Krypton trapped in zircon grains from ancient Australian beach sands has been used by Curtin University’s Timescales of Mineral Systems Group, with the Universities of Göttingen and Cologne, as a “cosmic clock” to quantify how long sediments stayed near the surface before burial. Measurements of cosmogenic krypton show that under tectonically stable conditions with high sea levels, erosion rates drop sharply and sediments can be stored and reworked for millions of years in river basins, coastlines and continental shelves. The work links prolonged sediment storage to the concentration of durable heavy minerals, helping explain Australia’s large mineral sand deposits and offering new constraints for resource prospectivity models under changing climate and sea-level regimes.

Maaden will invest US$110 billion over the next decade to triple its phosphate and gold output and double aluminium production, centred on eight megaprojects including the US$22.7 billion Wa’ad Al Shamal phosphate complex and its US$7.7 billion Phosphate 3 expansion due in 2027. Current capacity stands at about 500,000 oz. gold and 7 million tonnes per year of phosphate and aluminium, with phosphate output from Wa’ad Al Shamal and Ras Al Khair alone rated at 6 million tonnes per year. The build-out will drive major new pipelines, ports and rail links in Saudi Arabia and deepen processing partnerships with both MP Materials/US DoD and Chinese firms.

Kinross Gold has approved three US projects—Round Mountain Phase X, Bald Mountain Redbird 2 (Nevada) and the Kettle River–Curlew restart (Washington)—aimed at adding about 3 million oz between 2028 and 2038 and holding group output near 2 million oz per year. Round Mountain will shift to 3,000 t/d bulk underground mining of 11 Mt at 3.2 g/t (1.2 Moz) with initial capex of US$400 million, while Curlew will feed the 1,800 t/d Kettle River mill using dry-stack tailings and US$485 million upfront spend. Bald Mountain’s Redbird 2 pushback and five satellite pits will leverage existing leach infrastructure to deliver roughly 155,000 oz per year to 2031, with a US$490 million build and a SART plant to handle higher-copper ore.