STRACON has secured an integrated engineering, construction, financing and long-term operations and maintenance contract for the Pérez Caldera Tailings Dam at Anglo American Sur’s Los Bronces copper operation in Chile’s Lo Barnechea district. The scope combines dam design and build with funding and multi-year O&M, signalling a bundled delivery model for critical tailings infrastructure rather than separate EPC and operator contracts. For geotechnical and tailings engineers, this points to growing demand for contractors capable of lifecycle stewardship under Chile’s stringent post-Brumadinho regulatory environment.

Axis International has launched a $28.9 billion arbitration claim at the World Bank’s ICSID after Guinea revoked the Boffa bauxite mining permit, one of more than 50 licences cancelled in May under President Mamadi Doumbouya’s crackdown on non-compliant projects. Axis says its Axis Minerals Resources unit, 85%-owned by Axis with the state holding 15%, exported 18 million tonnes of bauxite in 2024 from Boffa and was targeting 48 million tonnes in 2025, backed by over 800 million tonnes of proven reserves. The government has also seized equipment, frozen bank accounts and cancelled other operators’ permits, including Nomad Bauxite Corporation and a subsidiary of Emirates Global Aluminium, signalling heightened sovereign and licence security risk in Guinea’s bauxite and iron ore sectors.

Rainfall-triggered rockfall on Highway 18 in San Bernardino County has blocked lanes and damaged barriers along a steep cut slope, following weeks of intense winter storms that saturated highly fractured granitic and metamorphic rock. Caltrans geotechnical crews report multiple failures from tension cracks and oversteepened slopes above the roadway, with debris reaching the carriageway and impacting existing rockfall fences. Engineers are now assessing options including expanded rock bolting, additional draped mesh, improved surface and subsurface drainage, and revised slope scaling protocols ahead of further atmospheric river events.

A catastrophic breach on the Llangollen Canal near New Mills Lift Bridge, Whitchurch has drained a long pound and damaged the embankment, despite recent routine inspections reporting no visible defects. Engineers from the Canal & River Trust are now investigating potential failure mechanisms, including internal erosion, leakage paths and historic construction weaknesses in the canal lining and embankment core. The incident raises immediate questions over current visual inspection regimes for ageing UK canal earthworks and whether more frequent intrusive or remote condition monitoring is needed on high-consequence reaches.

Network Rail is delivering £160M of works over Christmas and New Year across England, Wales and Scotland, combining large-scale renewals of ageing track, structures and overhead line equipment with installation of modern digital signalling. Possessions will concentrate on key main line bottlenecks and junctions, with multi-day blockades used to replace life-expired assets and reconfigure layouts for higher line speeds and more reliable timetabling. Contractors will need to manage intensive access windows, complex isolations and winter working risks while handing back routes for the post-holiday peak.

NCE’s Top 10 most read in-depth pieces of 2025 span major UK infrastructure themes, from long-span bridge renewals and high-capacity rail corridors to complex urban tunnelling and flood defence upgrades. Interviews with project directors and design leads examine issues such as whole-life carbon in reinforced concrete, geotechnical risk allocation on large D&B contracts, and digital twins for asset monitoring. For practitioners, the list signals where peers are focusing attention: programme delivery under tight funding, resilience to extreme rainfall, and constructability on constrained brownfield sites.

An autonomous Komatsu HD1500 haul truck at Zijin Mining-owned Norton Gold Fields in Western Australia has completed its first fully autonomous test cycle with no safety driver on board, using EACON Mining Technology’s autonomous haulage system (AHS) in partnership with Thiess. The milestone confirms driverless operation from loading to dumping under site conditions, moving a 142 t-class rigid truck on a fixed haul route without human intervention in the cab. For mine planners and fleet engineers, this marks progression from supervised trials to true unmanned haulage, enabling redesign of traffic management, interaction zones, and shift deployment.

Larvotto Resources has begun underground development at its Hillgrove antimony–gold project in New South Wales, re‑opening historical workings to access high‑grade antimony and refractory gold mineralisation. The restart involves rehabilitating existing declines and levels, upgrading ground support, and re‑establishing services to support modern mechanised mining fleets. For geotechnical and mining teams, early focus will be on re‑assessing legacy excavation stability, water inflows and ventilation capacity to safely transition Hillgrove back into sustained underground production.

