Geomechanics.io

Tudor Gold has dropped its appeal of a British Columbia Chief Gold Commissioner ruling over Seabridge Gold’s Mitchell Treaty Tunnels (MTT), easing one legal obstacle to the C$6.4 billion KSM gold-copper project but leaving two BC court actions active. The dispute centres on about 12.5 km of Seabridge’s planned 22-km twin access tunnels, each roughly 5.9 m by 5.5 m, crossing Tudor’s Treaty Creek claims and, Tudor says, sterilising parts of the Goldstorm, Perfectstorm and CBS zones. Goldstorm alone hosts 912.3 million tonnes indicated at 0.85 g/t Au, 5.07 g/t Ag and 0.15% Cu, so tunnel buffer zones could materially constrain future underground layouts and access.

Coeur Mining has lifted its 2026 guidance to 680,000–815,000 oz gold, 18.68–21.93 Moz silver and 50–65 Mlb copper after closing the acquisition of New Gold’s Rainy River and New Afton mines, which will contribute nine months of production. Rainy River in Ontario is forecast at 230,000–275,000 oz gold and 350,000–450,000 oz silver at $2,150–$2,350/oz, while New Afton in British Columbia is guided at 60,000–80,000 oz gold, 130,000–180,000 oz silver and all copper output at $1,000–$1,200/oz gold and $1.20–$1.35/lb copper. The deal, which extends Rainy River’s reserve-only life to 2035 and accelerates its underground transition, is backed by a new $1 billion revolving credit facility, a $750 million buyback authorisation and about $160 million of exploration spend planned for 2026.

Fitzroy Minerals’ Buen Retiro project in Chile’s Punta del Cobre belt has returned a 384-metre intercept grading 0.22% copper from 4 metres depth in hole BRT-DDH045, including 94 metres at 0.33% and 26 metres at 0.45%, with consistent chalcopyrite mineralisation. The first 100 metres comprise a stockwork with minor breccias, transitioning into a 284-metre Candelaria-style stratiform system, 4 km from the Pan-American Highway and close to grid power. Fitzroy is infill drilling for an initial resource and a planned heap leach copper operation to support further exploration.

Savannah Resources has pushed completion of the definitive feasibility study and RECAPE environmental compliance for its Barroso lithium project in northern Portugal to July 2026, a slight slip from its end-June target, but still aims for a final environmental licence in Q3 2026 and first production in 2028. The company plans four open pits designed to supply lithium for roughly 500,000 EV batteries a year and claims project breakeven at about $600/t lithium, supported by a €110 million Portuguese government grant. Chief executive Emanuel Proença says current geotechnical and resource data are sufficient for permitting and FID, with outstanding fieldwork to feed later engineering, as metallurgical testing and noise modelling progress amid strong local opposition in the World Heritage agricultural landscape.

McEwen has reported a new resource for the Tartan gold project in Flin Flon, Manitoba, of 2.62 million indicated tonnes at 3.67 g/t (308,900 oz.) and 2.83 million inferred tonnes at 3.32 g/t (302,700 oz.) at a 1.35 g/t cut-off, supporting a restart targeting at least 30,000 oz. per year. The 26.7 sq. km property hosts a historic 450 t/d plant, decline access and developed blocks in the main and south zones, with metallurgical test work and underground mine planning in progress and scope to double plant throughput to 45,000-55,000 oz. annually. McEwen has allocated C$6 million in 2026 for near-mine and regional drilling on the main zone flanks and Tartan West to grow the resource as it works towards a 250,000-300,000 oz. group production target by 2030.

USA Rare Earth has signed a non-exclusive mutual sales and distribution deal with Arnold Magnetic Technologies, linking USAR’s processed and refined neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) feedstock and mine-to-magnet pipeline with Arnold’s samarium-cobalt (SmCo) and NdFeB permanent magnet manufacturing. The partnership is anchored by USAR’s planned Round Top rare earths deposit in Texas (targeting production in late 2028) and a Stillwater, Oklahoma magnet plant designed for 5,000 tonnes per year, due online this year. Both firms aim to supply “compliance-ready” magnets for aerospace, defence, semiconductor and EV applications within a US-aligned supply chain.

