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China is projected by Wood Mackenzie to control 39% of global lithium production by 2030 as Chinese capital backs projects such as Huayou Cobalt’s proposed acquisition of Atlantic Lithium and Hainan Mining’s investment in Kodal Minerals’ Bougouni project in Mali. Australia’s share of extraction is forecast to fall from 43% in 2020 to 25% by 2030 while Africa rises to about 13%, with most new African capacity financed from China. Europe is strengthening downstream control via refining and battery plants, including Vulcan Energy in Germany and Sibanye-Stillwater’s Keliber project in Finland, even as North American projects lag.

China’s rare earth dominance is set to “stay firmly in place”, with BMI noting it still controls about 60% of global mined output and almost all processing capacity, while export-controlled shipments of yttrium, dysprosium and terbium to the US remain at just 42%, 41% and 49% of pre-restriction volumes. Yttrium prices have surged 15-fold, disrupting turbine blade thermal barrier coatings and semiconductor insulation supply chains and keeping aerospace OEMs and chip fabs exposed to Chinese licensing decisions. Washington is responding with a $400 million investment into MP Materials and $1.6 billion for USA Rare Earth’s Texas mine-and-processing project, plus targeted partnerships in Australia, Canada, Greenland, Angola, Mozambique, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

Fortescue has started building the 690MW Turner River solar farm in the Pilbara and a 650MWh BESS at its Cloudbreak mine, completing the solar component of its Real Zero plan alongside existing 440MW Solomon Airport, 190MW Cloudbreak and 100MW North Star Junction plants for a combined 1.4GW. Turner River will install over 1 million panels by 2028, while the Cloudbreak BESS will deliver 74MW for about eight hours via 124 battery units, backed by a 133MW Nullagine wind farm and more than 480 km of high‑voltage transmission, extending to 620 km. For mine operators, Fortescue’s parallel fleet electrification—16 electric excavators in service, a 6MW fast charger capable of fully charging a haul truck in ~30 minutes, and incoming battery electric haul trucks and ancillary XCMG equipment—signals rapid scaling of high‑power electrical infrastructure at remote iron ore sites.

Blue Lagoon Resources has declared commercial production at its 100%-owned Dome Mountain gold-silver project in northwest British Columbia after sustaining underground mining rates above 100 tonnes per day for over 30 consecutive days, within a permit allowing up to 55,000 tonnes per year. The company is targeting a steady-state output of 150 tonnes per day as it advances the Boulder Vein system and seeks permits to mine below the 1290 m level and into the nearby Argillite Vein. Offtake partner Ocean Partners Holdings will invest C$3 million in Blue Lagoon equity at C$0.90 per share, with no warrant coverage.

Meiteng Technology’s full-size intelligent coal dry separation plant in Mongolia has run stably since October 2025, using its proprietary DCP Full-Size Coal Dry Separation Dream Plant system under harsh continental climate conditions. The installation applies fully dry, sensor-based coal separation without process water, reducing reliance on traditional dense medium circuits and associated tailings dams. For mine operators in arid or freezing regions, the project signals growing viability of large-scale dry beneficiation where water supply, freezing pipelines and slurry management constrain conventional plants.

Construction has commenced on Fortescue’s 690 MW Turner River solar farm in the Pilbara and a 650 MWh BYD-based BESS at Cloudbreak, the final major assets in its Real Zero decarbonisation plan for iron ore operations. The utility-scale PV and storage will feed Fortescue’s integrated Pilbara Energy Connect network, designed to displace large diesel and gas loads across multiple mines. For mine planners and electrical engineers, the build-out signals rapid scaling of high-penetration renewables and grid-forming storage in remote, weak-grid conditions.

Meeka Metals has started ore development at the high-grade Judy North orebody within the Andy Well underground mine in Western Australia, with early development faces showing visible gold and strong grades. Judy North, previously unmined, contains an initial resource of 96,000 ounces at 5.4 grams per tonne gold and has been accessed from existing Andy Well underground infrastructure. The move signals a shift from resource definition to production development, with potential to quickly add higher-grade stopes into the mine schedule.

Victory Metals has secured acceptance into the US Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC), giving its North Stanmore rare earths project near Cue in Western Australia direct visibility to US defence procurement and R&D programmes. The clay-hosted project is targeting magnet rare earths such as neodymium and praseodymium, positioning it as a potential non-Chinese supply option for permanent magnets used in missiles, radars and electric drives. For geotechnical and mining teams, DIBC status signals likely pressure to accelerate resource definition, metallurgical testwork on clay processing, and ESG-compliant mine design.

