Caterpillar has acquired spatial data specialist Skycatch, adding drone-based 3D mapping and high-resolution terrain modelling to its mining technology stack for material movement optimisation. The deal, which follows Caterpillar’s purchase of RPMGlobal, extends digital capabilities from mine planning software into real-time site visualisation and volumetric analysis. For geotechs and mine planners, tighter integration of point-cloud data with fleet management should sharpen blast design, bench stability monitoring and short-interval control without adding survey cycle time.

SANY Group has delivered its first two SY3000E electric mining excavators, each a 300 t class machine, to Indonesian coal miner and contractor Jhonlin Baratama, marking the model’s first overseas deployment. The cable-powered SY3000E is designed for ultra-large open-pit operations, pairing with 220–300 t class trucks and targeting lower unit energy consumption than equivalent diesel excavators. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the move signals growing availability of high-capacity electric primary loading fleets from Chinese OEMs in Southeast Asian coal pits.

China’s structurally closed midstream processing dominance in gallium, graphite, rare earths, lithium and tungsten is described as effectively impossible to dislodge, prompting Nicholas Vafeas to propose a “Critical Dominance Opportunity Index” (CDOI) to measure where new entrants can still gain leverage. Base metals such as copper, nickel and chromium remain contestable, whereas tungsten shows how China is now moving to monopolise circularity frameworks and secondary processing of tungsten waste streams. The argument is that Western €10 billion-scale investments must shift from “catch-up” refining in closed markets to contestable midstream and recycling niches where strategic control is still achievable.