Geomechanics.io

Minerals 260 is reporting further high-grade intercepts from reverse circulation and diamond drilling at its Bullabulling gold project in Western Australia, expanding mineralisation along strike and at depth near historic open pits. Recent holes have returned multiple metre-scale intervals of strong gold grades (g/t-level assays) within altered mafic and sedimentary units, confirming continuity of shear-hosted lodes beneath and between existing pit shells. The results support potential for resource growth around established infrastructure on the Kalgoorlie–Coolgardie corridor, with follow-up step-out drilling and updated modelling now in focus.

Metso is upgrading its Grate Kiln pelletising system to produce higher-quality iron ore pellets tailored for direct reduction (DR) processes in green steelmaking, targeting tighter control of pellet size, strength and metallisation behaviour. The system integrates travelling grate, rotary kiln and annular cooler units, enabling consistent firing temperatures and uniform induration suited to gas-based DR furnaces and potential hydrogen-based reduction. For miners and pellet plants, the move signals growing technical pressure to supply DR-grade pellets with low gangue, high Fe content and predictable reducibility indices.

TECO Australia and New Zealand is promoting controlled conveyor motor starting to cut drivetrain stress in mining bulk handling systems, focusing on how torque and current ramps are managed under load. By using electronic soft starters and variable speed drives instead of direct-on-line starting, TECO aims to reduce shock loading on gearboxes, couplings and belts, particularly on long overland conveyors and high-inertia reclaim systems. The approach targets fewer mechanical failures, longer component life and more stable start-up on heavily loaded conveyors.

AMS Instrumentation & Calibration has been appointed exclusive Australian distributor for ISOIL Industria’s magnetic and ultrasonic flowmeters, covering slurry, process water and reagent streams common in mineral processing circuits. The portfolio includes in-line electromagnetic meters and clamp-on ultrasonic units suited to abrasive, conductive slurries and large-diameter pipelines typically used in concentrators and tailings lines. The deal centralises supply, calibration and service support for ISOIL meters in Australia, simplifying specification and lifecycle maintenance for mine operators and engineering contractors.

EnergyX has commissioned Project Lonestar in Hooks, Texas, the first US direct lithium extraction (DLE) plant processing local Smackover formation brines, with a 250 t/y lithium carbonate equivalent demonstration capacity and a US$30 million capex. The integrated DLE and refining facility will generate 5–25 t batches of battery-grade lithium for qualification, validate process economics and recovery performance at industrial scale, and de-risk a planned >US$1 billion commercial plant across EnergyX’s 47,500-acre position. Senator Ted Cruz framed the project as strengthening US energy security and reducing dependence on China’s 70–75% share of global lithium conversion capacity.

Gold has dropped more than 15% since early March to about $4,500/oz, roughly 20% below its late-January record near $5,600/oz, as rising energy prices and a stronger US dollar shift capital away from bullion. Wells Fargo, led by analyst Edward Lee, is treating this as a “tactical opportunity”, lifting its 2026 year-end target to $6,100–$6,300/oz, up from $4,500–$4,700, on expectations of lower short-term rates, continued central bank buying and “accelerating policy surprises” such as tariffs and deregulation. JPMorgan and UBS have issued similarly bullish $6,000–$6,300/oz targets, reinforcing a constructive long-term price signal for mine planning and project financing assumptions.

WSP and Mott MacDonald are advising Great British Energy – Nuclear on securing a Development Consent Order for small modular reactors at the Wylfa site, one of the UK’s most advanced potential new nuclear locations. The team is working within a revised National Policy Statement and post-Brexit environmental assessment regime to integrate nuclear site licensing, marine works and grid connection into a single consenting strategy. Outcomes at Wylfa are expected to set practical precedents for SMR siting, coastal protection design and long-term radioactive waste and cooling water management on future UK nuclear schemes.

Atlantic Nickel and Appian Capital Advisory have fired the inaugural blast for the first underground access portal at the Santa Rita nickel mine in Bahia, Brazil, marking the physical start of the open-pit to underground transition. Portal and associated preliminary works are progressing in parallel with completion of the underground Definitive Feasibility Study, allowing mine design, scheduling and ground support assumptions to be validated against actual rock conditions. For geotechnical and planning teams, this sequencing reduces schedule risk and enables earlier refinement of underground development and ventilation layouts.

