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RKX Rock Extraction is set to unveil an electric pulse rock-breaking system at Hillhead 2026, targeting operations where explosives are restricted or supply-constrained and hydraulic hammers are slow, noisy and maintenance-intensive. The Lisburn-based company’s technology uses high-voltage electrical pulses to fracture rock in situ, eliminating on-site explosive storage and reducing flyrock, vibration and dust. For mines and quarries facing tight vibration limits near infrastructure or communities, the method could open additional extraction zones and simplify permitting for selective breakage and scaling.

Greenland Resources has joined Luleå Tekniska Universitet’s BOREAS consortium, alongside 12 other partners, to develop autonomous robotic systems for its Malmbjerg molybdenum project in central-east Greenland. The collaboration targets robotic support for construction, operation and maintenance in remote, high-relief terrain, where steep slopes, ice, and limited access complicate conventional open-pit development. For mine planners and geotechnical teams, the work signals future deployment of field robots for tasks such as bench inspection, slope monitoring and infrastructure upkeep under Arctic conditions.

Saturn Metals has reported further strong reverse circulation results from 35 holes totalling 6820m at its 100 per cent owned Apollo Hill heap leach gold project near Leonora, Western Australia, supporting plans for a mineral resource upgrade. The drilling targets resource development within the existing Apollo Hill system, where previous work has already defined a large, low‑grade gold inventory amenable to heap leach processing. For mine planners and geotechnical teams, the results point to potential for expanded pit shells and leach pad capacity if continuity and grade are confirmed in the forthcoming resource update.

Brightstar Resources is preparing to move into full-scale construction at its Goldfields gold project in Western Australia within weeks, with final regulatory approvals pending. Managing director Alex Rovira says the approvals will allow Brightstar to execute its development schedule and transition rapidly from pre-development to build and commissioning. For contractors and suppliers in the WA Goldfields, the timing signals imminent demand for earthworks, plant construction and supporting civil and geotechnical services once the approvals land.

Victoria’s push to produce one million ounces of gold annually by 2035 is central to a broader critical minerals strategy outlined by Minerals Council of Australia regional director James Sorahan on the inaugural Australian Mining Podcast. Sorahan points to the state’s established orogenic goldfields and emerging antimony prospects as a dual focus, positioning Victoria for both bullion output and supply of a key battery and alloy element. For miners and explorers, the message is to leverage existing underground gold infrastructure while targeting polymetallic systems with critical mineral credits.

Arafura Rare Earths has approved construction of the Nolans rare earths project, 135km north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, after more than 20 years of exploration and feasibility work. Backed by federal funding and offtake support from international customers including Hyundai and Kia, Nolans is designed as an integrated mine and processing plant producing neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide for permanent magnets. The project strengthens non-Chinese supply options for magnet rare earths, with implications for long-term contracts, processing technology selection and downstream value-adding in Australia.

MMD Australia is targeting rare earth element projects with its next-generation HYD Sizer, redesigned for variable ore hardness, higher moisture contents and tighter product size control than earlier MMD sizers. The unit incorporates hydraulic drive and modular tooth configurations to handle both soft overburden and abrasive rare earth-bearing ores in a single machine, reducing the need for multiple crushing stages. For geometallurgy and plant designers, the HYD Sizer’s adaptability to changing feed characteristics offers flexibility for deposits with complex mineralogy and fluctuating throughput.

Sandvik’s battery-electric surface concept drill, which recently completed 17.5 km of drilling in 542 operating hours at Boliden’s Kevitsa open pit in Finland, is now heading for field trials at Lloyds Metals operations in India. The rig is designed for down-the-hole (DTH) production drilling with hole diameters up to 229 mm, targeting typical surface bench applications currently dominated by diesel units. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the trial will give real-world data on energy consumption, duty cycles and potential reductions in fuel logistics and local emissions.

Martin Engineering has acquired Australian conveyor specialist ConveyorTech Pty Ltd (CVT), adding CVT’s proprietary belt cleaners and conveyor components to its global bulk material handling portfolio. The deal significantly broadens Martin’s range of primary and secondary belt scrapers, wear liners and sealing systems for high-capacity mining and materials processing conveyors. For operators, the combined catalogue should simplify standardisation of conveyor hardware across sites and give more options to address carryback, spillage and dust control on long overland and plant conveyors.

