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CSCS Smart Check has been upgraded with a new API that records GPS coordinates, site ID or name, and the reason for each card scan (pre‑induction, induction, re‑induction, routine check, site entry or other), feeding data from both the web portal and app into approved access and induction systems. The changes are designed to support Building Safety Act compliance and strengthen workforce planning. Combined with CSCS Alliance Workforce Insights, which aggregates anonymised data from over 2.3 million cardholders across 37 schemes, the platform now gives a more granular geographic view of skills and occupational density.

Genesis Energy, New Zealand’s largest electricity retailer and a major generator, has gone live on Workday’s enterprise AI platform to consolidate management of its 1000-plus workforce and financial operations. The deployment brings HR, payroll and finance onto a single cloud system, replacing multiple legacy tools and manual workflows across its thermal, hydro and wind generation assets. For mining and heavy-industry peers, the move signals growing adoption of integrated, AI-enabled back-office platforms to support large asset fleets and complex shift-based labour models.

Seequent has released a major Leapfrog update for mining, adding new workflows for drill hole planning, stratigraphic modelling and data preparation aimed at faster, more consistent resource estimation. The upgrade deepens subsurface modelling by improving handling of complex stratigraphy and drillhole datasets, enabling geologists to iterate models more quickly and reduce manual rework. For mine planning teams, tighter integration of geological models with estimation inputs should sharpen pit optimisation, cut-off decisions and early-stage project evaluation.

Moxa has secured the world’s first IEC 62443-4-2 certification under the IECEE scheme for serial device servers, covering its NPort 6000 G2 series used to connect legacy RS-232/422/485 equipment to IP networks in harsh industrial and mining environments. The certification verifies embedded security functions such as secure boot, user authentication, encrypted protocols and integrity checks at the component level, rather than only at system level. For mines running brownfield SCADA and PLC infrastructure, this signals a path to harden serial-to-Ethernet gateways without wholesale replacement of field devices.

Jenike & Johanson has launched the second module in its Solids Flow Essentials microlearning series, focused on flow patterns in bins, hoppers and chutes for process and plant engineers. The Flow Patterns module covers mass flow versus funnel flow behaviour, common failure modes such as arching and ratholing, and the impact of wall friction and hopper angle on discharge. The short-format training is aimed at engineers responsible for designing or troubleshooting bulk solids handling systems in mines and processing plants, where poor flow can choke crushers, feeders and transfer points.

Rocscience has added a Python-based scripting engine to its RS3 3D finite element software, allowing users to automate model creation, staged construction sequences, and parametric studies that previously required manual input. Engineers can now script geometry generation, material assignment, mesh refinement, and batch analyses, then extract results programmatically for hundreds of scenarios, cutting repetitive setup and post-processing time. The update targets large, complex models such as multi-stage excavations and tunnel–shaft systems where consistent workflows and rapid sensitivity checks are critical.

Water use reduction and reuse remain central challenges for mine operators, with EnviroSys 9.4 from Acquire now deployed as an environmental data management platform to tighten control over site-wide water balances. The system lets environmental teams capture, validate and analyse high-frequency data from pumps, pipelines, tailings storage facilities and discharge points, then trigger actions and generate compliance reports from a single interface. For geotechnical and processing teams, more granular water accounting supports tailings beach management, process water recycling strategies and early detection of leakage or overtopping risks.

Fluke has launched the SmartTrace 2082 Series underground locator, which injects signals to trace metallic cables and pipelines down to 6 m depth while identifying ground faults, sheath faults and coating defects where conductors contact earth. The locator connects via Bluetooth to Fluke’s PointMan app, enabling real-time geolocation, mapping and documentation of buried utilities directly on a smartphone for future works planning. Fluke cites around 60,000 utility strikes per year in UK excavations, positioning SmartTrace as a tool to cut strike risk and improve pre-dig surveys.

World Day for Safety and Health at Work sees Mott MacDonald showcase five digital tools from a Strategic Design Partnership hackathon aimed at tightening hazard management on infrastructure projects. Concepts include automated hazard identification from design models, mobile apps for site-based risk reporting, and dashboards aggregating incident and near-miss data in real time. For civil and geotechnical teams, the focus is on earlier visibility of construction and ground risks, faster feedback loops between site and design, and more structured capture of lessons learned.