Lineside monitoring systems on parts of Britain’s rail network may fail to detect embankment or cutting slope movements during extreme rainfall, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch has warned following the 3 November passenger train derailment near Shap, Cumbria. The warning concerns remote condition monitoring equipment installed to trigger alerts for ground instability, which did not prevent the derailment. Geotechnical and asset engineers are being urged to review sensor siting, trigger thresholds and system performance in severe weather, particularly on high-risk slopes.

Heathrow Airport will launch £1.3bn of terminal upgrades and a new baggage system in 2026, targeting more reliable operations and better accessibility across its busiest passenger hubs. Works are expected to include major reconfiguration of existing terminal layouts and replacement of legacy baggage handling equipment with higher-capacity, fully screened systems integrated into current structures. Civil and structural teams will need to manage complex phasing in a live airport environment, with tight possession windows, stringent security constraints and limited landside–airside access for heavy plant and materials.

Soil nailing has been selected as the primary long-term stabilisation method for a failing section of Swanage seafront, with works expected to cost at least £4.5M. The scheme will address ongoing ground movement and slope instability affecting coastal infrastructure and promenade assets, where traditional retaining solutions have proved less viable. Designers and contractors will need to manage marine exposure, corrosion protection for nails and facing, and construction sequencing to maintain public access along this constrained shoreline.

Railway managers have been warned by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch that Network Rail’s lineside slope monitoring systems may fail to give usable alerts during rapid failures, after an Avanti West Coast train derailed at around 83 mph near Shap Summit on 3 November 2025 when it struck landslip debris. Remote sensors on steel spikes at 2 m spacing recorded sub‑10 mm movements—below the 10–30 mm “green” alert threshold—before being rapidly buried, losing wireless signal and generating no alarm to control. The landslip followed heavy, sustained rainfall that overwhelmed a cutting‑slope drainage channel, and RAIB has urged duty holders to urgently review and, where needed, mitigate these monitoring limitations.

An anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation has been opened by the UK Trade Remedies Authority into Chinese-made boom lifts, following a complaint from UK manufacturer Niftylift. The probe covers telescopic and articulated boom lifts, including sub-assemblies, with working heights of 6 m and above, such as models like the Dingli BT44HRT now entering the UK market. Scissor lifts, forklifts, vertical mast lifts, mobile self-propelled cranes and motor vehicles with integrated boom or scissor assemblies are explicitly excluded, so procurement teams must check machine classifications carefully.

McLanahan is promoting compact process solutions such as its recessed-plate filter presses and QUICKCHANGE filter cloth system to lift plant efficiency and reduce tailings water loss in existing mines. The QUICKCHANGE design allows individual cloths to be swapped without removing the plate pack, cutting press downtime, manual handling and confined-space exposure during maintenance. For brownfield operations constrained by legacy footprints and power limits, the company is positioning modular dewatering and screening units as bolt-on upgrades rather than full plant rebuilds.

A man-made embankment on the Llangollen Canal near Whitchurch, Shropshire, failed in the early hours of Monday, creating a large breach that rapidly drained a several‑kilometre pound and triggered a major incident response. The failure occurred on a raised canal section over low-lying farmland, with water overtopping and eroding the embankment before a full breach developed, flooding adjacent fields and damaging access tracks. Canal & River Trust engineers have isolated the affected reach with stop planks and are assessing embankment stability, seepage paths and repair options under constrained access conditions.

BULK2026 in Melbourne will convene bulk handling operators, OEMs and engineers to tackle chronic issues such as conveyor belt mistracking, spillage at transfer points and dust control on high‑throughput shiploaders and stacker‑reclaimers. Technical sessions will focus on optimising long overland conveyors, improving chute design using DEM modelling, and upgrading ageing idler and pulley systems to cut unplanned downtime. For mine operators, the event signals growing emphasis on condition monitoring, smarter wear‑liner materials and retrofittable upgrades rather than full conveyor replacements.

