Fortescue has installed its first production-series Fortescue Zero battery-electric power system into a Liebherr T 264, a 240 t class haul truck, at Liebherr’s mining equipment proving grounds near Newport News, Virginia. The integration of the full battery system into the diesel-designed T 264 chassis marks a key step towards OEM-agnostic retrofits of large mining trucks, enabling mine operators to trial high-capacity battery haulage on existing fleets. Engineers will now focus on duty-cycle validation, thermal management and charging interface performance under proving-ground conditions.

CRCHI’s first mining tunnel boring machine has begun underground cutting at NFCA’s Chambishi copper mine in Zambia’s Copperbelt, with initial rotation of the cutterhead starting on 13 May. Developed in Changsha, Hunan, by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation, the TBM marks the debut of a China-designed unit specifically for mining applications rather than civil tunnelling. For mine planners and geotechnical teams, successful performance at Chambishi could open wider use of TBMs for long ore drives and access tunnels in hard-rock African operations.

MAX Power Mining has secured C$25 million from Eric Sprott via a private placement of 12.5 million units at C$2.00, each with a warrant at C$2.75, to accelerate drilling at its Lawson natural hydrogen system in Saskatchewan’s 475 km-long Genesis Trend. The company has selected three initial drill targets using 3D seismic to pinpoint structurally optimal zones for natural hydrogen and helium flow, volume and concentration, and will run a 2D seismic programme along the trend to refine additional prospects. For geoscientists and drilling engineers, the work aims to validate what MAX Power calls the world’s first large-scale commercial natural hydrogen discovery.