Ordnance Survey has launched OS Enhanced Land Cover (ELC) Beta, a national habitat-mapping dataset that fuses OS National Geographic Database topography, OS aerial imagery, OS Terrain 5 and third-party sources including Natural England’s Living England, the Rural Payments Agency’s Crop Map of England and UKHab classifications to support 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) assessments. The tool enables desktop and field workflows for ecologists and developers, with Wessex Water using it via Linckia’s ESRI-based Habitat Fabric platform to assess hundreds of sites in a single spatial view. Linckia reports a 40% cut in data processing costs versus previous methods, rising to 90% compared with processing raw imagery, with OS claiming time savings of days to weeks per development across 1.5 million homes in the pipeline.

Construction firms facing 2026’s cost inflation, labour shortages and volatile materials prices are being pushed towards digital tools such as 4D BIM sequencing, common data environments and site-based tablets for real-time progress tracking. The opinion piece argues that standardising workflows through platforms like Autodesk Construction Cloud or Trimble Viewpoint can cut rework and claims disputes, while sensor-based monitoring of plant and temporary works improves utilisation and early risk detection. For engineers, the message is to prioritise interoperable systems, structured data capture and training budgets over one-off gadget purchases.

Emerson has released DeltaV Live Enterprise View, a browser-based application that extends DeltaV™ distributed control system visualisation securely from the control room to any authorised device on the industrial edge. The software provides real-time operations intelligence to engineering, maintenance, reliability and management teams, integrating with Emerson’s wider edge ecosystem for process control and asset monitoring. For mines running dispersed processing plants and remote infrastructure, this enables site-wide situational awareness without duplicating SCADA screens or exposing core control networks.

Ottawa’s March 2026 commitment of up to $40 million for the Canadian Digital Core Library is framed as strategic infrastructure, treating archived drill core and geoscience data as a foundation for critical mineral sovereignty across cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel and rare earths. Masoud Aali, founder and CEO of Scient Analytics, argues that simply scanning core is inadequate if preprocessing, interpretation, hosting and workflow integration are outsourced to foreign platforms, which “digitise the rock and export the advantage”. He points to Australia’s two‑decade National Virtual Core Library as a model for a large, open, continuous system that embeds domestic analytical capability.

NOCN Group has launched a digital skills passport linked to its skills hub, giving CPCS and other card holders a secure, real‑time record of certifications, CPD, compliance and skills that employers can verify and share digitally. The integrated platform architecture is designed to sit alongside existing contractor and training systems, providing digital logbooks and API connectivity first tested in the 2021 DigiKey pilot linking skills passports to machine controls on HS2. The passport was trialled in India with Nettur Technical Training Foundation and TCS iON, signalling potential for large‑scale, cross‑project workforce competence tracking.

Seequent, the Bentley Subsurface company, is expanding its subsurface modelling and data management tools to help miners better locate, characterise and extract orebodies, building on findings from its 7th Geoprofessionals Data Management Report. The report points to persistent issues with fragmented geoscience datasets, manual workflows and poor interoperability between drilling, geological modelling and mine planning systems. Seequent is responding by tightening integration across its portfolio (including Leapfrog, Central and GeoStudio) so multi-disciplinary teams can work from a single, continuously updated subsurface model.

Nixon Hire has launched Pulse, a browser-based portal for its site cabins and solar assets that tracks real-time energy use, carbon impact and operating cost for off-grid renewable deployments. Developed over 18 months with a reported seven-figure investment in data infrastructure, Pulse provides asset-level performance diagnostics, flags energy generation issues and quantifies fuel and CO₂ savings. Users can benchmark efficiency across multiple sites and periods, export portfolio-wide reports in PDF or Excel, and access depot-level ESG and sustainability metrics for corporate reporting.

Geoscience Australia has completed nationwide coverage of its AUSTopo 1:250,000 digital topographic map series, delivering free, regularly updated mapping for the entire continent. The vector-based datasets include elevation, transport, hydrography and infrastructure layers suitable for GIS workflows, replacing legacy paper and raster products. For mine planners, exploration geologists and infrastructure designers, the uniform scale and national consistency simplify regional targeting, haul road and access corridor planning, and early-stage terrain and drainage assessments.

