Vale, Caterpillar and dealer Sotreq have agreed to expand Vale’s autonomous haulage fleet in the Northern System in Pará from 14 Cat MineStar Command trucks today to about 90 units by 2028, including models rated up to 400 tonnes. Deployment will roll out across the Serra Norte and Serra Sul iron ore units over five years, building on autonomous operations that started in 2019. Vale reports up to 15% gains in operational performance, up to 7.5% fuel savings and more than 260 staff already retrained for digital and supervisory roles.

McEwen Mining has secured Mexican federal approval to extend the environmental impact assessment for its El Gallo project in Sinaloa, clearing the way for Phase 1 mill construction targeted to start mid-2026 and first gold pour in 2027. Phase 1 of the Fenix redevelopment will reprocess material from the existing historical leach pad via a new mill and leach circuit, aiming for about 20,000 oz gold-equivalent per year over 10 years, with initial capex estimated at US$42 million. A contemplated Phase 2 would add in-situ silver deposits for an extra US$24 million, potentially extending mine life beyond the current plan.

Seabridge Gold will spin out its 100%-owned Courageous Lake project in Canada’s Northwest Territories into a new listed vehicle, Valor Gold, distributing shares to existing Seabridge investors. Courageous Lake hosts 11 million oz measured and indicated (145.2 Mt at 2.36 g/t) plus 3.3 million oz inferred (40.6 Mt at 2.52 g/t), including 2.8 million oz of open-pittable proven and probable reserves at 2.6 g/t, with a February 2024 PFS outlining 201,000 oz/year over 12.6 years. At US$1,850/oz gold the PFS gives an after-tax NPV5 of US$523 million and 20.6% IRR, with further upside from a PEA-stage pit expansion and the high-grade Walsh Lake satellite (4.13 Mt at 4.18 g/t) on a largely unexplored ~500 km² land package.