Henkel is targeting unplanned shutdowns on slurry and process pipelines with a Loctite composite “pipe bandage” system designed for rapid, in-situ repair of worn or leaking steel lines. The wrap combines epoxy-based fillers with fibre reinforcement to restore wall thickness and hoop strength without hot work, allowing operators to avoid cutting out sections or mobilising welding crews in confined or hazardous areas. For maintenance engineers, the approach offers a way to extend pipe life and manage localised corrosion or abrasion within existing pressure and safety envelopes.

Truck owner-operators hauling for Australian mining projects in 2026 are being urged to tighten insurance cover around high-value assets such as prime movers, side-tippers and low-loaders working on remote haul roads. Guidance focuses on checking heavy vehicle comprehensive policies for off-road use, unsealed access tracks and mine-site exclusions, and confirming public liability limits where loading, stockpile work or refuelling occur on third-party sites. Operators are also advised to verify downtime cover, gap insurance on financed rigs and clear disclosure of subcontracting or backloading to avoid claim disputes.

Satellite analysis of more than 16,700 US dams shows over 2,500 structures are both in poor condition and classified as high-hazard potential, meaning failure would likely cause loss of life. Geoscientists report many of these ageing embankment and concrete gravity dams lack adequate spillway capacity, suffer from seepage and erosion issues, and sit downstream of growing urban development. The findings point to large unfunded backlogs in dam safety upgrades, with implications for risk-based inspection, emergency drawdown planning and prioritisation of remedial works.

Epiroc’s Pit Viper blasthole drill, introduced 25 years ago, remains a flagship high‑capacity rig in large open pits, combining high power with flexible mast and hole configurations for production drilling. The platform has operated autonomously for the past decade, with fleets running driverless drill patterns and remote supervision from control centres rather than on‑bench cabins. For mine planners and drill‑and‑blast engineers, the Pit Viper’s long autonomous track record is a key reference point for integrating automated drilling into existing benches, patterns and safety envelopes.

Prairie Machine’s Flexiveyor Continuous Haulage System has received MSHA certification from the US Mining Safety and Health Administration’s Approval and Certification Center, clearing it for use in regulated underground coal operations. The modular Flexiveyor is designed to provide continuous haulage between the mining face and section belt, reducing shuttle car traffic and associated congestion in development headings. Certification opens the US underground coal market to the system, giving mine engineers an additional compliant option for redesigning panel layouts and material flows around continuous haulage.

Infrastructure’s exposure to corruption is linked to trillions of dollars in annual public spending, opaque political decision-making, and fragmented delivery chains spanning clients, contractors and consultants. The piece argues that structured project data – from procurement records and change orders to asset performance logs – can be mined to flag red‑flag patterns such as repeated single‑bid tenders, abnormal cost escalations and clustered contract awards. For engineers and asset owners, this implies designing data standards and digital workflows that make audit trails, benchmarking and anomaly detection routine parts of project delivery.

Heatwave Construction Ltd of Uxbridge and director Gurcharan Singh Chahal have been ordered to pay more than £4,000 after repeatedly displaying the NICEIC logo on a company van despite losing registration on 4 January 2024. Hillingdon Council’s trading standards team issued warning letters on 30 August and 10 October 2024 and found the unauthorised branding still in use during a site visit on 7 November 2024, with Chahal twice failing to attend interviews under caution. The case signals tighter scrutiny of false electrical accreditation claims, with the judge warning of potential “deadly consequences” for clients relying on invalid certification.

Proximity to Slopes, a new calculator in the Association of Lorry Loader Manufacturers & Importers (ALLMI) app, now quantifies safe stabiliser leg positions for loader cranes working beside embankments. Users input mat width, horizontal distance from the crane base to the crest, and slope height; the tool then defines a “danger area” where stabilisers must not be placed to avoid loss of stability. For temporary works and lift planners, this offers a quick, standardised check when siting cranes on or near cuttings, bunds and roadside batters.