Bentley Systems has opened submissions for its 2026 Year in Infrastructure (YII) Awards, recognising projects that use its infrastructure engineering software portfolio, including PLAXIS, OpenRoads, and iTwin, across transport, energy, water, and building assets. The awards, building on a 20‑year programme, will honour digital twin deployments, 4D construction modelling, and advanced geotechnical simulations that improve design, construction sequencing, and asset performance. For practitioners, the event signals continued emphasis on model-based workflows, interoperable data environments, and quantified project outcomes rather than purely design aesthetics.

The retirement of Bentley’s gINT platform is forcing geotechnical teams to rethink borehole, lab and in situ data workflows built over decades around .gpj databases and log templates. Firms now face decisions on migrating legacy projects, revalidating correlations and AGS/CSV exports, and integrating cloud-based systems with GIS, BIM and common data environments such as ProjectWise. For practitioners, the key technical risk is loss of data integrity and traceability during conversion, especially where historic projects mix imperial/metric units, custom fields and non-standard symbol libraries.

Sumitomo Heavy Industries and NEC are jointly developing an AI and computer vision system that uses camera feeds from hydraulic excavators and SHI’s SHICuTe ICT/IoT platform data to automatically detect “risk scenes” and generate structured near-miss reports. NEC’s 2023 video recognition and generative AI technology, previously used for road traffic accident analysis, will fuse time- and location-stamped video with machine operating logs as multimodal data to characterise hazardous and prohibited behaviours. Following a successful proof of concept in September 2025, full development starts April 2026, with global deployment targeted for broader construction-site safety management.

Datamine has acquired Mineware Africa and Mineware Consulting to expand its mine management software suite and in‑house advisory capability across exploration, resource modelling, mine planning and operations control. The deal adds Mineware’s production accounting, dispatch and short-interval control tools, along with its implementation consultants, into Datamine’s existing end-to-end digital mining platform. For engineers, the move signals tighter integration between planning, fleet management and production data, potentially simplifying brownfield system upgrades and multi-site standardisation.

Deswik has opened a new office in Jakarta, Indonesia, backed by a local consulting team to support deployment of its mine planning and scheduling software across the country’s open-pit and underground operations. The company will host Deswik Exchange Jakarta on 16 April to showcase practical workflows and case studies drawn from real‑world mining projects. A permanent in‑country team should shorten implementation cycles, improve on‑site training and support, and allow closer integration of Deswik tools with Indonesian regulatory, geotechnical and production planning requirements.

Rapid drawdown in earth and rockfill dams is modelled in Rocscience’s Slide2 by separating gradual, fully transient seepage analyses from a dedicated Rapid Drawdown option that embeds hydrogeologic assumptions directly into limit equilibrium slope stability. Engineers can define initial and final water tables, including partial drawdown lines, and apply four established methods – Effective Stress (B-bar), Duncan–Wright–Wong (1990), USACE (1970) two-stage and Lowe–Karafiath (1960) – to estimate post-drawdown pore pressures and factors of safety. The B-bar approach allows material-specific drainage behaviour to be varied, supporting sensitivity studies where low-permeability cores retain elevated pore pressures after reservoir lowering.

Machine Logic’s Asset Monitoring Tool (AMT) is giving mine operators real-time visibility of operational technology by tagging and tracking individual vehicles, fixed plant and field devices across complex networks. The browser-based interface aggregates data from PLCs, SCADA systems and industrial switches, allowing technicians to pinpoint failed nodes, misconfigured VLANs or offline assets within seconds instead of manually tracing cables. For brownfield sites with legacy control hardware, AMT reduces unplanned downtime and simplifies fault-finding during network changes, equipment moves and expansion projects.

Hitachi Construction Machinery Europe has signed an agreement to factory-fit Trimble Earthworks 3D grade control on its excavators sold across Europe, creating a single-source purchase, training and support route for machine control. Qualifying Hitachi dealers will also supply Trimble WorksManager, enabling remote transfer of construction-ready 3D models, fleet-wide device management and offsite troubleshooting between office and site. The deal signals deeper integration of digital grade control into standard excavator offerings, reducing aftermarket retrofit complexity for contractors adopting precision earthworks workflows.

