Caterpillar is extending its MineStar Command for hauling system with Luck Stone from the Bull Run Quarry to two additional Virginia sites and, for the first time, onto Cat 775 haul trucks. At Bull Run, a fleet of autonomous rigid trucks has already moved more than 3.5 million tons since November 2024, following an 18‑month ramp‑up. The deployment on mid‑size 775s signals AHS moving from large open‑pit fleets into smaller quarry-scale operations, with implications for traffic management, loading unit integration and mixed‑fleet haul road design.

Mahansaria Group is investing US$100 million to build giant off-the-road (OTR) radial tyre manufacturing capability in India under its Ascenso brand, targeting large haul truck and loader sizes used in mining. The expansion aims to move Ascenso from current agricultural and medium OTR ranges into ultra-large mining tyres, a segment dominated by a few global suppliers and frequently constrained by supply shortages. For mine operators, an additional radial supplier from India could ease procurement risk and support localisation strategies in Asian and African projects.

Hercules Metals is advancing the Hook target in western Idaho toward direct drilling after reconnaissance hole HER-26-03 clipped a 1.8 km chargeability anomaly with a 500 m high-strength core modelled from ~100 m depth, indicating a shallow porphyry system in Triassic volcanic and carbonate-bearing rocks. The hole, collared 400 m west due to road constraints, cut strong quartz-sericite-pyrite and skarn alteration with 5–10% pyrite but did not test the anomaly’s core, so assays are expected to guide vectoring rather than deliver grades. Hook lies 3 km east of the Leviathan porphyry, which SCP models at >600 Mt grading ~0.5% Cu (~3 Mt contained), and is now Hercules’ strongest untested near-surface chargeability target pending road and drill pad permits.