Geomechanics.io

Macmahon Holdings’ underground subsidiary has secured a 12‑month extension to provide underground mining services at Black Cat Syndicate’s Majestic gold mine in Western Australia, following successful establishment of the underground portal and first access. The contract continues Macmahon’s role in developing stopes beneath the existing open pit, using conventional drill‑and‑blast with truck haulage to surface. For contractors and owners, the extension signals confidence in portal ground support design, early development performance and the viability of Majestic’s underground orebody.

FLS has inaugurated a US$15 million expansion of its Karaganda service centre in Kazakhstan, its main regional hub since 2015 for maintaining and refurbishing mineral processing equipment. The enlarged facility supports onsite services, precision machining, testing, repair and refurbishment across a wide range of FLS flowsheet products, from comminution to separation equipment. For Central Asian mines, the upgrade should shorten overhaul lead times and reduce reliance on overseas workshops for critical mill, crusher and process plant components.

Volvo Trucks India has launched the Volvo FMX Edge, a new-generation off-road dump truck for mining, at its Hoskote manufacturing facility near Bengaluru in front of key mining customers and executives from Volvo Trucks and VE Commercial Vehicles. Positioned for overburden and ore haulage in Indian surface mines, the FMX Edge builds on the FMX platform with higher payload capability and improved fuel efficiency tailored to long, high-gradient haul roads. The model targets lower cost per tonne through optimised driveline, reinforced chassis and uptime-focused service support.

Sandvik has launched AutoMine Aura, a next-generation underground automation platform that overhauls its 20‑year‑old AutoMine system with full situational awareness and a new software architecture. The platform is designed to coordinate mixed fleets of loaders and trucks across multiple levels, integrating collision avoidance, real‑time 3D visualisation and high‑precision localisation over mine‑wide networks. For engineers, the key shift is from machine‑centric automation to a mine‑wide, data‑driven control layer that can support higher traffic densities and more complex autonomous haulage layouts.

RZ Resources has secured New South Wales Government development approval for its $693 million Copi critical minerals project in the state’s far south-west, about 75km north-west of Wentworth and 180km south-west of Broken Hill, targeting first production in early 2029. The project will produce zircon, rutile and rare earth elements from strandline-style mineral sands, positioning Copi within an established Murray Basin mining corridor with existing haulage and export infrastructure. Geotechnical and civil design will need to address arid-zone tailings storage, groundwater management and long-distance power and road access in a remote environment.

Brightstar Resources has approved the final investment decision for its Goldfields project in Western Australia, enabling full-scale construction of a new 1.5 million‑tonne‑per‑annum gold processing plant at Laverton. The go‑ahead follows receipt of key regulatory clearances, including Mining Development and Closure Proposal approval from the WA Department of Mines, Petroleum and Energy. Plant design, tailings storage and closure planning will now move from study phase to detailed engineering and execution, locking in long‑lead procurement and contractor mobilisation across the Laverton hub.

Ageing blast-hole drill rigs on Australian mine sites are being put through structured overhauls by Motion Australia once reactive repairs become uneconomic and reliability drops. The programme uses condition monitoring data, detailed component inspection and controlled workshop execution to rebuild key systems such as rotary heads, feed assemblies and undercarriages rather than relying on ad hoc field fixes. For maintenance planners, the approach shifts spend from frequent unplanned shutdowns to scheduled rebuild intervals, extending rig service life and stabilising drilling availability.

ABB has formed a strategic partnership with Point Laz to integrate the Lazaruss™ mine shaft monitoring system into ABB’s mine hoist portfolio, targeting safer and more reliable hoist inspection in deep underground shafts. The collaboration focuses on an integrated service offering that combines continuous shaft condition monitoring with hoist control and maintenance planning, moving inspections away from purely manual, periodic checks. For engineers, this signals growing scope to link hoist performance data with real-time shaft integrity information for earlier detection of lining, guide and conveyance issues.