Traffio’s expansion into the United States marks the next phase of its cloud-based traffic management platform, used to schedule field crews, allocate traffic control devices and manage compliance for roadwork sites. Co-founders Nicholas Inglis and Nathan Wright are targeting large contractors running multi-crew operations, integrating job booking, digital SWMS, asset tracking and invoicing into a single system. For civil contractors and traffic control providers, the move signals growing availability of integrated, software-driven planning tools for lane closures, workzone layouts and labour allocation across multiple jurisdictions.

Jenike & Johanson has launched a Solids Flow Essentials microlearning series targeted at process and plant engineers dealing with bulk solids handling in hoppers, bins and transfer chutes. The short, modular courses focus on practical issues such as arching, ratholing, segregation and wall friction, using Jenike shear testing concepts and flow property measurements to guide bin and silo design. For operations teams, the material offers a structured way to diagnose chronic flow problems and reduce unplanned downtime without full-length training programmes.

HBC Construction (formerly Henry Boot) has become the first major contractor to join MukAway, a digital spoil-management platform that matches sites with surplus soil to projects needing fill. The app, already used by major housebuilders including Vistry, Barratt, Bellway and Keepmoat, operates on a low subscription model to broker soil movements and cut waste to landfill. HBC managing director Lee Powell expects the platform to reduce muck-away costs and enable direct collaboration between contractors and housebuilders on bulk earthworks.

Overland Conveyor Company has returned to private ownership effective 12 February 2026, led by long-term employee and now shareholder-president Paul Ormsbee as it nears 30 years in the conveyor design and software market. The move separates OCC from its former corporate parent and positions its niche tools for complex overland conveyor analysis and optimisation, such as dynamic modelling and belt capacity studies, under tighter specialist control. For mine planners and materials handling engineers, this signals continuity of OCC’s technical direction with potentially faster decision-making on product development and support.

Student licences for PLAXIS and GeoStudio now apply visible watermarks to outputs, with PLAXIS marking all plots and reports and GeoStudio watermarking only exported graphics, not on-screen views. The watermark text typically includes “Student Version” or similar, cannot be removed or hidden, and persists in printed or PDF deliverables, making results unsuitable for formal design submissions, commercial reports, or regulatory approvals. Educators and students are advised to use these licences strictly for teaching, coursework, and non-commercial research, switching to full licences for any professional geotechnical design work.

Finnish aggregate equipment manufacturer Metso has added machine-learning features to its support software to predict maintenance needs and cut crusher and screen downtime by analysing operating data in real time. The system relies on continuous collection of equipment performance and fault data, raising customer concerns over how these datasets are stored, who can access them, and whether they might be shared across fleets or sites. For plant owners, the trade-off is between higher uptime and potential loss of control over sensitive production and condition-monitoring information.

Importing transient pore-water pressure results from SEEP3D into a two-dimensional SLOPE/W analysis is demonstrated using a rapid drawdown embankment case, linking full 3D seepage behaviour with 2D limit equilibrium slope stability. The workflow covers generation of time-dependent pore-pressure distributions in SEEP3D, export of node-based pressures, and mapping onto a 2D section in SLOPE/W for factor-of-safety calculations under falling reservoir levels. This approach allows engineers to capture 3D flow effects, anisotropy and complex boundary conditions while retaining efficient 2D stability modelling.

Ayesa head of ground engineering and tunnelling Cláudio Cabral Dias is pushing wider adoption of subsurface 3D ground modelling to de‑risk next‑generation tunnelling, but warns that success depends on structured retraining rather than simply buying new software. He points to integrated 3D geological models that combine borehole logs, geophysics and historical excavation data to predict fault zones and variable rock mass behaviour ahead of TBM drives. Dias stresses that design teams, site engineers and contractors must all learn to interrogate and update these models in real time if they are to influence alignment, support classes and construction sequencing.

