management and dispatch systems to meet AHS requirements for berms, gradients and separation from manned equipment.

Aclara Resources has secured its Environmental Qualification Resolution for the Penco Module ionic clay rare earth project near Penco, 430 km south of Santiago, concluding a permitting process that ran for more than four years. The project is scoped to produce about 774 tonnes of rare earth oxides annually over 14 years, with a 2021 PEA outlining initial capital of $119 million, an after-tax NPV of $178 million at a 5% discount rate, a 23% IRR and a 4.7-year payback. Penco ore will ultimately feed Aclara’s planned commercial separation plant in Louisiana, supported by a Virginia Tech pilot facility producing both light and heavy rare earth oxides.