Thirteen Chilean copper projects worth $14.8 billion are targeting key 2026 milestones, with seven operations including Collahuasi’s C20+ life-extension, Codelco’s Rajo Inca and Capstone’s Mantos Blancos expected to add almost 500,000 tonnes/year of new capacity. A further six projects, such as BHP’s Spence and Capstone’s Santo Domingo, plan to start construction within a $7.7 billion pipeline that Cochilco says could lift national output to about 5.6 Mt, against a forecast 2026 deficit of 150,000–330,000 tonnes. José Antonio Kast’s incoming government is expected to streamline permitting and environmental approvals, but unresolved community opposition and potential legal challenges remain the main execution risk.

Fortescue has signed a technology development agreement with Taiyuan Iron and Steel (TISCO), a subsidiary of China Baowu, to jointly explore green iron production routes using Fortescue’s ore and TISCO’s low‑carbon steelmaking capability. The partnership centres on piloting and scaling technologies such as hydrogen‑based direct reduction and renewable‑powered electric furnaces within Baowu’s existing integrated steel complexes. For miners and steel producers, the move signals growing demand for ore specifications, beneficiation strategies and process control tailored to low‑carbon ironmaking flowsheets in China.

Liontown Resources has completed three years of open pit mining at its Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia and is now transitioning fully to underground operations. The mine is shifting to long-term underground production targeting high-grade spodumene beneath the existing pits, supported by the Dragonfly accommodation village constructed to house the expanded workforce. The move concentrates activity on deeper ore zones, with implications for ground control, ventilation design and paste backfill planning in a hard-rock lithium setting.