AI tools that auto-generate options for 2D drawings, BIM models and outline design calculations in hours instead of weeks are forcing consultants to rethink fee structures built around the billable hour. Senior engineers may shift from producing drawings to curating AI outputs, validating load paths, checking code compliance and managing design risk, while fewer junior staff are needed for repetitive drafting and quantity take-off. Competitive advantage is likely to hinge on proprietary workflows, training data and QA processes, rather than simply having access to generic AI design software.

Moxa has launched its UC-3400A and UC-4400A 64-bit Arm-based industrial computers with integrated 5G/LTE and Wi-Fi 6, targeting edge deployments in harsh mining environments. The fanless units support wide operating temperatures, DIN-rail or wall mounting, and multiple serial/Ethernet ports for connecting legacy PLCs, sensors and IP cameras across pits, plants and remote haul roads. For mine operators, the combination of cellular and Wi-Fi backhaul enables more resilient telemetry, condition monitoring and fleet data capture where fibre or fixed networks are sparse.

Civiltech Solutions is deploying a cloud-based asset management platform to help Australian councils plan and deliver local road maintenance amid tightening budgets and rising service expectations. The system integrates defect data, pavement condition, work orders and contractor scheduling into a single interface, replacing fragmented spreadsheets and paper-based workflows. For engineers, this enables network-level prioritisation of reseals and rehabilitation, clearer forward works programming, and more defensible funding bids tied to quantified road condition and lifecycle cost scenarios.

Caterpillar has completed its roughly $1.1 billion acquisition of mining software specialist RPMGlobal, adding mine planning, scheduling and simulation platforms such as XPAC, HAULSIM and TALPAC to its portfolio. The deal folds RPMGlobal’s cloud-based enterprise solutions for fleet management, maintenance and ESG reporting into Caterpillar’s MineStar ecosystem, tightening integration between OEM equipment data and planning tools. For engineers, this signals deeper OEM-backed digital workflows for haulage optimisation, drill-and-blast design and life-of-mine scheduling, with potential lock-in around Caterpillar machine data and interfaces.

Caterpillar has completed its acquisition of Brisbane-based RPMGlobal Holdings, adding mine planning, scheduling and operations management software to its existing mining equipment and autonomy portfolio. RPMGlobal’s data-driven platforms span the full mining value chain, from long-term pit optimisation and truck–shovel scheduling to short-interval control and maintenance planning, giving Caterpillar tighter integration between fleet hardware, telemetry and decision-support tools. For engineers, this signals deeper OEM-backed support for model-based planning, productivity analytics and site-wide digital twins across Caterpillar-equipped operations.

Dewatering design for a deep well system is modelled in GeoStudio using SEEP/W to simulate transient drawdown and quantify inflow to an excavation, with wells arranged around the perimeter and pumped to lower the groundwater table below formation level. The example compares different pumping rates and well spacings, showing effects on pore water pressures, hydraulic gradients and potential instability in adjacent slopes and structures. For practitioners, it illustrates how to test alternative layouts and pumping schedules numerically before committing to well installation on site.

Eclipse Mining Technologies is rebranding and releasing a major upgrade of its SourceOne® Enterprise Knowledge Performance System (EKPS) to push AI-enabled decision support beyond mining into other large-scale industries. The new SourceOne release is positioned to integrate operational, planning and maintenance data into a single knowledge layer, aiming to make AI models more auditable and practical for site engineers and managers. For mine operators, this signals tighter linkage between short-interval control, fleet and plant data, and future cross-industry benchmarking on a common EKPS platform.

Schneider Electric has launched EcoStruxure Foxboro Software Defined Automation, billed as the first open, software‑defined Distributed Control System, combining its long‑running Foxboro DCS platform with a virtualised, hardware‑agnostic control layer. The system is aimed at hybrid and process industries, including mining, to decouple control applications from proprietary controllers and run them on standard IT infrastructure. For brownfield plants with legacy Foxboro I/A hardware, this architecture offers a staged path to modernisation, remote operations and tighter integration with existing MES and historian systems.

Seequent has added laboratory testing functionality to its OpenGround cloud geotechnical data platform, allowing soil and rock sample data captured in the field to flow directly into lab reporting workflows. The update links borehole and test pit logs, sample metadata and chain-of-custody information with laboratory test schedules and results in a single environment. For ground investigation teams, this reduces manual data re-entry between site and lab systems and should cut errors in parameters used for foundation, retaining wall and earthworks design.

