A 13.46m diameter Herrenknecht Mixshield TBM has broken through into the future Balboa station on Panama Metro Line 3 after completing the first-ever TBM undercrossing of the Panama Canal at depths exceeding 60m below sea level. The 5,600kW, 26,616kNm machine, fitted with an accessible cutterhead and more than 4,500 sensors linked via the Herrenknecht.Connected platform, has achieved peak advance of 150 segment rings (about 300m) per month through mixed sandstone, tuff, breccias and basalt. Around 1.5km of the 4.5km twin-track tunnel remains to final breakthrough.

Federal funding for New York’s US$16bn Hudson Tunnel Project has been frozen, forcing the Gateway Development Commission to suspend works from 6 February after spending over US$1bn and employing about 1,000 site workers. A Manhattan federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order, giving the administration until 5 p.m. on 12 February to restore reimbursements or appeal, while contractors warn that demobilisation, resequencing and remobilisation will add cost and delay. Sites are now in “safe-pause” mode, with dewatering, ground support and environmental monitoring maintained, and assembly of two Herrenknecht TBMs in New Jersey likely to slip beyond the planned spring 2026 launch without funding certainty.

Swiss Federal Railways has awarded an Implenia/Marti 50:50 joint venture five of six MehrSpur Zurich–Winterthur lots worth just under CHF 1.7 billion, including the 8.3 km Brüttener tunnel (Lot 240) with twin 10 m diameter single-track tubes and a 1 km spur to Zurich Airport. TBM excavation will start in August 2029, with a roughly ten-year construction phase using BIM for planning and execution and extensive special foundations, earthworks and embankments. Additional works cover full redevelopment of Dietlikon station, about 6 km of new track across Dietlikon and Wallisellen sections, multiple underpasses, bridges and the Neumühle railway bridge and Storchen underpass near Winterthur.

A sinkhole roughly 8–10 m wide and several metres deep has opened on the AJ Burkitt Reserve sporting oval in Heidelberg, directly adjacent to the North East Link tunnel alignment in Melbourne’s northeast. Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority has confirmed the “surface hole” is in the vicinity of active tunnelling operations, leading to a work pause while engineers and emergency crews carry out geotechnical investigations and monitoring. No injuries or structural damage have been reported, but the area remains fully cordoned off pending cause determination and stability assessment.

TBM Xihe, a 7.3m-diameter, 100m-long, 1,000-tonne Herrenknecht slurry machine, has completed the up-track drive to the future Tung Chung West Station and has begun boring the down-track tunnel towards Tung Chung Station for MTR’s Tung Chung Line Extension in Hong Kong. The Bouygues Travaux Publics–Dragages Hong Kong JV turned the TBM underground within the launch shaft using a push-pull method and self-propelled modular transporter, avoiding full disassembly and surface transport. About 1.3km of new twin-bore tunnels are being driven close to existing rail and urban structures, with commissioning targeted for 2029.

Gamuda Engineering has secured the Sydney Metro Stations Package West as principal contractor, covering design and construction of five new underground stations at Westmead, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock and The Bays on the 24km Sydney Metro West line between Greater Parramatta and the CBD. The scope includes deep station boxes, entrances and access points, full station fit-out and integration with surrounding precincts, with Laing O’Rourke and DT Infrastructure joining as MetroVista delivery partners. Site works are scheduled to start on Monday, 5 January 2026.

Surging global demand for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and grid storage is pushing Australia to move beyond spodumene concentrate exports into domestic refining and cathode‑grade chemical production. Industry proposals centre on converting hard‑rock feed into battery‑grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate in Western Australia, leveraging existing Tier‑1 deposits and port infrastructure but facing high energy costs, skills shortages and permitting timelines. For miners and process engineers, the shift implies greater focus on impurity control, reagent optimisation and integration of hydrometallurgical circuits with upstream mine planning.

New Hope Group has lifted coal output across its Australian assets and is advancing growth plans at the Bengalla thermal coal mine in the Hunter Valley, where it holds an 80 per cent interest alongside Mitsui, Taipower and J-Power. The open-cut operation, which typically produces export-quality thermal coal for Asian power utilities via the Port of Newcastle, is the company’s key near-term expansion focus. For mine planners and geotechs, any Bengalla growth path will centre on additional strip mining, dragline and truck–shovel sequencing, and associated waste dump and haul road reconfiguration.

