Eldorado Gold has produced first copper concentrate from its 100%-owned McIlvenna Bay project in east-central Saskatchewan, following completion of wet commissioning at the site’s processing plant. Acquired recently to bolster Eldorado’s Canadian operating platform, McIlvenna Bay transitions from construction to early operations with the concentrator now running under load. The move adds a base metals stream to Eldorado’s predominantly gold portfolio, signalling imminent ramp-up decisions on mine development, underground scheduling and long-term mill throughput planning.

Thyssen Mining has completed two 8 m diameter raise bore excavations at BHP’s Jansen potash mine in Saskatchewan, working with TRL Mining Construction LP to construct twin raises for an underground raw ore storage bin. The twin 8 m raises set a new raise bore record for Thyssen Mining and form the core vertical infrastructure for the bin system. The project signals growing confidence in large-diameter raise boring for bulk materials handling in deep potash operations.

Epiroc has signed a global agreement with Ericsson to distribute LTE and 5G private network technology through Epiroc customer centres for both underground and surface mines. The deal packages Ericsson’s industrial-grade radio, core network and edge solutions with Epiroc’s digital and automation portfolio, targeting applications such as real-time fleet monitoring, remote drilling and autonomous haulage. For engineers, the move signals wider availability of carrier-grade wireless backbones to replace or supplement leaky-feeder, Wi-Fi and wired networks in harsh mining environments.