Paragon Advanced Labs has launched a British Columbia laboratory that combines Chrysos PhotonAssay™ with Veracio’s rapid, non-destructive core scanning to deliver near-real-time whole-rock geochemistry. The service targets BC’s tight exploration windows and assay backlogs by generating gold and multi-element data quickly enough for decisions while drilling is still under way. For geologists and drill planners, this enables dynamic hole steering, earlier vectoring towards mineralised structures, and reduced reliance on delayed conventional fire-assay workflows.

Twenty-two contracts have been released to market under the $9 billion Bruce Highway Targeted Safety Program, with five construction packages and 17 design contracts covering priority sections between Brisbane and Cairns. The program targets high‑risk segments of the 1,677‑kilometre corridor with treatments such as wide centreline and roadside barriers, intersection upgrades and overtaking lanes, aimed at reducing head‑on and run‑off‑road crashes. Designers and contractors should expect staged delivery, brownfield works under live traffic and tight interfaces with existing pavement and drainage assets.

Work to upgrade New South Wales’ Newell Highway between Moree and Boggabilla is advancing, with one package nearing completion as crews mobilise on a new safety and pavement project. Current works at Tackinrbi and South Croppa form part of a staged programme of shoulder widening, pavement strengthening and safety treatments on the northern Newell corridor. For civil and pavement engineers, the focus is on improving heavy vehicle performance and reducing crash risk on this key freight route linking Queensland and southern NSW.

Design work has started on a major safety upgrade to the Mary Gilmore Way level crossing at Bribbaree, south of Grenfell in regional New South Wales, with proposals to integrate machine learning-based train and vehicle detection into the signalling system. The crossing is one of 19 sites being modernised under a Federal program, moving beyond conventional flashing lights and boom gates towards predictive, data-driven control. For road and rail engineers, this signals future requirements for power, communications redundancy and fail-safe integration of ML algorithms into existing interlocking and control systems.

Exploration and development activity is ramping up across Australia’s gold sector, with Legacy Minerals, Kalamazoo Resources and Auric Mining all advancing projects. Legacy is reporting a new greenfields gold discovery, while Kalamazoo and Auric are progressing work on existing tenements, signalling continued confidence in brownfields and near-mine targets. For geotechs and mine planners, the cluster of early-stage discoveries and step-out drilling points to sustained demand for resource definition drilling, pit geotechnical studies and regional infrastructure planning.

JCB will from June 2026 offer selected tracked excavators – the 140X, 145XR, 150X, 220X and 245XR – factory‑specified to run on 100% FAME B100 biodiesel derived from recycled vegetable oils, supplied by Syntech Biofuel and compliant with BS EN 14214 and ISCC certification. Machines ordered with a B100 pack and dealer B100 enhanced service contract retain full JCB warranty, and can be converted back to conventional diesel before resale to protect residual values. JCB claims up to 93% greenhouse gas reduction versus standard diesel with no performance loss, giving contractors an immediate low‑carbon option for heavy earthworks plant.

Huws Gray has been fined £2.2m plus full costs at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court after 56-year-old labourer Paul Coulson was fatally crushed by a three‑tonne pallet of timber on a conveyor at the Herringswell Sawmills site in Suffolk on 22 May 2024. HSE investigators found workers had entered the conveyor framework at least 19 times in five weeks despite warning signage, with no physical guarding or system change implemented until after the incident. Post‑accident measures now include fixed guarding to prevent access, unwrapping pallets before loading, and expanded CCTV coverage of all conveyor angles.

Teesside-based px Group has secured a multimillion-pound contract to operate and maintain two facilities at the UK’s first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage project within the East Coast Cluster. The wider cluster, centred on Teesside and the Humber industrial regions, has now awarded £1.5bn in contracts for CO₂ capture, compression and transport infrastructure. For engineers, this signals imminent demand for O&M-ready designs, robust materials for high-purity CO₂ service, and integration of capture plants with existing heavy industrial assets.