Australian miners are hitting a data wall as high‑bandwidth sensors, autonomous fleets and video streams overwhelm traditional cloud links, pushing operations towards private LTE networks and on‑site edge computing. Vendors such as Vocus are pairing Starlink Business Rural satellite backhaul with 4G/5G private LTE to keep haul trucks, crushers and fixed plant connected in real time, even on remote pits and waste dumps. For engineers, this shift means designing networks and control systems around low‑latency, on‑site processing for fleet dispatch, collision avoidance and condition monitoring rather than centralised data centres.

Liebherr’s R 9800 G6 backhoe excavator at Yancoal’s Mount Thorley Warkworth mine in New South Wales has set new performance benchmarks for ultra-class loading, working the main overburden fleet alongside 340-tonne haul trucks. The machine, in the 800-tonne class, is designed for high-volume overburden removal with a nominal bucket capacity around 40 m³ and electric-drive assistance for faster cycle times. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the deployment signals growing confidence in ultra-large excavators for sustained production in hard overburden conditions.

BHP’s Australian copper division has delivered record results, driven by strong output from Copper South Australia and the Olympic Dam underground mine–smelter complex. Higher copper production from these assets, which integrate large-scale sublevel open stoping with onsite concentration and smelting, is lifting group earnings at a time of tight global copper supply. For mine planners and process engineers, the performance signals continued capital focus on deep underground copper orebodies and associated concentrator–smelter debottlenecking in South Australia.

Consultation has opened on upgrading the High Street Road–Mowbray Drive signalised intersection in Wantirna South, a project within the Victorian and Federal governments’ $1.2 billion Suburban Road Blitz. The works are expected to target congestion and turning movements at this local arterial junction, which currently handles mixed residential and commercial traffic and feeds directly to the EastLink corridor. Designers should anticipate community input on lane configuration, pedestrian crossing phases and potential safety treatments for right‑turn and school‑peak traffic.

Tender has opened for New South Wales’ South West Active Transport Link (SWATL), a continuous “MetroWay” cycling and walking corridor running the full length of the Sydney Metro Southwest extension. The package will integrate paths with multiple new and existing stations, requiring complex interfaces with rail viaducts, drainage, and road crossings along the corridor. Civil and geotechnical scopes are expected to focus on retaining structures, pavement design for shared paths, lighting foundations, and managing utilities in a constrained brownfield rail environment.

Kennards Hire is scaling its temporary works and plant offering for large renewable energy builds, supplying cranage, access equipment and high-capacity generators to grid-scale solar and wind projects alongside traditional road and civil jobs. The company is bundling traffic management, lighting towers and site power into integrated packages to support remote construction compounds and high-voltage substation works. For contractors, the shift means greater reliance on a single hire partner for critical-path equipment planning, mobilisation and maintenance across multi-year infrastructure programmes.

Copper exchange inventories on Comex, the LME and Shanghai Futures Exchange have climbed to 1.012 million tonnes, breaching the 1 million tonne mark for the first time since 2004 as tariff-driven stockpiling in the US combines with weak Chinese demand. In thin holiday trade, March copper in New York slipped nearly 1% to $5.76/lb ($12,700/t), around 12% below late-January highs after a more than 40% price gain through 2025. Satellite data also show January global smelter activity at its lowest level in nearly a decade of monitoring, signalling tighter refined output despite swollen visible stocks.

EV raw material spend for lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt and manganese in newly sold passenger EVs reached $15.8 billion in 2025, up 13% year on year, with December’s monthly bill topping $2 billion for the first time since August 2023 as lithium hydroxide/carbonate and nickel sulphate prices climbed. Global EV battery capacity deployment is on track to exceed 1 TWh in 2025, nearly quadruple 2021’s 286 GWh, with LFP packs accounting for almost 50% of capacity and 83% of LFP roll-out concentrated in China. Cobalt’s share of the EV Metal Index rebounded to 14% ($2.4 billion) on >200% year-on-year sulphate price gains, while nickel and lithium each surpassed $6 billion in contained value, supported by high‑nickel NCM chemistries in the US and Europe despite growing LFP penetration.

Project Vault will create a US$12 billion US critical minerals stockpile, combining US$1.67 billion in private capital with a US$10 billion Export-Import Bank loan to buy and store materials for automakers, tech firms and other industrial users. Following a Section 232 probe covering the full USGS critical minerals list plus uranium, the administration found imports threaten national security but chose negotiated price floors and trade mechanisms over tariffs. Forthcoming US–Mexico and US–EU–Japan action plans, under the new FORGE framework, will define which minerals are prioritised, how any border-adjusted price floor is calculated, and how rules of origin or downstream products are treated.