OpenGround has added integrated geotechnical laboratory testing and reporting, bringing raw lab data entry, automated calculations and approval workflows into the same cloud environment as site investigation data. The release supports direct capture of test results (for example Atterberg limits, triaxial and consolidation data) with automatic population of standardised lab report formats and project databases. For practitioners, this reduces manual spreadsheet handling, simplifies traceability from borehole to design parameters, and enables multi-office teams and external labs to work on a single controlled dataset.

Geoprofessionals in mining and civil sectors are increasingly adopting AI tools but still struggle to extract value from complex, multisource subsurface datasets, according to Seequent’s 7th Geoprofessionals Data Management Report surveying over 1,000 practitioners. Respondents report data spread across multiple software platforms and large volumes of un-managed files, limiting effective integration of geological, geophysical and geotechnical information. The findings signal persistent bottlenecks in model building, QA/QC workflows and cross-discipline data sharing, despite wider availability of AI-assisted interpretation tools.

National Grid has deployed Triton, a digital twin and data visualisation platform developed with Atos, to model future electricity demand at grid supply points and transmission substations and cut infrastructure planning time by up to 70%. The tool integrates asset, demand and network constraint data to test reinforcement options virtually, allowing planners to compare multiple substation upgrade and new connection scenarios before committing to physical design. Faster optioneering is expected to de-risk programme delivery for major connections, including utility-scale renewables and high-load industrial customers.

Automating back analysis in Rocscience RS2 is enabling geotechnical teams to calibrate deep excavation models by iteratively adjusting soil stiffness, strength parameters and support properties against monitored wall deflections and ground movements. The workflow uses Python scripting and RS2’s API to batch-run hundreds of finite element models, compare calculated displacements with inclinometer data, and systematically narrow parameter ranges instead of relying on manual trial‑and‑error. This approach scales to large projects with multiple stages and construction sequences, improving confidence in design envelopes and trigger levels for observational method schemes.

Autodesk reports that contractors using its connected construction platform on infrastructure projects are delivering work up to 30 per cent faster with 25–30 per cent fewer RFIs and change orders, by integrating design models, field data and cost controls in a single environment. Case studies cite clash detection on complex bridge and roadworks, mobile issue tracking on tablets, and centralised document control cutting rework and site delays. For geotechnical and civil teams, the data suggests tighter control of design revisions, as-built records and subcontractor coordination under labour and supply constraints.

Geoprofessionals worldwide now spend over 25% of their time on data management, with Seequent’s 7th Geoprofessionals Data Management Report finding mining specialists at nearly one‑third and civil engineers at over one‑fifth, yet only 39% of mining organisations and 41% of civil teams have defined data frameworks. The survey of 1,000+ respondents shows 80% of mining and 69% of civil practitioners rate data management as highly or critically important, but many still lack a centralised “single source of truth”. AI adoption is accelerating, with 51% of organisations using or considering AI, up from 30% in two years, signalling strong demand for better-structured subsurface and historical datasets.

A custom PLAXIS 3D workflow for Technip Energies has cut repetitive suction pile analyses from multiple manual runs to a single automated “one-and-done” sequence, enabling rapid variation of pile diameter, skirt length and soil parameters. The scripted process standardises boundary conditions, load cases and mesh settings, reducing analyst time and input errors while keeping full 3D finite element rigour. Earlier-stage feasibility teams can now screen more pile geometries and soil scenarios, bringing advanced geotechnical modelling into concept selection rather than reserving it for detailed design.

Emerson has released the latest version of its AspenTech Aspen Mtell® Asset Performance Management platform, adding AI-driven failure prediction on top of foundational asset health monitoring for process and mining operations. The update is designed to let operators move from simple condition-based alerts to scalable, model-based prognostics that can detect emerging equipment degradation and predict time-to-failure across critical assets such as mills, crushers and pumps. For mine operators, the key impact is earlier intervention windows, fewer unplanned shutdowns and more stable throughput without major changes to existing control systems.