Gold rebounded sharply on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced a five-day pause in planned military strikes on Iran, with spot prices recovering from an intraday plunge of about 8% in London to nearly $4,100/oz to trade around $4,480/oz by 11:15 a.m. in New York. Comex futures remained 2.7% lower at $4,471/oz and silver also clawed back from losses of more than 10%, amid what analysts describe as forced selling driven by a global liquidity crunch and a crowded long-gold trade. Citigroup and BNP Paribas note gold is behaving like a pro‑cyclical risk asset, with possible central bank sales to fund high energy imports adding pressure but with past shock cycles (2008, 2020, 2022) typically followed by sustained rallies.

Foundations are now complete for a new 50‑metre shared-use suspension bridge replacing the historic Sappers’ Bridge over the River Conwy at Betws‑y‑Coed, built under a £3m Conwy County Borough Council contract with MWT Civil Engineering. Deep abutment excavations for mass concrete plinths were formed in a high water table using a sheet‑piled cofferdam with interlocking Larssen piles, welded corners, Groundforce Mega Brace beams and three MP50 hydraulic struts. Two ICE8SG side‑grip hammers installed piles over 6m long, while an unusual sheet‑piled ramp provided plant access without cranes beside the 14th‑century St Michael’s Church.

Outline planning approval for Ebbsfleet Central secures Section 106 agreements between Kent County Council, Dartford and Gravesham borough councils and Ebbsfleet Development Corporation to redevelop 35 hectares of brownfield land around Ebbsfleet International station. The masterplan covers about 2,100 homes with at least 35% affordable, roughly 87,000 m² of office space, plus retail, leisure and new public open space in a mixed-use town centre. Obligations include funding for a new primary school, community services and transport and connectivity upgrades, underpinning future public and private investment.

The Federation of Master Builders is urging the UK government to introduce mandatory licensing for all building trades as part of reforms to create a Single Construction Regulator, arguing current “halfway house” measures leave “vast gaps of no regulation”. Chief executive Brian Berry says responsible SMEs are being undercut by rogue traders operating with little oversight, causing serious financial and emotional harm to homeowners. The FMB wants the new regulator’s scope expanded to administer a state‑controlled licensing scheme that sets a clear competence baseline and strengthens enforcement.

The government has cut its English new towns shortlist from 12 to seven locations, each planned for at least 10,000 homes, with Tempsford, Brabazon/West Innovation Arc and Milton Keynes each targeting around 40,000 units and major new or upgraded transport links such as East West Rail and a local mass transit system. Urban densification schemes include 20,000 homes at Leeds South Bank, at least 15,000 at Manchester Victoria North, and 15,000 at Thamesmead tied to the proposed Docklands Light Railway extension. In parallel, a National Housing Bank will launch on 1 April with up to £16bn capacity, aiming to support over 500,000 homes and offering up to £400m in subsidised finance over 10 years.

Willmott Dixon will begin enabling works on Portsmouth’s £22m Bransbury Park leisure centre on 13 April 2026, around three months after the original overall completion date, with opening now pushed back to winter 2027. The scheme, procured through the Southern Construction Framework, combines a general practice medical facility with a sports complex including a 25‑metre four‑lane pool, learner pool, 65‑station gym and two studios. An upgraded artificial turf pitch and multi‑use games area with floodlighting and free public access will be built at the north of the site.

Kier Construction has begun site work under a pre-construction services agreement with Essex County Council for a new all-through SEND school serving the Wolsey Park housing development near Rayleigh, being built by Countryside (now part of Vistry). The scheme splits provision, with Key Stages 1–2 accommodated at Wolsey Park for 150 pupils and Key Stages 3–4 at the former Chetwood Primary School site in South Woodham Ferrers for 102 pupils. For contractors and designers, the project signals continued local authority investment in specialist education facilities across multiple sites.

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.

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.

Macmahon Holdings has signed a Letter of Intent with Wolfram Limited, a Bumi Resources subsidiary, to restart the Mount Carlton Gold Mine in north Queensland, covering both surface and underground mining plus associated civil infrastructure works. The scope is expected to include open-pit and underground production, haul road and ROM pad construction, and potential tailings and water management upgrades typical of a brownfield restart. Contractors and suppliers should anticipate tenders for fleet, ground support, drill-and-blast, and civil packages once the LoI progresses to a full mining services contract.