British Columbia investor Varandeep Singh Grewal has agreed to pay C$500,000 and accept a 10‑year ban from acting as a registrant, promoter or securities market consultant after the BC Securities Commission found he facilitated misleading investor relations for a supposed mineral exploration startup. Over two months in 2018, a third‑party IR provider, arranged by Grewal, claimed the company was actively mining, producing minerals and using “state‑of‑the‑art, environmental‑friendly” technology, when it in fact remained purely in the exploration phase with no such infrastructure. The case signals tighter scrutiny of promotional claims around early‑stage mining projects, particularly where production and proprietary technology are asserted without evidence.

Niger’s junta has moved an estimated 1,000 tonnes of uranium concentrate from Orano’s seized Somaïr open-pit mine to Air Base 101 beside Niamey’s main airport, where it remains unsold despite talks with potential buyers from Russia, China, the US and the UAE. The stockpile is subject to an ICSID order prohibiting sale or transfer without Orano’s consent, while the French state-owned company threatens “any and all actions” to block third-party acquisition. Security analysts warn the base location is highly exposed after Islamic State-linked militants approached the capital in a recent attack.

Two in five UK construction firms report a direct hit to their bottom line despite political promises of accelerated infrastructure delivery, exposing a gap between headline commitments and actual project flow. Contractors cite delayed notice-to-proceed on major road and rail schemes, stop–start funding cycles for schools and hospitals, and prolonged planning approvals as key drivers of margin erosion. For geotechnical and civil specialists, this means underutilised design and site teams, disrupted ground investigation programmes, and greater commercial risk when pricing long-lead works.

The MINEXCHANGE 2026 SME Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City will close next week with SME’s Signature Awards Event recognising more than 70 recipients across mining, metallurgy and exploration. Honours span technical excellence, health and safety, environmental stewardship and professional service, reinforcing SME’s role in setting practice benchmarks for US and international operations. For engineers and operators, the awards list often signals emerging leaders, influential research directions and projects likely to shape upcoming guidance and conference content.

Tungsten West has appointed Duo Group as EPC contractor for a new-build crushing, screening and ore sorting plant at the Hemerdon tungsten-tin mine in Devon, and signed an agreement to deploy Gekko Systems’ In Line Pressure Jigs in the flowsheet. The project centres on upgrading run-of-mine ore through pre-concentration and sensor-based sorting ahead of jig-based gravity recovery, aiming to improve tungsten and tin yield from the existing open-pit resource. For process engineers, the move signals a flowsheet shift towards higher early-stage rejection of waste and lower downstream milling load.

ESCO’s ESCO division has launched the Nexsys Ripper System for Cat D11 dozers, targeting high-load ripping in mining, aggregate and heavy construction applications. The system uses premium alloy steels and a redesigned shank–tooth interface to improve penetration and wear life under highly abrasive conditions typical of large open pits and quarries. Faster tooth changes and reduced unplanned change-outs are aimed at increasing dozer utilisation on primary ripping benches and hard overburden, with direct implications for drill-and-blast requirements and fleet productivity.

Atlas Salt has expanded its strategic relationship with Sandvik Mining as part of an updated feasibility study for the Great Atlantic underground salt project near St George’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, building on a comprehensive non‑binding MOU signed in September 2024. The enlarged scope is expected to cover Sandvik’s input on underground mobile equipment fleets and automation-ready mining systems for large-scale room-and-pillar extraction. For engineers, the move signals early vendor integration into mine design, equipment selection and life-of-mine operating cost assumptions ahead of project sanctioning.

Graham has secured a £286m contract to redevelop Manchester Metropolitan University’s Cambridge Halls, delivering 2,302 student bedrooms in two new multi‑storey blocks rising up to 30 storeys on the site of demolished 1990s accommodation. The Cartwright Pickard–designed scheme combines cluster flats, studios, ground‑floor commercial units and a community health centre fronting Cambridge Street. Targeting BREEAM Excellent with air source heat pumps, PV panels, low‑energy heat recovery ventilation and intelligent BMS, phase one is due in 2029 with final completion in 2030.