BHP has defended delaying major Pilbara decarbonisation projects, including a board-approved $400 million solar-and-battery installation at Jimblebar and a wider $1.3 billion renewable power plan linked to electric haul trucks and rail, citing the lack of commercially viable 240‑tonne battery-electric haul trucks at fleet scale. The miner says it has already cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions 36% from 2020 to June 2025, largely by sourcing 70% of its electricity from renewables, and is trialling two battery-electric trucks plus four battery-electric locomotives. This stance contrasts with Rio Tinto and Fortescue’s more aggressive electrification timelines, despite similar technical and cost constraints on heavy mobile equipment.

Kinross Gold will invest $3 billion to develop the Lobo Marte project in Chile’s Atacama region, a 22‑year, 2,312‑hectare operation at 4,200 metres elevation designed for about 35,000 tonnes per day of ore and 4.7 million recoverable ounces of gold at 1.29 g/t. Sequential open pits at Marte and Lobo will truck ore to a primary crusher and heap leach facility, supplied by existing Mantos de Oro wells and a new 220 kV transmission line tied to upgraded regional roads. Construction is slated for 2027–2030, with Kinross planning district integration with the nearby La Coipa mine and Chilean reforms proposing lower mining patent fees and streamlined permitting.

British Columbia and the Yukon risk ceding critical minerals investment to the US and Australia unless they speed mine builds, grid expansion and permitting, PwC Canada’s BC Mine 2025 report warns. Metallurgical coal’s share of BC mining revenue fell from just over 60% in 2023 to under 50% last year, while copper rose to 25%, as Ottawa prioritises Newmont’s Red Chris, LNG Canada Phase 2 and the North Coast Transmission Line. PwC flags northern transmission constraints and corridor-based planning in the Yukon and northwest BC as decisive for turning approvals into producing assets.

Vizsla Silver has secured a 173 million peso (≈$10 million) five-year working capital facility from Mexican state-backed lender FIFOMI for its Panuco silver-gold project in Sinaloa, priced at the TIIE rate plus a 4.6681% margin. Panuco hosts over 102 million oz silver and 829,000 oz gold in reserves, with a feasibility study projecting 17.4 million oz silver-equivalent output per year over 9.4 years, an after-tax NPV5 of $1.8 billion, 111% IRR and a seven-month payback. Shares rose 2.6%, valuing Vizsla at C$1.78 billion.

A resource update at First Phosphate’s Bégin-Lamarche project in northeastern Quebec has lifted indicated resources more than fourfold to 198.5 million pit-constrained tonnes at 6% P2O5, added 6.2 million measured tonnes at 7.7% P2O5, and cut inferred resources to 89.5 million tonnes at 6.16% P2O5 from 68,345 metres of drilling in 276 holes. Metallurgical tests show a 40.4% apatite concentrate, supporting plans for a 10,000‑tonne‑per‑year iron phosphate plant and a proposed phosphoric acid facility near the deep-water Port of Saguenay, 70 km away.

New South Wales has approved RZ Resources’ A$693 million Copi mineral sands mine, designed to produce up to 400,000 tonnes of critical mineral ore per year over an 18‑year life from a deposit 75 km northwest of Wentworth. The operation will supply titanium minerals (rutile, leucoxene, ilmenite), premium zircon and rare earths (monazite, xenotime), feeding RZ’s existing mineral separation plant on the Brisbane River, the only major facility of its type on Australia’s east coast. Backing from JX Advanced Metals, Marubeni and prospective US EXIM financing signals strong geopolitical interest in Copi’s role in Quad-aligned supply chains.

Sandvik has launched AutoMine® Aura, a new underground mining automation platform described as the biggest upgrade to AutoMine® in over 20 years and engineered to provide full situational awareness across fleets. The system overhauls every layer of the existing AutoMine® stack, integrating data from multiple sensors and machines into a unified control environment to support autonomous loading, hauling and drilling. For mine operators, the platform signals a shift towards more tightly integrated, multi-equipment automation architectures that depend on robust underground communications and high-fidelity environmental modelling.

Metso is rolling out a next-generation single-pass process to convert spodumene concentrate directly into battery-grade lithium carbonate, targeting higher yield and lower operating costs than conventional multi-stage routes. The flowsheet is designed as a continuous, single-pass circuit rather than batch leaching and multiple crystallisation steps, cutting thermal and reagent demand and reducing waste streams. For lithium project developers, this offers a compact, integrated plant option that can simplify permitting, shrink footprint and potentially improve project economics for hard-rock spodumene deposits.

