Volvo Construction Equipment is pushing to expand its share of the smaller rigid mining truck segment, challenging Caterpillar’s 777/775 and Komatsu’s HD785/HD685 with its rigid haulers built in Motherwell, Scotland. The “right-sized” Volvo units target mines where ultraclass trucks are impractical, focusing on optimised payload-to-weight ratios and shorter cycle times on tighter haul roads. For operators, the main implications are alternative fleet configurations in the 60–100 t class and potential lifecycle cost competition in brownfield pits constrained by ramp geometry and crusher layouts.

Kazakhstan’s state-controlled Kazatomprom, which produces most of the country’s roughly 40% share of global uranium supply via low-cost in-situ recovery, is doubling down on its “value over volume” strategy, refusing to flood the market despite a sevenfold rise in its London-listed share price since 2018. CEO Meirzhan Yussupov says any move further down the fuel cycle, including ambitions for domestic enrichment, must clear strict payback, IRR and NPV hurdles and comply with non-proliferation constraints. He also positions Kazatomprom’s dual listing in London and on the common-law-governed Astana International Exchange as a proof point for Kazakhstan’s investor protections.

Kazatomprom CEO Meirzhan Yussupov says the company will maintain its “value over volume” strategy, limiting output growth to about 10% year-on-year rather than chasing market share, despite surging nuclear demand from China, India’s 100 GW-by-2047 SHANTI targets and AI-driven data centres. He confirms Kazakhstan already mines, processes and fabricates fuel assemblies for export to China, and is now evaluating an in-country conversion plant using newly acquired technology, with investment contingent on IRR, NPV and payback. Yussupov notes up to roughly 60–65% of Western deliveries have recently moved via the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor, while transit through Russia to St Petersburg remains legally available as Kazakh uranium is not covered by Russian-origin bans.