Delays at the Building Safety Regulator’s Gateway 3 stage are linked by law firm Irwin Mitchell to 44 undecided schemes and 5,594 completed higher-risk residential units remaining unoccupied, with one case waiting 550 days against an eight‑week target. Of 158 Gateway 3 applications in 2023, 55 took more than three months for a decision, raising concerns over cashflow impacts on developers and handover timing for residents. The BSR disputes the interpretation, stating no new-build higher-risk building that passed Gateway 2 has yet applied for Gateway 3 and that current cases are mainly transitional legacy projects with significant safety issues.

Weir’s Alrode facility in Gauteng has become the first plant globally dedicated solely to manufacturing ENDURON Elite banana screens, adding 1,600 m² of covered production space to support the new range. Concentrating production in South Africa signals longer-term localisation of high-performance screening technology, with implications for regional supply chains and aftermarket support for large vibrating screens in coal, iron ore and aggregate operations. For process engineers, this may shorten lead times for custom screen sizes and deck configurations while standardising critical components across Weir’s global footprint.

Women into Home Building is opening applications for its eighth fully funded three-week intake, combining one week of online training with two weeks of on-site placements in site management and new building inspector roles with NHBC. Since its 2023 launch by the Home Builders Federation and partner house-builders, over 150 women have completed introductory training, but only about one-third have secured industry jobs, against a backdrop of women making up just 15% of the construction workforce and 5% of site managers. Applications for May 2026 placements run from 16 February to 22 March via pathwayctm.com.

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has appointed Barnfield Construction as main contractor for an £8.5m conversion of the fire‑damaged, Grade II listed St John’s Church into a digital and cyber business centre. Designs by Manchester-based OMI Architects provide 9,500 sq ft of flexible workspace within the 239-year-old structure, linked to the planned Blackburn Skills Campus and opportunities from the National Cyber Force at Samlesbury Enterprise Zone. Enabling works start in March, main construction begins in summer, with completion targeted for early 2028.

Sandvik Rock Processing has completed a full rebuild of a Sandvik BR3288i hydraulic breaker and BB8094R breaker boom for a major Ghanaian gold mine at its Kumasi technical workshop. The unit, installed at the run-of-mine grizzly, is a large-range breaker used for primary rock size reduction and clearing oversize at the crusher feed. Localised refurbishment capability in Kumasi cuts downtime and shipping delays for future overhauls, which is critical for maintaining ROM throughput and crusher utilisation on West African hard-rock gold operations.

Erewash Borough Council has approved Fassa Bortolo’s new UK headquarters and building materials factory at New Stanton Park, a 170,000 sq ft complex with manufacturing plant, training academy and warehousing. The facility will feature a 60-metre main tower, three metres higher than the former Stanton Ironworks chimney, on a 220-acre brownfield business estate masterplanned for up to 4,000 jobs. For materials suppliers and contractors, the site signals a significant East Midlands production hub for renders, mortars and plasters within a £350m global expansion programme.

Alumno has started construction of a £23m, six-storey purpose-built student accommodation block on St George’s Road in Glasgow’s Woodlands district, delivering 262 beds in four- and five-bed cluster flats plus studios. Clark Contracts is acting as design-and-build contractor, with Stallan Brand Architects, RankinFraser Landscape Architecture, Will Rudd Davidson, Ridge & Partners and Sound Advice Acoustics forming the professional team, and funding from Henderson Park. The scheme includes a ground-floor common room, sixth-floor dining, study and lounge spaces, and rear landscaped courtyards, with completion targeted for summer 2027.

Autonomous battery-electric haul trucks deployed by EACON at Shougang Group’s Shuichang Iron Ore Mine have completed a full year of operation, delivering quantified reductions in both unit haulage cost and diesel-related CO₂ emissions versus conventional diesel fleets. The system integrates autonomous driving, battery swapping and centralised dispatch to manage multiple BEV trucks on steep open-pit ramps and long-distance waste hauls. For mine planners and geotechnical teams, the shift to BEVs changes ramp ventilation assumptions, traffic patterns and braking heat loads, affecting haul road design and pit wall interaction.

Major tram maintenance works are closing the Spencer–Bourke Street intersection in Melbourne’s CBD from 15–26 February as crews replace worn tram tracks, reconstruct road pavement and install new poles and 600–750V overhead wiring. The full road closure will affect multiple Yarra Trams routes and general traffic, with diversions pushing vehicles onto adjacent CBD arterials and increasing loading on nearby intersections. For civil and track engineers, the works concentrate disruptive grinding, welding and slab replacement into an 11‑day occupation, limiting longer-term settlement and fatigue issues at this high-axle-load junction.

