Chinese underground loader and truck supplier Qingdao Fambition Heavy Machinery has completed its 2,000th unit of underground mining equipment, an FL105+ upgraded flagship LHD. The FL105+ targets high-productivity stoping operations, building on Fambition’s established FL-series platform used in Chinese hard-rock mines. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the milestone signals growing large-scale manufacturing capacity from a domestic OEM, potentially widening sourcing options for LHD fleets alongside established Western and Japanese suppliers.

Valmet has completed the acquisition of Severn Group, bringing Severn’s severe service industrial valve portfolio into Valmet’s Flow Control business area to expand offerings for mining and metals process applications. Announced on 22 December 2025 and now closed, the deal covers all three Severn units, including high‑pressure and high‑temperature flow control solutions used on abrasive slurry, HPAL and high‑cycle isolation duties. For mine operators, this signals broader OEM support and a single-source option for critical valves in concentrators, hydrometallurgical plants and tailings systems.

Hot blastholes and reactive ground conditions are emerging as a critical safety and performance issue in large-scale open pits, prompting BME and its General Manager of Technology and Innovation, Nishen Hariparsad, to advance specialised blasting solutions. The company is focusing on formulations and initiation systems that remain thermally stable in elevated hole temperatures and chemically compatible with sulphide-rich or carbonaceous strata, where conventional emulsions can prematurely react. For drill‑and‑blast engineers, this signals growing need for rigorous temperature logging, reactive ground testing and tighter controls on sleep times and loading sequences.