Tropical Cyclone Narelle, peaking at category 4 near Exmouth with forecast gusts to 165 km/h and heavy rainfall, has forced port closures at Ashburton, Cape Preston West, Dampier, Varanus Island and Geraldton, disrupting iron ore and LNG export logistics across Western Australia. Rio Tinto suspended port operations while maintaining mining and rail, Mineral Resources halted marine operations at Ashburton under its cyclone plan, and Fenix Resources scaled back non-essential mining and haulage amid diesel shortages linked to Middle East supply constraints. Westgold and Ramelius prepared for significant rainfall around Mount Magnet, with Ramelius planning short-term fuel sourcing from Perth instead of Geraldton.

Deep-sea miner The Metals Company posted a 2025 net loss of $319.8 million and a Q4 loss of $40.4 million, driven by a $131 million increase in NORI royalty liability and a $38 million one-off charge from revised sponsorship agreements, even as cash stood at $117.6 million. The company is pursuing a 12‑million‑tonne‑per‑year polymetallic nodule processing and refining plant on a 1,466‑acre site at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, and integrating AI‑driven process controls with partner Mariana Minerals. NOAA has deemed TMC’s consolidated deep‑seabed mining application in substantial compliance, covering about 65,000 km² in the Clarion Clipperton Zone with an estimated 619 million tonnes of wet nodules, while critics argue its prefeasibility economics rely improperly on resources as well as reserves.

AngloGold Ashanti has completed a pre-feasibility study for its Arthur project in Nevada’s Beatty district, confirming 4.9 million oz of gold reserves across the Silicon and Merlin deposits and outlining an initial nine-year mine life with average output of 500,000 oz/y. More than 95% of mineralisation is oxide, suited to bulk mining and conventional processing, with all-in sustaining costs estimated at $954/oz and initial capex at $3.6 billion. Using a $1,950/oz base case, AngloGold reports after-tax NPV (5%) rising from $1.7 billion at $2,715/oz to $3.4 billion at $3,500/oz, with feasibility work starting June alongside environmental and hydrological baseline studies.

Gold prices jumped up to 3% to more than US$4,550/oz on Friday, heading for their first weekly gain since the Iran conflict began, after weeks of war-driven volatility and earlier price weakness. During his first Cabinet meeting since the US strike on Iran over three weeks ago, President Donald Trump called himself “a gold person” and backed the metal as “real stuff” that “you can’t imitate”, reinforcing bullion’s safe-haven narrative. A federal arts commission has also approved a 24‑karat commemorative coin design bearing Trump’s face for the US 250th anniversary.

United Infrastructure has begun an £11m cathodic protection upgrade at National Gas’s Bacton Gas Terminal in North Norfolk, targeting buried steel pipelines and other soil- and water-submerged assets, with completion due in early 2028. Works are being delivered on a live upper-tier COMAH site, demanding detailed phasing, specialist corrosion engineering and stringent safety controls to maintain terminal operations. A Project Environmental Management Plan aligned with ISO 14001 is in place, signalling tighter asset integrity management similar to United’s previous programmes at St Fergus gas terminal.

WSP has secured a place on Northern Powergrid’s new multi‑lot professional engineering services framework, covering an electricity distribution network serving about eight million people across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire. The consultancy will provide system studies and planning, network design and asset management, digital engineering, and project management, engineering and commissioning support to maintain, upgrade and future‑proof the distribution assets. The award extends a 27‑year client relationship and signals continued grid investment that will interest civil, electrical and geotechnical teams working on substation, cable route and foundation works.

Edinburgh’s City of Edinburgh Council has given ‘minded to approve’ consent for Vivere Extra Care Group’s £25m, 2.2-acre retirement village at the former Lansdowne House / Lower School Campus site on Coltbridge Terrace, delivering 48 extra care homes with communal lounges, parking and gardens. The scheme will incorporate what is described as Scotland’s first Zero Carbon 5G heat network on the brownfield plot, alongside refurbishment of the 1875, TB McFadzen-designed, listed Victorian villa, lodge and stables. New-build elements will replace later additions and are being designed to match the original Victorian character.

Balfour Beatty Vinci is preparing to launch the 107‑metre, 1,250‑tonne west deck of the HS2 M6 South viaduct near Chelmsley Wood, sliding it 102 metres over the M6 junction 4 southbound slip road using a giant hydraulic jack onto concrete piers. The west deck, assembled in four smaller sections because of space constraints, staggered abutments and a curved loop road, will run parallel to the existing 320‑metre east deck installed in three stages under live traffic. Installation is planned in four phases from April to November 2026, with only the J4 southbound exit requiring closure.