Faster mine approvals hinge on resolving key technical, environmental and social questions much earlier in project planning, with BBA urging proponents to integrate geotechnical design, water management and community impact workstreams from the outset. The firm points to bottlenecks such as late-stage tailings storage facility concept changes and incomplete baseline hydrogeological data that trigger regulator queries and schedule slippage. For engineers, this means front-loading trade-off studies, closure concepts and cumulative effects assessments rather than deferring them to feasibility or permitting stages.

San Francisco Bay Area mining tech startups have attracted $2.1 billion, or 35% of global funding tracked across 170 companies in 22 countries, despite hosting only 13 firms versus 10 in Santiago and nine in Perth, which together raised $92 million. Five companies – led by KoBold Metals on $1.2 billion, Boston Metal on $485 million and Mariana Minerals on $394 million – account for $2.8 billion, with processing and refining drawing 38% of capital while mine-operations software gets just 5%. Rio Tinto and BHP Ventures dominate corporate backing, supporting 23 and 17 startups respectively, while Latin America’s 29 firms secure only $59 million despite Chile and Peru supplying 35% of global copper.

AngloGold Ashanti will invest up to $900 million in brownfield expansions at Geita in Tanzania, Siguiri in Guinea, Cuiabá in Brazil and the ramp-up at Obuasi in Ghana, targeting an extra 300,000–450,000 oz/y of gold by 2030 and real IRRs above 35% by leveraging existing shafts, plants and infrastructure. Geita will take as much as $580 million to lift output to 600,000 oz/y, with Cuiabá receiving $200–250 million for roughly 75,000 oz/y more and Siguiri $70 million for about 100,000 oz/y. Q3 2026 EBITDA rose 12% year-on-year to $1.568 billion on an average realised gold price of $4,239/oz, while all-in costs climbed to $1,534/oz and a fatal rockfall occurred at the Sukari underground mine in August.