Rio Tinto has committed $1.8 million to Lifeline WA to fund crisis support volunteers answering calls across Western Australia, with a focus on remote mining communities in the Pilbara. The three-year funding package will support recruitment, training and retention of telephone crisis supporters, who handle calls from FIFO workers, contractors and families affected by isolation, shift work and mental health pressures. For mine operators, the move signals continued expectation for structured psychosocial risk management alongside traditional safety systems on large iron ore operations.

Tungsten prices hitting record highs have prompted Larvotto Resources to fast‑track work at its Hillgrove polymetallic project in New South Wales, targeting historically mined tungsten–antimony–gold lodes within an existing underground mine and processing footprint. The company is reviewing past production data and existing plant configuration to define a restart pathway that can exploit current prices without greenfield capital intensity. For mine planners and metallurgists, the key question is how far the legacy stopes, tailings and circuit can be re‑optimised for higher tungsten recoveries under today’s market conditions.

Ardea Resources has secured more than $1 billion in backing from Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation to advance its Goongarrie Hub nickel–cobalt project, part of the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project in Western Australia. The partners are targeting a high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) operation treating laterite ore to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate for battery supply chains, with front-end engineering design and approvals now the key gating steps. For geotechs and process engineers, the scale of HPAL infrastructure on deeply weathered profiles will drive complex foundation design, tailings storage, and water management requirements.