Mineral Resources has taken Final Investment Decision to expand the Mt Marion lithium operation at Karramindie, Western Australia, with joint venture partner Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium, adding a new flotation plant and transitioning to include underground mining. The project will shift the site from a solely open-pit, DMS-focused operation towards higher-recovery concentrator flowsheets more typical of hard-rock spodumene plants. For geotechnical and mining teams, underground development will require new ground control regimes, revised dewatering strategies and re-optimised ore scheduling around the expanded processing capacity.

Sandvik’s 2024 acquisition of Universal Field Robots is extending its AutoMine® automation platform beyond underground loaders and trucks to include UFR’s diesel and battery-electric robotic carriers for tasks such as explosives loading, scaling and secondary break. Integration work is targeting AutoMine-compatible control of UFR machines via Sandvik’s existing automation infrastructure, including shared navigation, collision avoidance and traffic management. For mine operators, this points to a single automation layer coordinating production fleets and specialised robotic carriers in high-risk areas like drawpoints, crusher chambers and brow headings.

Haultrax has doubled active site deployments of its mining fleet management system since unveiling a new commercial model, redesigned user interface and system enhancements at IMARC 2025, with further rollouts already scheduled. The updated FMS targets faster onboarding and lower upfront cost, aiming to displace spreadsheet- and radio-based dispatch with tablet-driven in-cab units and real-time haulage data. For mine operators, the rapid uptake signals growing appetite for lightweight FMS deployments that can be implemented without full OEM control system overhauls.

Epiroc has signed a global strategic partnership with SANY Group to jointly target mining and infrastructure projects by combining Epiroc’s hydraulic breakers and related rock excavation tools with SANY’s excavators and other heavy equipment. The agreement focuses on cross-brand product packages and coordinated sales in selected markets, positioning the pair to offer integrated fleets rather than standalone machines. For mine operators and contractors, this could simplify procurement, improve attachment–carrier compatibility, and support more standardised maintenance regimes across mixed equipment fleets.

Volvo Construction Equipment and Hitachi Energy have signed an MoU to jointly develop end-to-end electrified solutions for zero-emission quarrying and construction sites, combining battery-electric and hybrid machines with grid-connected and off-grid power systems. The partnership will integrate clean power supply, mobile charging infrastructure and site-level energy management to match high-load equipment cycles and variable grid capacity. For mine and quarry operators, this points to packaged designs where fleet electrification, substation design and microgrid control are engineered together rather than as separate procurements.

Arafura Rare Earths has secured $350 million in commitments via a two‑tranche institutional placement of about 1.3462 billion new fully paid ordinary shares, days after the final investment decision for its Nolans rare earths project in the Northern Territory. The raise lifts forecast cash to roughly $1.341 billion, strengthening funding for Nolans’ integrated rare earths mine and processing plant targeting neodymium‑praseodymium oxide. For mining contractors and process plant suppliers, the enlarged balance sheet signals imminent procurement and construction activity on a large greenfield rare earths operation.

Greatland Resources has secured both Western Australian and federal primary environmental approvals for its Havieron underground gold–copper project, clearing a key regulatory hurdle ahead of a planned final investment decision later in 2025. The permits cover mine development and associated surface infrastructure tied to the nearby Telfer processing hub, enabling Greatland to progress detailed engineering, financing and long-lead procurement. For geotechnical and mining teams, the decision signals that decline development, underground stoping design and integration with existing Telfer plant capacity can now move from concept to execution planning.

Taseko Mines plans to rebrand as Trekor Metals, with shareholders voting on 24 June in Vancouver, as it pivots to a North American copper platform built around the Gibraltar, Florence Copper and New Prosperity assets. Florence Copper in Arizona is ramping up after its SX/EW plant started in February, targeting 85 million lb/year over 22 years at forecast operating costs of US$1.11/lb, having produced 1.5 million lb of cathode in Q1 2026 with five drill rigs active. Gibraltar, now 100% owned, delivered 30 million lb of copper and 717,000 lb of molybdenum in Q1 at total costs of US$2.63/lb on 0.25% Cu grades.