Victoria’s gold sector has gained approval for the state’s first dedicated deep exploration tunnel, enabling access to previously unreachable high-grade targets at depth beneath existing workings. The project is designed to support more technically advanced drilling, geotechnical mapping and real-time structural modelling, moving exploration away from shallow open-cut prospects towards complex, high-stress underground environments. For mine planners and geotechnical engineers, the tunnel signals a shift towards long-life, deep gold systems in Victoria, with greater emphasis on rock mass characterisation and seismic risk management.

Brokk is promoting remote-controlled demolition robots for underground mining, positioning its 1–11‑tonne class machines as alternatives to conventional excavators and handheld breakers in stopes, crusher chambers and drawpoints. The electric-powered units use tethered or radio control to keep operators tens of metres from brow faces, brow cleaning and oversize reduction, and can carry hydraulic hammers, drum cutters and scabblers on compact carriers designed for low headings. For geotechnical and production teams, the key shift is moving personnel out of unsupported ground while still performing scaling, secondary breakage and rehabilitation in confined, high‑risk zones.

Manhole Form Hire is rolling out new certified, patented in-situ manhole formwork systems across Australian civil projects, using heavy-duty modular panels and corners that quickly configure into L-shapes and other geometries on constrained sites. The steel forms are designed for repeat hire, tight dimensional control and rapid pour-and-strip cycles, reducing on-site carpentry and crane time compared with traditional timber boxing. For contractors, the key gains are faster manhole construction, more consistent internal diameters and wall thicknesses, and improved safety around excavations.

BHP faces a demand for at least £189 million ($253 million) in legal costs in the UK after being found liable for the 2015 Mariana tailings dam collapse at the Samarco iron ore mine in Minas Gerais, which killed 19 people and caused Brazil’s worst environmental disaster. The claim covers legal fees plus about £44 million spent on walk-in centres and call centre staff to communicate with roughly 620,000 affected people, and sits alongside a £36 billion ($48 billion) damages claim set for trial in October 2026. BHP is seeking permission to appeal, calling the costs “shocking” and pushing to defer any ruling on costs until after the damages phase.

Scour is now confirmed by Moray Council as the likely principal cause of the Garmouth Viaduct collapse over the River Spey on 14 December, after an abrupt change in the river’s flow path is thought to have undermined the masonry or concrete support piers. Engineers are assessing how localised bed erosion and altered hydraulic conditions around the pier foundations triggered the failure. The case will sharpen scrutiny of scour risk assessments, real-time river monitoring and foundation protection measures on older rail and footbridges in dynamic gravel-bed rivers.

ABB has expanded electrification and automation at Boliden’s Aitik tailings facility, integrating power distribution, process control and monitoring to support safe capacity growth at Sweden’s largest open-pit copper mine. The upgraded system strengthens water storage and recycling, with automated instrumentation and real-time data improving surveillance of dam performance and water balances. For geotechnical and tailings engineers, the project signals tighter coupling of electrical infrastructure, SCADA and dam monitoring as facilities scale to handle higher throughputs under rising copper demand.

Higher efficiency vibratory screening in mines is being driven by optimised mesh selection, correct vibrator sizing, and improved access to screen vibrators as critical wear parts. Martin Engineering’s Susie O. Bartoli stresses matching vibration frequency and amplitude to particle size distribution and moisture content, along with using appropriate wire diameters and aperture geometries to reduce blinding and carryover. Ergonomic maintenance access to vibrator assemblies and tensioning systems is framed as essential to cut downtime and manual handling risks on multi-deck screening stations.

WorldSkills Australia’s ‘Skillaroos’ training squad is preparing for the WorldSkills International competition in Shanghai, fielding apprentices in trades critical to mining such as heavy diesel fitting, welding and electrical control. Competitors train under national industry experts using production-grade equipment and assessment aligned to Australian Qualifications Framework standards, simulating mine-site conditions rather than classroom tasks. For mining employers, the programme offers a pipeline of job-ready tradespeople with proven competency in precision fitting, fault diagnosis and time-constrained maintenance work.

Hexagon’s Mining division has secured access to Montana Technological University’s Underground Mine Education Center (UMEC), including its full-scale training drifts and specialised underground equipment, to develop next-generation collision avoidance and operator safety systems. The agreement gives Hexagon a controlled but realistic testbed for validating sensor coverage, communications performance and human–machine interface design in complex underground geometries rather than relying solely on lab or surface trials. Engineers can expect faster iteration of proximity detection algorithms and simulation models tailored to narrow headings, mixed fleets and variable ground conditions.

