Gold has become Australia’s second-largest resource export for the first time in more than 60 years, with the June 2026 Resources and Energy Quarterly reporting $68.4 billion in gold export earnings for 2025–26. The shift pushes gold ahead of long‑standing contenders such as thermal coal and alumina, driven by high US‑dollar prices and steady output from major operations in Western Australia’s Goldfields and the Pilbara. For miners and project developers, the data strengthens the case for brownfield expansions, higher‑grade underground developments and accelerated approvals for new processing capacity.

Sandvik’s MC431 continuous miner, built at its specialised mechanical cutting plant in Zeltweg, Austria, has been assembled and commissioned at the company’s Heatherbrae facility in New South Wales ahead of its first deployment in Australia. The machine is designed for underground hard rock mechanical cutting, targeting applications where drill-and-blast is constrained by seismicity, vibration limits or access, and will be supported locally by Sandvik’s Australian technical teams. For mine planners and geotechnical engineers, the MC431 signals growing scope to design layouts, ground support and production schedules around continuous cutting rather than cyclic blasting.

Australian-listed Sentinel Metals is acquiring Capricorn Metals’ Big Springs Gold Project in Nevada for up to $26 million, adding a 1.01Moz gold resource to its existing 920,000oz Columbia gold–silver project in Montana. The deal creates a roughly 2Moz US gold portfolio across two advanced exploration assets in established mining jurisdictions with existing infrastructure. For mine planners and geotechs, the scale justifies detailed resource conversion, pit optimisation and permitting strategies geared to multi-mine development rather than standalone projects.