Volvo Autonomous Solutions has passed 3 Mt of autonomously hauled material in mining and quarrying operations, signalling growing commercial-scale deployment of its driverless haulage systems. The tonnage spans current and completed customer sites using Volvo’s integrated autonomous transport platform, combining automated trucks with site infrastructure and fleet management. For mine planners and owners, the milestone gives real-world evidence on autonomous haul durability and consistency over multi‑million‑tonne volumes, supporting business cases for retrofits and greenfield autonomous haulage layouts.

North America’s rare earth build‑out is racing ahead of its talent pipeline, with more than $10 billion committed to US rare earths and magnets but only about $180 million earmarked for mining education and just 14 accredited mining schools producing roughly 170–285 mining and mineral engineering graduates a year. The DOE’s PROSPECT programme, worth up to $100 million plus a $16 million Planning Prize, aims to double mining and supply‑chain credentials within two years, while proposed Department of War awards would send $32.7 million to Colorado School of Mines and $25 million to South Dakota Mines. Against DOE’s estimate of 6,000 new mining engineers needed over the next decade and a looming “grey tsunami” of 221,000 retirements by 2029, juniors already report junior geologists billing $500–$600 per day and 71% of mining leaders say talent shortages are constraining production.

Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatite projects are being advanced on simplified grade models that ignore strong mineralogical zoning, with cases such as Mount Marion showing fine-grained spodumene and high mica contents can destabilise DMS media, depress concentrate grades and force costly plant retrofits. At Canada’s Tanco pegmatite, assuming a uniform 60:40 spodumene–quartz intergrowth and overlooking iron and phosphate phases contributed to inefficient plant design and shutdowns. Patriot Battery Metals’ Shaakichiuwaanaan feasibility study similarly relies on a 1D Li₂O recovery formula, without 3D modelling of mica, arsenic and antimony domains that could flag low-density clay-rich zones and DMS underperformance.