UMS United Mining Supply and Renault Trucks have marked a decade of collaboration in Guinea’s bauxite sector, where UMS now operates around 350 Renault haul and logistics trucks in high-abrasion, high-dust conditions. The partnership couples heavy-duty fleet supply with tailored services such as on-site maintenance, driver training and operational support to keep vehicles running on long mine-to-port haul routes. For mine operators, the model shows how integrated OEM–logistics contracts can stabilise haulage capacity and availability in remote West African operations.

Copper-gold-silver assays from NGEx Minerals’ Lunahuasi project in northern Argentina have extended the high-grade Jupiter zone and expanded Saturn, with headline hole DPDH077 at Jupiter cutting 10 metres from 89 metres depth grading 0.88% copper, 3.14 g/t gold and 12.2 g/t silver, including 7.6 metres at 18.84% copper, 5.54 g/t gold and 336.7 g/t silver. Saturn results include DPDH069 with 135 metres at 1.18% copper, 0.81 g/t gold and 27.2 g/t silver from 437 metres, and DPDH072 with 34 metres at 1.43% copper, 1.8 g/t gold and 40.2 g/t silver from 193 metres, suggesting a large, structurally controlled disseminated and stockwork system with multiple very high-grade veins and a possible new zone east of Saturn. The stage 4 programme totals 27,318 metres across 32 holes, with Jupiter now a priority for stage 5 targeting a potentially larger future resource, while NGEx’s TSX shares eased 2% to $23.96, valuing the company at $5.2 billion.

Gold’s latest rally is turning bullion from a passive hedge into working collateral, with Q1 demand rising 2% to 1,231 tonnes but surging 74% in value to a record $193 billion as bar and coin demand climbed 42% to 474 tonnes and central banks bought 244 tonnes. Speakers at the Rule Symposium pointed to rising physical deliveries and withdrawals from COMEX and China’s continued buying and repatriation as evidence of a shift from paper to metal-based settlement. New lenders such as Battle Bank are formalising this by writing loans at up to 50% loan-to-value against stored bullion, potentially tightening the link between physical demand and mine finance even as juniors still struggle for equity.