Exploration momentum is building across Australia as Auravelle Metals, Terrain Minerals and Amara Minerals push gold and antimony projects forward via reverse circulation (RC) drilling, technical studies and early-stage resource work. Terrain is advancing its Lightning gold project towards a maiden resource while also running new RC drilling campaigns at Nuckulla Hill to test extensions to known mineralisation. Amara is reporting growing confidence in a deepening antimony system at Lauriston, signalling potential for larger-scale, higher-grade underground targets.

Metso has secured orders worth over €10 million to supply two Premier horizontal grinding mills to Emerald Resources’ Dingo Range Gold Project in Western Australia and Memot Gold Project in Cambodia, booked in Metso’s Minerals segment Q2 2026. The package includes a 12 ft x 18 ft, 1.6 MW Premier ball mill for Dingo Range and a 15 ft x 22 ft, 3 MW Premier SAG mill for Memot, both with Metso’s gear-driven technology. The mills are designed for gold ore grinding circuits, with Metso providing engineering support and spare parts to optimise throughput and availability.

Marimaca Copper is insulating its $587 million Marimaca oxide heap-leach project in northern Chile from sulphuric acid price spikes by buying and planning to relocate the second-hand Dos Amigos acid plant from Mejillones, 25 km away, acquired for $2.5 million versus an estimated $50–70 million for a new installation. The 13-year SX-EW operation is designed to produce 50,000 t/y of copper cathode from 178.6 Mt at 0.42% Cu, with a post-tax NPV of $709 million and 31% IRR at $4.30/lb. Parallel drilling at the nearby Pampa Medina target is returning long sulphide intercepts such as 424 m at 0.58% Cu and 2.2 g/t Ag from 424 m, indicating stacked oxide–sulphide potential beyond the starter oxide phase.

USA Rare Earth has been selected by the US Department of Energy for up to $19.3 million in funding under the Critical Materials Innovation, Efficiency and Alternatives programme to build a pilot-scale rare earth separations facility, within a $50.5 million project backed by $31.2 million in non-DOE capital. The company is pursuing a fully integrated rare earths and magnet supply chain, adding UK-based Less Common Metals in 2025 and a 12.5% stake in French processor Carester SAS in April, alongside a proposed $1.6 billion US Department of Commerce package. A separate $2.8 billion acquisition of Brazil’s Serra Verde and its Pela Ema mine, which could supply about half of ex-China heavy rare earth output by 2027, is under antitrust review in Brazil and includes a 15-year US offtake for Nd, Pr, Dy and Tb.

Southern Copper will spend $318.6 million over 17 months to overhaul the Cuajone mine in Peru’s Moquegua region, adding a new filter press at the concentrator, a dedicated electrical substation and control room, and relocating part of the freshwater pipeline. The programme also prepares 25.3 hectares for additional leaching and upgrades the sewer network, aiming to sustain roughly 163,000 tonnes per year of fine copper output as ore grades decline. Parallel $79 million works at Toquepala include a desliming unit, new tailings thickeners and seepage controls, building on Copper Mark and GISTM-compliant tailings management.

Codelco has dismissed one executive and sanctioned seven others after an internal audit found about 26,875 tonnes of copper from Chuquicamata and Ministro Hales were misclassified as 2025 finished output rather than work‑in‑process, implying production fell to its lowest level since 1998. The overstated tonnage, roughly 2% of Codelco’s 1.33 Mt of fine copper output, allowed the miner to hit an exceptional December target well above the January–November average of 105,600 t/month and inflated incentive payments. Findings on misuse of exception rules and weak operational validation have been referred to prosecutors, just as incoming chairman Bernardo Fontaine prepares a four‑year plan including a $2 billion integration of Chuquicamata, Radomiro Tomic and Ministro Hales.

Critical Metals has signed a 15-year offtake agreement with US magnet producer REalloys covering up to 15% of rare earth concentrate output from the Tanbreez project in southern Greenland, with priority on heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium and rights of first refusal on extra volumes. Tanbreez hosts about 45 million tonnes at 0.4% total rare earth oxides with an estimated 27% heavy REE content, and is planned to ramp from roughly 85,000 t REO by 2028–29 to about 425,000 t/y. With this deal and an existing Ucore Rare Metals commitment, around 75% of expected concentrate production is now under offtake, giving REalloys long-term feedstock ahead of US 2027 defence procurement restrictions.

