Fortescue has opened its Power Up Training Centre in Perth, Western Australia, to build the electrical workforce required to electrify its Pilbara mining operations. The miner expects to need about 1,800 electricians at the peak of its site-wide decarbonisation programme, signalling a sharp rise in demand for high-voltage, battery-electric and control-systems skills on large iron ore hubs. For engineers, the move points to future project constraints around HV reticulation, trolley assist, and fleet electrification being driven as much by labour capacity as by technology readiness.

Transfer points in African mines are being treated as critical process assets, with Weba Chute Systems warning that poorly designed chutes can throttle whole-plant performance from primary crusher discharge to final product conveyors. The company points to uncontrolled impact, excessive turbulence and misaligned feed as root causes of belt damage, spillage and blockages that cut throughput and raise maintenance. Engineered chutes with controlled material flow, optimised liner layouts and tailored geometries are being adopted to stabilise transfer conditions and extend conveyor and chute life.

Booyco Electronics is reworking underground Proximity Detection Systems by integrating vehicle‑mounted sensors, fixed infrastructure and mine communication networks to cope with confined headings, mixed fleets and signal shadowing. The company is using on‑board data logging and centralised data acquisition to analyse near‑miss events, nuisance alarms and operator response times, then applying AI to tune warning zones and intervention thresholds for specific traffic patterns and geologies. For engineers, the shift is from standalone PDS hardware to mine‑wide, data‑driven collision‑avoidance strategies that must align with existing SCADA and OEM control systems.