Kinross Tasiast has commissioned a Hitachi EX8000-6 face-shovel excavator, now the largest mining excavator operating in Mauritania and only the fourth EX8000 unit delivered in Africa. The machine, weighing over 800 t and typically paired with ultra-class haul trucks, is expected to materially increase loading rates in the Tasiast open pit. For mine planners and geotechnical teams, the larger bench heights, wider dig faces and higher instantaneous production rates will influence slope design, traffic management and blast fragmentation requirements.

Hillhead 2026 at Hillhead Quarry from 23–25 June will host 600 exhibitors with expanded live demonstrations of crushers, dumpers, tyres, powertrains, hydraulics, and safety systems for quarrying, construction, and recycling. Key launches include Pilot Crushtec’s TwisterTrac VS350E VSI crusher with Stage V Volvo Penta engine claiming up to 40% lower fuel use, Thwaites’ nine-tonne ROPS+ dumper and new electric two- and three-tonne swivel models, and Continental’s LD-Master Rock L5 and MPT 91 tyres with integrated pressure/temperature sensors. Engineers can also assess ACE Plant’s Dromone D80 Ball & Spoon hitch for reduced whole-body vibration, Hyundai G2/DX engines via Marshall’s, and Jihostroj QHDM2 reversible hydraulic motors for mobile crushing plant.

Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation has reached financial close on the Jinbi Solar Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara and signed a 30‑year power purchase agreement with Rio Tinto to supply renewable electricity to the miner’s operations on Yindjibarndi Ngurra. The Indigenous-led project will now move into construction, adding large-scale solar generation into Rio Tinto’s Pilbara grid, which is currently dominated by gas and diesel. For miners and project engineers, the deal signals growing long-horizon offtake certainty for utility-scale renewables integrated with remote, heavy-industry loads.