Minimum viable solutions (MVS) are being promoted by Worley’s Dr Alan Monaghan as a new way to de-risk mining projects facing technology integration, decarbonisation targets and volatile supply chains. Instead of fully defined, linear project pathways, MVS focuses on delivering smaller, testable production increments, using modular process units and staged automation rollouts to prove value before full-scale capital commitment. For geotechnical and processing teams, this implies earlier field trials, tighter feedback loops between pilots and design, and more flexible mine plans that can absorb technology and market shifts.

EACON has deployed its ORCASTRA autonomous haulage system on new mixed-energy truck fleets in Xinjiang, integrating Lovol battery electric trucks and KNOW-HOW methanol-fuelled units into a single control platform. The project extends ORCASTRA beyond its earlier work with Tonly, LGMG, Yutong and XCMG fleets, showing the system can manage different OEM interfaces and powertrains in the same pit. For mine operators, the key technical shift is autonomy software proven on both high-voltage BEV haul trucks and alternative-fuel ICE platforms without separate control stacks.

Energy is rapidly shifting from a background utility to a core design and investment driver in mining projects, with SLR Consulting pointing to rising power prices and decarbonisation pressures as key catalysts. The firm is seeing mine plans, processing routes and pit-to-port logistics increasingly constrained by grid access, renewable integration potential and exposure to diesel for haulage and power generation. For geotechnical and mine planners, this means earlier coupling of pit design and plant layout with power-supply studies, microgrid options and long-term carbon pricing assumptions.