Epiroc is analysing how electric surface drill rigs interact with weak and remote mine grids, focusing on load profiles, start-up currents and grid contingencies that can destabilise existing 11–33 kV distribution systems. The company is testing smart power management strategies such as ramped starts, active power factor correction and local energy storage to smooth high transient loads from large electric drills. For mine planners and electrical engineers, the work points to earlier integration of grid studies with fleet selection and potential use of hybrid on-site generation to avoid costly grid reinforcements.

Austmine and AusIMM, with Expande (Chile), Peru Mining Innovation Hub, CEMI (Canada) and Colab Partner Baker Hughes, have launched the Global Open Innovation Colab challenge “Critical Disruptors: From Discovery to Recovery” to run at the Global Resources Innovation Exchange 2026 (GRX26). The challenge targets technologies that compress exploration-to-extraction timelines, including concepts for faster orebody characterisation, integrated drilling-to-processing data streams and step-change recovery methods. For miners and METS suppliers, it offers a structured route to pilot novel sensing, automation and processing solutions with multi-jurisdictional partners.

Metso has secured orders worth about €39 million ($45 million) to supply crushing and grinding plant equipment for Artemis Gold’s Blackwater Mine Expanded Phase 2 (EP2) project in central British Columbia, supporting the next throughput step-up at the open-pit operation. The package includes a Superior MKIII primary gyratory crusher and Nordberg HP Series cone crushers, integrated into a new comminution line. For process engineers, the standardised Metso flowsheet should simplify spares, liner management and control integration across Blackwater’s staged expansions.