Master Drilling has secured its first Portuguese contract from copper-zinc producer Boliden Somincor to construct two raisebored shafts, each 630 m deep and 4.5 m in diameter. The twin vertical excavations will be critical for long-term hoisting, ventilation or service access, demanding precise control of deviation over the full 630 m and careful management of rock stability around the 4.5 m diameter openings. For geotechnical and mine planning teams, the project signals growing availability of large-diameter raiseboring capacity in European base metal operations.

Metso has expanded its Metso Digital portfolio with three new platforms – Digital Production Management, Data-driven Performance Analytics and Safety Performance Platform – aimed at turning plant and fleet data into actionable production and safety decisions. Digital Production Management targets end-to-end throughput optimisation across crushing, grinding and downstream circuits, while Data-driven Performance Analytics applies advanced analytics to equipment condition and process KPIs. The Safety Performance Platform centralises incident, near-miss and behavioural data to support risk control and compliance in large, multi-site mining operations.

MLG Oz has secured a three-year extension to its haulage and site services contract at Ora Banda Mining’s Davyhurst gold project in Western Australia, expected to generate about A$16 million per year in revenue. The scope covers continuous 24/7 operations, including ore and waste haulage, likely involving high-capacity road trains on regional haul roads and intensive load–haul cycles between pit, ROM pad and processing plant. For mine planners and contractors, the deal signals stable medium-term demand for bulk logistics capacity and sustained production scheduling at Davyhurst.