JOEST Australia has secured the largest order in its history from Pilgangoora Operations Pty Ltd for the PLS P2000 Expansion Project at the Pilgangoora hard rock lithium mine in Western Australia. The contract covers multiple vibrating screens, feeders and a primary grizzly, building on JOEST’s previous scope at the site. With the P1000 Expansion Project due to complete in 2025, the new package signals further scaling of front-end crushing and screening capacity, with implications for equipment sizing, wear-liner selection and maintenance planning in high-throughput lithium circuits.

BHP has declared a first underground block cave resource at Olympic Dam in South Australia, reporting 10,730 Mt at 0.59% Cu, 0.19 kg/t U3O8, 0.21 g/t Au and 1 g/t Ag in its operational review to 30 September 2026. The scale and grade support long-life mass mining beyond the existing sublevel open stoping, with block caving likely to demand extensive footprint development, cave propagation monitoring and high-capacity materials handling. Geotechnical teams will be focused on managing cave stability in the complex copper-uranium breccia-hosted system and controlling subsidence above critical surface infrastructure.

FLS is evolving its KREBS slurry pump range as African mines push higher plant throughputs, run more complex circuits and pump tailings over longer distances to remote storage facilities, according to Nico Erasmus, Vice President and Head of Pumps, Cyclones and Valves in Africa. The company is focusing on hydraulic redesign, wear-material upgrades and improved sealing to handle higher solids loadings and elevated discharge pressures without excessive maintenance. For engineers, the message is tighter pump selection and lifecycle management as duty points shift beyond traditional design envelopes.