Black Cat Syndicate will spend $11 million on a 35,000m drilling campaign at its Coyote gold operation in Western Australia’s Tanami region, starting in June 2026 and more than tripling the scale of any program since acquisition. The large-scale program signals a step-up in resource definition and extension drilling around existing underground workings, with implications for mine planning, geotechnical characterisation and long-term production scheduling. For contractors and consultants, the 2026 field season will bring demand for additional rigs, drilling crews, core logging, and structural and hydrogeological analysis.

Fortescue has started building a 690‑megawatt solar farm at Turner River in the Pilbara and a 650‑megawatt‑hour battery energy storage system at its Cloudbreak iron ore operations, advancing its Real Zero decarbonisation strategy. The assets form part of the Pilbara Green Grid, an integrated renewables and transmission network intended to displace gas and diesel generation across multiple mine sites. For engineers, the scale of the PV and BESS installations signals future demand for high‑capacity grid connections, foundation design in cyclonic conditions, and mine‑site load management integration.

Forrestania Resources has agreed to acquire 100 per cent of Midas Minerals’ Newington gold project in Western Australia, securing a package of granted mining and exploration tenements in a historically high-yield gold district. The transaction consolidates Forrestania’s Western Australian gold footprint around Newington, giving it full control over both existing mining leases and surrounding exploration ground. For geologists and mine planners, the deal creates a larger, contiguous tenure position that can support district-scale resource definition and staged development drilling.

Stillwater Critical Minerals is advancing its Stillwater West project in Montana with new rhodium assays from eight holes in a 3,472-metre 2025 drill campaign at Chrome Mountain and Iron Mountain feeding an updated resource estimate due next month. The current 2023 inferred resource stands at 255 million tonnes at 0.2% nickel-equivalent cut-off, containing 1.64 billion lb nickel-copper-cobalt, 3.81 million oz palladium-platinum-rhodium-gold, 115,000 oz rhodium and 2.3 billion lb chromium in a Platreef-style, bulk-tonnage setting. Backed by Glencore’s 15% stake and more than 40,000 metres of drilling support, the company is funded for its largest drill programme yet and planning a first PEA later this year.

CRCHI’s first mining tunnel boring machine has begun underground cutting at NFCA’s Chambishi copper mine in Zambia’s Copperbelt, with initial rotation of the cutterhead starting on 13 May. Developed in Changsha, Hunan, by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation, the TBM marks the debut of a China-designed unit specifically for mining applications rather than civil tunnelling. For mine planners and geotechnical teams, successful performance at Chambishi could open wider use of TBMs for long ore drives and access tunnels in hard-rock African operations.

Fortescue has installed its first production-series Fortescue Zero battery-electric power system into a Liebherr T 264, a 240 t class haul truck, at Liebherr’s mining equipment proving grounds near Newport News, Virginia. The integration of the full battery system into the diesel-designed T 264 chassis marks a key step towards OEM-agnostic retrofits of large mining trucks, enabling mine operators to trial high-capacity battery haulage on existing fleets. Engineers will now focus on duty-cycle validation, thermal management and charging interface performance under proving-ground conditions.

Testing of XCMG’s two super large battery electric prototypes for Fortescue – the XC9260BEWL wheel loader and XC9260BEWD wheel dozer – is continuing at the OEM’s Xuzhou proving grounds in China following their official unveiling in February 2026. The ultra-class units are undergoing performance and durability trials under load and duty cycles representative of Pilbara iron ore operations before being shipped to Western Australia. Results will inform battery pack configuration, thermal management and charging strategies for deployment in high-temperature, high-dust mine environments.

Dyno Nobel and TesMan have formed a strategic partnership to combine commercial explosives expertise with underground mining robotics and product development. The collaboration targets automation of hazardous tasks around charging, blasting and post-blast inspection in confined headings, aiming to keep personnel further from faces while maintaining or improving cycle times. For mine operators, the move signals more integrated blast systems where detonator timing, explosive loading and robotic deployment can be engineered as a single package rather than separate technologies.