Government plans to create a Single Construction Regulator to take central control of built environment professions, arguing that current self-regulation by bodies such as building control and architects’ institutions is too fragmented and inconsistent. A call for evidence is scheduled for spring 2026, with a full strategy and detailed regulatory framework for competence, oversight and enforcement due in spring 2027. The model will draw on safety regimes in aviation, energy and healthcare, and explicitly link regulation of people, products and buildings, signalling tighter accountability for designers, inspectors and contractors.

Updated planning guidance on flood risk and coastal change in England is tightening expectations on sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) for new developments, with ADS UK manager Stuart Crisp outlining how designers must now evidence runoff control, exceedance routing and long-term maintenance. The guidance pushes wider use of components such as attenuation tanks, permeable pavements and swales to limit post-development discharge to greenfield rates and manage surface water on site. For geotechnical and civil teams, this means earlier integration of SuDS into masterplanning, closer coordination with ground investigation, and more rigorous adoption of CIRIA SuDS Manual principles.

Government plans to convert the Building Safety Regulator into a Single Construction Regulator with powers spanning high‑rise building control, oversight of the building products regime and regulation of construction professions, but without directly carrying out product testing or certification. The consultation prospectus, issued by building safety minister Samantha Dixon, runs to 20 March 2026, with detailed regulatory reform proposals due summer 2026. For designers, contractors and product manufacturers, this signals tighter, centralised scrutiny of competence, product compliance and safety case evidence on complex residential projects.

First Quantum is deploying FLANDERS autonomous blasthole drilling technology at the Sentinel copper mine in Kalumbila, the first such drill automation rollout in Zambia and a step towards the country’s 3 Mt/y copper production target. The system automates key drill functions normally handled by operators, enabling more consistent hole placement and depth control, which should improve fragmentation and downstream mill performance. Remote operation and higher automation levels are also intended to reduce operator exposure at the bench while shifting roles towards higher-skilled control and maintenance tasks.

Retrofitting existing infrastructure is presented as a critical response to climate change impacts now clearly visible after 25 years of civil engineering practice, from more frequent flooding to heat-related material degradation. The argument centres on upgrading bridges, highways and drainage assets rather than wholesale replacement, using measures such as additional scour protection, increased freeboard, upsized culverts and improved thermal detailing of pavements and expansion joints. For practitioners, this points to prioritising asset condition assessment, climate-adjusted design checks and staged strengthening works within constrained maintenance budgets.

Codelco has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding with Hexagon to co-develop and deploy technologies ranging from collision avoidance systems (CAS) to full haulage and drilling autonomy across its Chilean copper operations. The MoU covers joint exploration, development, validation and implementation of advanced fleet management, operator safety and automation solutions, with future site-specific agreements to formalise projects. For mine operators, this signals potential large-scale integration of Hexagon’s CAS and autonomous platforms into Codelco’s open-pit and underground fleets, with implications for traffic management design, training and change management.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority warns that the civil engineering market for public roads and railways is stuck in a “negative cycle” of low margins, limited competition and underinvestment, constraining delivery of schemes such as National Highways’ RIS3 upgrades and Network Rail renewals. The report points to fragmented procurement, short-term frameworks and risk-heavy contracts that deter smaller contractors and weaken supply chain resilience for major earthworks, structures and track renewals. Engineers can expect continued pressure on bid pricing, programme certainty and capacity for innovation unless procurement and contract models are reworked.

National Highways will start a six-year, £23M upgrade of the A36 through Salisbury in January, focusing initially on replacing ageing traffic signals on key junctions. The programme also includes phased road resurfacing and bridge repairs along this strategic north–south route, aiming to address long-term deterioration rather than short-term patching. Contractors will need to manage multi-year traffic management and staging on a constrained urban corridor, with implications for night working, temporary signal layouts and careful planning of bridge access and bearing or deck repair sequences.

