North American Construction Group’s wholly owned subsidiary ML Northern Services has secured a five-year heavy equipment services contract with a major Canadian oil sands operator, focused on mobile fuel delivery. The scope covers ultra-class haul trucks and other large mining units, shifting fuelling from fixed bays to in-pit mobile services to cut non-productive travel and queuing. For mine operators, the move signals continued outsourcing of critical support fleets and reinforces the need to integrate fuel logistics with dispatch, haul planning and maintenance scheduling.

BHP has awarded China Nerin Engineering a design and supply contract for key processing facilities in the proposed Olympic Dam copper smelter and refinery expansion in South Australia. Nerin, a major Chinese metallurgical design institute, brings experience from large copper smelting complexes worldwide, including sulphide concentrate smelters and electrorefinery systems. The award signals progress towards a larger, higher-throughput smelting and refining flowsheet at Olympic Dam, with implications for furnace design, off-gas handling, and downstream electrorefining capacity.

Pelican Australia is cutting equipment damage and unplanned downtime at remote mine sites by supplying engineered Pelican-Trimcast protective cases and rugged lighting systems designed for red dust, high humidity, vibration, and temperature extremes. Custom foam inserts, IP-rated polymer shells, and pressure equalisation valves are being used to protect high-value assets such as survey instruments, communications gear, and control electronics during fly-in fly-out logistics and in-vehicle transport. For reliability engineers, the approach targets reduced mean time between failures and fewer site visits for repairs in hard-to-access pits and processing plants.