Americas Gold and Silver will issue 7.96 million shares at $5.57 each to Sprott Mining to cancel the remaining 592,000 oz silver delivery under the Galena complex stream, removing about $45 million in future variable debt and associated derivative earnings volatility. The move increases Sprott Mining’s equity stake to roughly 15% while freeing Galena’s multi-year turnaround—centred on long-hole stoping, fleet upgrades and shaft improvements—from encumbrances as it targets 3.2–3.6 million oz silver output in 2026. Galena’s role as the largest active US antimony producer and the planned integration of the nearby Crescent mine’s 22.9 million oz historical silver resources remain central to the asset strategy.

BHP must, under a revised 78‑page Olympic Dam indenture agreement tabled in the South Australian parliament, assess within two years whether rare earths and other critical or strategic minerals such as neodymium and praseodymium can be commercially recovered from current waste streams. If BHP deems extraction technically or economically unviable, third parties must be given an opportunity to commercialise these minerals, while the framework also enables consideration of a A$4 billion copper refinery expansion and up to A$12.7 billion in further mine and concentrator upgrades by 2032. The pact additionally requires BHP to submit by May 2031 a plan to cease Great Artesian Basin groundwater extraction by May 2036, with a Port Augusta seawater desalination scheme being advanced to support a potential lift in South Australian copper output towards 650,000 tonnes per year by the mid‑2030s.

McEwen has already received US$58.2 million in dividends from the San José gold-silver mine in Argentina, above its full-year US$40–50 million target, after a further US$49.4 million payment from 51% operator Hochschild Mining. The stronger balance sheet – including US$56.5 million cash, US$13.5 million in marketable securities and US$457 million invested in McEwen Copper – is expected to let the company fund growth with limited equity issuance. Management is targeting 250,000–300,000 gold-equivalent ounces per year by 2030, with San José contributing 59,000–64,000 GEOs in 2026 and new output from the Stock mine (H2 2026) and El Gallo (mid-2027).

MAX Power Mining has secured C$25 million from Eric Sprott via a private placement of 12.5 million units at C$2.00, each with a warrant at C$2.75, to accelerate drilling at its Lawson natural hydrogen system in Saskatchewan’s 475 km-long Genesis Trend. The company has selected three initial drill targets using 3D seismic to pinpoint structurally optimal zones for natural hydrogen and helium flow, volume and concentration, and will run a 2D seismic programme along the trend to refine additional prospects. For geoscientists and drilling engineers, the work aims to validate what MAX Power calls the world’s first large-scale commercial natural hydrogen discovery.

A Chilean environmental court has annulled the permit for Collahuasi’s $3.2 billion desalination plant, forcing a reassessment of the seawater system that pumps desalinated water nearly 200 km from the Pacific coast to the 4,600‑metre‑elevation mine, which produced over 404,000 tonnes of copper in 2025. The decision affects an expansion intended to add 20 years of mine life and cut reliance on continental water, even though contractor Techint completed the pumping system in April. Industry leaders, including Chilean Mining Chamber president Manuel Viera, cite the case as evidence of a “cursed” regime where a single project can need 500+ permits, raising schedule and cost risk for large‑scale desalination and water‑supply infrastructure.

Mineral Mining Services (MMS) has secured a contract expansion with Tennant Mines at the Nobles project in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, extending its work into the Juno and Golden Forty box cuts plus the Golden Kangaroo area at the historic goldfield. The deal materially increases MMS’s open-cut mining scope, consolidating multiple adjacent pits under a single contractor. Geotechnical teams will need to manage legacy workings and variable ground conditions typical of Tennant Creek’s narrow, high-grade gold lodes as MMS deepens and widens existing box cuts.

Sandvik Mining has launched a significantly upgraded Toro LH208L low-profile loader for 1.8 m headroom operations, pairing a high payload-to-weight ratio with an improved powertrain and a new Stage V diesel engine for lower emissions. The redesign targets higher productivity and reduced cost-per-tonne in narrow, low-seam stopes where conventional 2 m-class LHDs struggle with clearance and manoeuvrability. Added safety and operator comfort features are aimed at better ergonomics and reduced exposure in constrained underground environments.

Pilar Gold Inc has selected Resemin and Sotreq as strategic equipment partners to supply a new underground fleet for the restart and modernisation of its PGDM gold mining complex in Brazil. The ordered package includes Resemin jumbo drills and production rigs, paired with TEMPUS-branded underground support equipment, to mechanise drilling and production across the mine’s ramp-accessed stopes. The deal signals a shift from legacy fleets towards standardised, OEM-supported rigs, with implications for ground support design, development advance rates and maintenance planning at PGDM.