Real Time Density and Smart Compact Pro compaction control from Wirtgen’s Hamm rollers are giving asphalt crews pass-by-pass feedback on stiffness and density, sharply reducing the need to mill out and replace under-compacted mats. Sensors on the drum continuously measure compaction in real time and display colour-coded maps in the cab, allowing operators to adjust vibration amplitude, frequency and rolling pattern on the fly. Craig Yeats, Product Support Manager – Hamm, says the calibrated system is cutting rework and improving consistency across full-width lanes and longitudinal joints.

Weir is promoting its Enduron EP350 cone crusher as a long-life, high-availability solution for mine crushing circuits, pairing the machine with engineered wear parts and process optimisation services. The company focuses on matching crusher geometry, liner design and metallurgy to specific ore characteristics, and uses condition monitoring and remote support to stabilise throughput and reduce unplanned downtime. For geotechnical and plant engineers, the message is tighter integration of equipment design, wear management and circuit control rather than standalone crusher selection.

The Papua New Guinea Industrial and Mining Exhibition and Conference will return to Port Moresby in July, bringing together mine operators, EPC contractors and OEM suppliers focused on PNG’s gold, copper and LNG-linked projects. Exhibitors typically span underground fleet, pit dewatering, tailings and paste-fill systems, explosives, and remote power solutions suited to PNG’s high-rainfall, steep-slope terrain and logistics constraints. For geotechnical and mining engineers, the event is a key venue to source equipment and services for haul road construction, slope stabilisation, camp infrastructure and port expansions in a challenging tropical environment.

Atlas Copco Rental Australia’s DrillAir Y1260 compressor is being deployed as a single air source from drill pad to processing plant, replacing multiple smaller units across blasthole drilling, dewatering and plant air services. The high-pressure, high-flow package is containerised for rapid relocation in-pit and around fixed infrastructure, with integrated fuel management and remote monitoring to optimise load profiles. For mine operators, the approach concentrates maintenance on one large unit, simplifies air distribution design and can cut diesel consumption and unplanned downtime across the pit-to-plant circuit.

Project Vault, a new $12 billion US government stockpile, targets critical minerals but leaves permanent magnet manufacturing—especially neodymium-based and other rare earth magnets—as the key unresolved vulnerability in decoupling from Chinese supply. Wade Senti, CEO of Advanced Magnet Lab, argues for a market-led, innovation-first strategy that diversifies rare earth feedstocks and sources while backing alternative magnet chemistries such as Samarium Iron Nitride (SmFeN) and Manganese Bismuth (MnBi). For mining and processing projects, this implies demand for flexible mine-to-magnet flowsheets, equipment-intensive magnet plants, and closer integration with downstream OEMs.

MPs on Parliament’s transport select committee are questioning whether the Railways Bill’s proposed Passengers’ Council will have any real enforcement powers to deliver a fully accessible national rail network. Concerns centre on the council’s ability to compel infrastructure managers and train operators to retrofit step-free access, tactile paving and compliant boarding interfaces across thousands of stations and platforms. For designers and asset owners, the outcome will influence how strongly accessibility standards are mandated in future station upgrades, platform works and rolling stock procurement.

Hecla Mining is nearly doubling 2026 spend on exploration and pre-development to US$55 million, targeting Nevada projects and producing assets Greens Creek (Alaska), Keno Hill (Yukon) and Lucky Friday (Idaho) to at least offset annual reserve depletion. The company reports 231 million oz silver and 2 million oz gold in reserves after 2025 output of 17 million oz silver, including a record 5.3 million oz from Lucky Friday and roughly half of total silver from Greens Creek. Drilling is focused on converting Inferred resources, extending reserve envelopes and testing high-grade targets at the historic Midas mine, which has produced 27 million oz silver and 2.2 million oz gold.

Lundin Gold has outlined a large intrusive complex with multiple shallow copper-gold porphyry systems near its Fruta del Norte mine in Ecuador, including Sandia hole SND-2025-383 with 603 m at 0.68% Cu, 0.1 g/t Au, 2.85 g/t Ag and 16.32 ppm Mo from 27 m. A newly identified fifth porphyry centre, Chontas, 7 km south of the main deposit, extends the porphyry corridor to at least 10 km, while Trancaloma hole TRL-2025-340 returned 945 m at 0.33% Cu from 152 m. Lundin plans 133,000 m of drilling in 2026 at Fruta del Norte, budgeted at $85 million, to support a potential south-zone mine decision and district-scale copper-gold evaluation.