Greenland Mines is acquiring Neo Performance Materials’ Sarfartoq rare earth project in southwest Greenland for $35 million (US$20 million cash, US$15 million in shares), with Neo retaining offtake rights over up to 60% of future ore or concentrate. The carbonatite-hosted deposit, about 60 km from Kangerlussuaq, has a historic resource of 5.88 Mt indicated at 1.77% TREO and 2.46 Mt inferred at 1.59% TREO, with Nd-Pr comprising 25–40% of TREO and drill intercepts up to 8 m at 6.5% TREO. Existing 23,000 m of drilling, metallurgical test work and environmental baseline studies will feed into an updated PEA targeting a path to commercial production.

Perpetua Resources has secured unanimous approval for a US Export-Import Bank $2.9 billion loan under the Make More in America Initiative to build the $1.3 billion Stibnite Gold project in Idaho, which hosts the only identified domestic antimony reserve. The financing, combined with existing cash, is expected to fully fund direct construction, supporting the US Army’s “ground-to-round” antimony trisulphide supply chain for ammunition and wider defence uses. The project, designated a FAST-41 Transparency Project, has completed extensive scientific and public review, while Perpetua’s market capitalisation sits at $3.34 billion.

Copper’s record run to $6.667/lb ($14,700/t) now gives 75 operating copper mines nominal annual copper revenues above $1 billion based on 2025 mine-level production, up from 52 on the previous MINING.COM “unicorn” list. The analysis excludes byproduct credits, meaning several large Cu-Au or Cu-Mo operations would exceed $1 billion at effectively negative net copper cost once gold, molybdenum or cobalt are accounted for. With copper making up nearly 6% of initial capex for hyperscale data centres, the sector is positioned to capture a larger share of AI-driven infrastructure spending.

Exploration-focused AI platform MinersAI is expanding into the Asia-Pacific region with a new headquarters in Perth, Western Australia, targeting one of the world’s most active mining innovation hubs. The company, which positions itself as a computational discovery partner for the global resources sector, has appointed Leon Morgan as Global Chief Revenue Officer to drive commercial growth from the Perth base. For exploration teams, the move signals increased local access to AI-driven target generation and data-integration services across Australian and broader APAC projects.

Sandvik has secured a further mining equipment order from Aris Mining to support the 100%-owned Segovia underground gold operations in Antioquia, Colombia, one of the highest-grade gold mines globally with a reserve grade of about 10.7 g/t Au. The additional Sandvik fleet is expected to be deployed into the narrow-vein, high-grade stopes typical of the historic Segovia district, where mechanisation levels and equipment reliability directly constrain production rates. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the deal signals continued investment in modern mobile equipment to sustain high-grade underground output.

Metso has secured orders worth over €10 million to supply two horizontal grinding mills to Emerald Resources NL for the Dingo Range gold project in Western Australia and the Memot gold project in Cambodia, with booking recorded in the Minerals segment’s June 2026 quarter. The twin-mill package signals parallel process plant build-outs across two jurisdictions, giving Emerald commonality in comminution equipment, spares and control philosophy. For project engineers, early mill selection fixes key design envelopes for foundations, power demand and downstream throughput at both greenfield sites.

GR Engineering Services has signed an EPC contract with Genesis Minerals’ subsidiary Genesis Minerals (Leonora) Pty Ltd for the Tower Hill gold project near Leonora in Western Australia, after previously being named preferred contractor. The scope covers detailed engineering, procurement and construction of the processing plant and associated non-process infrastructure for the brownfields expansion. Project engineers will be watching for plant throughput design, integration with existing Leonora operations and any geotechnical requirements for foundations and tailings or waste storage once detailed specifications are released.

MaxMine has rolled out a production-grade machine learning system for load and dump classification across Australian mine fleets operated by Glencore, NRW Holdings and Macmahon, with the platform now running continuously for six months. The edge-deployed models automatically tag truck payload events in near real time, sharply cutting missed or misclassified loads and reducing manual data cleaning by site engineers. Early results point to tighter haulage cycle control and more reliable production reporting, giving dispatch and planning teams higher-confidence payload and cycle-time data.