Ferreyros and Caterpillar are deploying Peru’s first underground autonomous loader fleet, introducing CAT R1600H low-profile LHDs with 10.5 t payload capacity at Volcan Compañía Minera operations. The autonomous R1600H units, designed for narrow-vein and low-back mining, will transition from commissioning to full production, integrating with existing underground traffic and manual fleets. For mine planners and engineers, the move signals growing readiness to automate load–haul cycles in constrained headings, with implications for traffic management, communications infrastructure and maintenance strategies.

Retired US Navy commander and Democratic congressional candidate Phil Ehr has resigned from NovaRed Mining’s advisory board after the Vancouver-listed copper explorer hired former US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to help secure critical metals projects. NovaRed’s assets include the 160 sq. km Wilmac copper-gold property and the adjacent Lamont Ridge project in the Similkameen mining division, about 230 km east of Vancouver, with the company valued at about C$38 million after its share price rose nearly 15% to C$0.77. CEO Brian Goss said investors remain focused on North American critical minerals supply fundamentals despite political backlash in Canada.

Global copper supply will need the equivalent of six new world‑class mines every year to 2050 to cover a forecast deficit rising from 2 million tonnes by 2030 to 8 million tonnes by 2035, with data centres alone expected to consume about 500,000 tonnes by decade‑end, mining financier Frank Giustra says. He notes only four undeveloped deposits currently match major‑miner criteria—Copper Giant Resources in Colombia, Solaris Resources in Ecuador, and Aldebaran Resources and McEwen Copper in Argentina—leaving deeper, higher‑cost orebodies as the fallback. Giustra expects higher copper prices and a delayed but aggressive M&A cycle as majors buy de‑risked junior projects at richer valuations.