NI 43-101’s standardised technical reports and qualified person requirements stabilised disclosure after Bre-X, but Erik Groves, corporate strategy and in-house counsel at Morgan Companies, argues they now mask chronic diluters whose projects never advance despite repeated financings and high G&A. With Canadian National Policy 51-201 still warning against “sporadic” online rumour correction on chat rooms and bulletin boards, legal advice often keeps issuers off X, YouTube and Reddit while retail investors crowdsource geology and drill-interval analysis. Groves calls for a defined safe harbour allowing video documentation of fieldwork, plain-language geological reasoning and public misinformation correction, without pre-releasing material results or implying unsupported resources.

Kumba Iron Ore is investing ZAR11.2 billion (about US$600 million) to retrofit ultra-high-dense-media-separation (UHDMS) technology into the existing DMS plant at its Sishen mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape. The UHDMS circuit is designed to treat lower-grade ore and waste material at higher cut densities than conventional DMS, materially lifting product quality and overall yield. For process and plant engineers, the project signals a shift towards more intensive beneficiation to extend Sishen’s life of mine and improve margins without new pit development.

Sandvik is launching the Leopard DI610i, a down-the-hole surface drill rig for open-pit mines and contractors, covering a 115–203 mm (4½–8 in) hole size range. The i-series platform targets high utilisation and rapid operator on-boarding through advanced automation, digital drilling controls and an ergonomic cabin layout. Sandvik positions the DI610i to cut total cost of ownership versus previous Leopard rigs by optimising fuel use, consumable life and maintenance intervals, which will interest operations rationalising large DTH fleets.

Agnico Eagle Mines posted record year-end 2025 gold reserves of 55.4 million oz (1.33 billion tonnes at 1.30 g/t) and a 135% jump in net income to $4.46 billion, lifting its quarterly dividend to $0.45 per share. Measured and indicated resources rose to 47.1 million oz and inferred resources to 41.8 million oz, supported by the Marban deposit at Malartic and 1.4 million metres of core drilling from an average 120 diamond rigs. CEO Ammar Al‑Joundi targets a 20–30% production increase to over 4 million oz/year by the early 2030s, driven by Detour Lake underground, Canadian Malartic, Upper Beaver and Hope Bay.

Transport for London has awarded M Group a £119M, five-year contract to maintain its portfolio of bridges and civil structures, with an option to extend the deal by a further three years. The framework will cover inspection, repair and strengthening of key assets across London’s strategic road and rail network, where many structures date from pre-motorway or early Underground expansion eras. Contractors and consultants can expect demand for complex access solutions, night-time possessions and staged works to keep high-traffic routes operational during interventions.

Network Rail has issued a prior information notice for a £450M Scotland’s Railway Electrification Framework, signalling a multi-year programme to extend 25kV overhead line equipment as part of Scotland’s rail decarbonisation plan. The framework is expected to cover design, civils and structures, mast and portal installations, feeder stations and sectioning cabins across multiple routes, with contractors needing proven experience in live-rail possessions and integration with existing signalling and structures. Geotechnical and civil packages are likely to include new foundations, bridge parapet and clearance modifications, and structural assessments for increased electrical clearances.

Rox Resources has appointed MACA Interquip Mintrex (MIQM), part of the MACA Limited Group, as preferred EPC contractor for the new Youanmi gold processing plant and associated facilities at its 100%-owned Youanmi project in Western Australia. MIQM will deliver engineering, procurement and construction for the plant, drawing on its multi-disciplinary capability across process plant design, structural and mechanical works, and site infrastructure. The appointment signals progression towards detailed design and construction, giving mine planners clearer timelines for integrating processing capacity with pit and underground scheduling.

Turner Mining Group has mobilised a new Caterpillar mining fleet to Minera Alamos’ Pan Mine in Nevada under a multi-year contract, completing assembly, commissioning and crew deployment over the holiday period while holding to targeted production rates. The contractor is now responsible for full-scale mine services, with the Cat fleet expected to handle drilling, loading and haulage across the open-pit gold operation. For engineers, the key point is a rapid contractor transition without a production dip, stressing the importance of parallel commissioning and workforce ramp-up.