PDAC has named six recipients of the 2027 PDAC Awards, recognising achievements spanning early-stage discovery, major mine development and sustainability in Canadian and international projects. The awards cover categories such as mineral exploration, mine builders, sustainability and indigenous engagement, with winners typically selected for discoveries that add multi-million-ounce gold or multi-million-tonne base metal resources and for projects that reach commercial production on time and budget. For engineers and geoscientists, the list signals which exploration models, development strategies and community partnership approaches are currently being held up as best practice.

Epiroc’s fleet of Autonomous SmartROC D65 MKII blasthole drills is expanding across mining and quarrying, with units now running at Fortescue’s Solomon and Eliwana iron ore operations in Australia and at Luck Stone’s Rockville quarry in the United States. The rigs automate drilling cycles for production blastholes, delivering repeatable hole depth and spacing and reducing operator exposure at the bench. For engineers, the deployment signals growing acceptance of OEM autonomy for large-scale production drilling rather than limited trial use.

A fleet of 60 SANY battery-electric wide body mining trucks equipped with EACON Mining Technology’s autonomous haulage system has entered full operation at Tibet Julong Copper’s Zhibula Copper Mine, running at more than 5,400 m above sea level. Operating at this altitude imposes constraints on battery performance, cooling and braking behaviour, making Zhibula a key test case for high-elevation autonomous haulage. The project signals growing confidence in large-scale AHS deployment on steep, high-altitude haul roads in complex open-pit copper operations.