Vermeer has released the VermeerOne™ mobile app for iOS and Android, giving surface miner fleets smartphone and tablet access to operator manuals, warranty data, machine locations and performance metrics. The app connects directly to Vermeer’s equipment management ecosystem, allowing owners and supervisors to monitor machines remotely rather than relying solely on office-based telematics portals. For mine operators running multiple surface miners or trenchers across large pits or linear projects, this supports quicker fault diagnosis, better utilisation tracking and more responsive maintenance planning.

A newly built breeze block retaining wall collapsed into a deep excavation on Old Coast Guard’s Road, Poole, crushing 69-year-old steel-fixer Patrick Grant and prompting a £100,000 fine for principal contractor Matrod Frampton Limited. HSE found the wall had been backfilled before the mortar had set, there was no temporary works design for the wall or other structures, and no temporary works co-ordinator or supervisor had been appointed despite a safety report warning eight days earlier. Rescue was further delayed by reliance on an unstable ladder and the absence of an excavation emergency plan.

One in three Scottish plumbing firms plans to stop taking apprentices over the next three years, with a SNIPEF survey citing limited funding support (67%), high wage costs (65%) and supervision costs (47%) as key barriers. SNIPEF’s Apprenticeships Under Pressure report warns this could leave Scotland short of plumbing and heating skills needed for public safety and building decarbonisation work. The move contrasts with England’s new £725m package for 50,000 extra apprenticeships and removal of the 5% co-investment for SMEs training under‑25s.

A 184-panel rooftop solar array on York Minster has generated over 42,000kWh in six months, meeting more than 80% of the cathedral’s peak demand, saving nearly £20,000 in electricity costs and offsetting eight tonnes of CO₂. Specialist installer Associated Clean Technologies used SolarEdge DC-Optimised Inverters with S‑Series Power Optimizers so each module operates independently around shading from pinnacles and towers. Fire risk on the historic structure is managed via SafeDC rapid DC voltage reduction, Sense Connect hotspot detection and a Firefighter Gateway linked to the Minster’s alarm system for full-array shutdown.

CONEXPO-CON/AGG and The Utility Expo have formed a multi-year partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to deliver construction-specific mental health education across North American worksites. The programme will embed AFSP’s evidence-based training modules on suicide risk, peer intervention and crisis response into toolbox talks, supervisor training and safety briefings. For contractors and asset owners, this signals growing expectation that mental health risk will be managed with the same structure and documentation as physical site safety.

Vale, Caterpillar and dealer Sotreq have agreed to expand Vale’s autonomous haulage fleet in the Northern System in Pará from 14 Cat MineStar Command trucks today to about 90 units by 2028, including models rated up to 400 tonnes. Deployment will roll out across the Serra Norte and Serra Sul iron ore units over five years, building on autonomous operations that started in 2019. Vale reports up to 15% gains in operational performance, up to 7.5% fuel savings and more than 260 staff already retrained for digital and supervisory roles.

HS2 contractors have completed the final slide of a 4,600t viaduct section across the M6, moving the structure into position without a full carriageway closure in what they describe as a UK first. The operation used incremental launching techniques to shift the preassembled deck over live traffic, relying on carefully sequenced night-time lane restrictions instead of total shutdowns. For future motorway-rail interfaces, the method signals wider scope to build major spans offline and slide them into place, cutting possession times and temporary works demands.

Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke have pleaded not guilty to two alleged health and safety offences at EDF’s Hinkley Point C nuclear construction site, one involving a worker fatality. The cases, brought by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, relate to incidents during major civil works on the reactor complex, where heavy lifting operations, deep excavations and complex temporary works demand stringent CDM and nuclear site licence compliance. Contractors across UK megaprojects will be watching closely for any precedent on corporate liability for site safety management.

Artificial intelligence is moving rapidly into infrastructure engineering workflows, from generative design tools that auto‑size beams and reinforcement to predictive maintenance models that mine SCADA and sensor data in seconds. Opinion pieces now stress that chartered engineers must retain control of safety‑critical decisions, particularly where AI proposes non‑intuitive solutions for bridge load paths, tunnel linings or flood defence levels. The central message is to treat AI as a decision‑support tool, with human expertise providing validation, context and ethical judgement.