A proposed framework from the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) urges the Federal Government to establish a national strategic reserve for critical minerals, with rare earths as the initial focus. The plan centres on stockpiling processed products such as NdPr oxide and separated heavy rare earths, rather than unprocessed ore, to buffer supply shocks in defence, EV and grid-scale magnet supply chains. AMEC also calls for long-term offtake contracts and storage facilities co-located with existing processing hubs to anchor new Australian rare earth projects.

The Department for Transport has released a national climate adaptation strategy for Britain’s transport system, setting out how rail, road, ports and aviation infrastructure should cope with more frequent flooding, heatwaves and coastal erosion. Measures include requiring asset owners to embed climate risk into design standards and renewals, prioritising resilience upgrades on critical corridors and interchanges, and improving data on weather-related failures. For geotechnical and civil engineers, this signals tighter expectations on drainage capacity, slope stability, track and pavement performance under extreme temperatures, and long-term asset monitoring.

The UK Trade Remedies Authority has confirmed anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese-built excavators will stand, rejecting appeals from LiuGong and Caterpillar over its May 2025 decision. LiuGong sought to exclude its battery-electric excavators from the product definition, while Caterpillar challenged the calculation of its individual dumping and injury margins and the causal link assessment. Tariffs, introduced following a JCB complaint, remain at 18.81% for one sampled exporter and up to 40.08% residual, affecting UK pricing and procurement of Chinese excavators across fleet renewals.