Cementation Africa is upgrading Mopani Copper Mines’ Mindola shaft at Nkana, Kitwe, to extend mine life and raise hoisting efficiency, drawing on its long-running shaft sinking and underground construction experience in Zambia. The contract covers construction and erection of permanent shaft infrastructure, including new fixed installations and associated underground works, to support deeper, higher-volume copper production. For geotechnical and mining teams, the project signals continued investment in legacy Copperbelt infrastructure rather than greenfield capacity, with implications for ground support strategies and life-of-mine planning.

Epiroc Ground Support has formed a strategic partnership with Master Builders Solutions to co-develop next-generation chemical technologies for underground mining, combining Epiroc’s ground support systems with Master Builders’ concrete admixtures and shotcrete/underground construction products. The collaboration targets improved performance of rockbolts, mesh and cable support when used with high-performance sprayed concrete and grouts, particularly in deep and highly stressed ground conditions. For mine operators, the move signals closer integration between support hardware and tailored chemical formulations, with potential gains in early strength, adhesion and durability of ground support systems.

Mandatory sharing of ground investigation data under the proposed Geotechnical Data Sharing Bill is “critical” to cutting project cost and risk, AtkinsRéalis geotechnical engineer and Engineering Geology chair Dr Jacqueline Skipper told NCE. Skipper argues that making borehole logs, in situ test results and laboratory data publicly accessible would reduce duplicated site investigations, improve desk studies and help identify legacy hazards earlier in design. For contractors and consultants, she says the Bill could materially change tender pricing, contingency allowances and early-stage geotechnical risk allocation.

British airports are accelerating post‑pandemic recovery, with British Aviation Group chair Tim Walder pointing to renewed capital programmes for terminal expansions, baggage system upgrades and airfield resilience works after traffic collapsed during 2020–21. Major hubs such as Heathrow and Manchester are revisiting deferred projects including pier extensions, additional contact stands and upgraded hold‑baggage screening to meet current ICAO and EU security standards. For civil and geotechnical engineers, this signals a return of airside pavement rehabilitation, ground improvement for new aprons and complex phasing to keep runways and taxiways operational during construction.

Detailed designs have been released for the $220 million Henry Lawson Drive Upgrade Stage 1B in Milperra, covering a 1.8‑kilometre section between Auld Avenue and the M5 Motorway approaches in south‑western Sydney. The New South Wales Government scheme targets a key freight and commuter corridor linking Bankstown Airport and the M5, with works expected to address current congestion and safety constraints on the existing dual‑carriageway arterial. For civil and pavement engineers, the project signals upcoming demand for urban arterial widening, drainage upgrades and construction staging under heavy traffic.

Putzmeister Oceania is ramping up its SANY road machinery division as a core growth area, with Head of Road Construction Ryan Van Den Broek driving an expanded line-up of pavers, rollers and stabilisers for Australian conditions. The business is leveraging its 40-plus years in concrete pumping to build local capability in aftersales support, parts and service coverage across key road-building corridors. For contractors, the move signals more competition in heavy road plant supply and potentially shorter lead times for high-spec compaction and paving equipment.

Transperth’s integrated bus, train and ferry network recorded 151.7 million boardings in the 2025 calendar year, surpassing the previous record of 148.7 million and signalling sustained post‑pandemic demand growth. The 3 million‑plus increase in trips will pressure existing rail and bus corridor capacity, interchange layouts and park‑and‑ride facilities, particularly during peak commuter periods. For planners and civil contractors, the figures strengthen the case for forward works on station upgrades, bus priority lanes and higher‑frequency rail operations across Perth’s urban network.

Larvotto Resources is pushing a rapid restart of the Hillgrove Project in New South Wales, advancing an “advanced critical minerals build” centred on antimony–gold production as Australia moves to secure domestic critical mineral supply. The brownfield site, which retains existing processing infrastructure from previous operations, is being reconfigured to target higher-value critical mineral streams rather than purely precious metals. For geotechnical and mining teams, the strategy points to shorter lead times, heavy reuse of legacy plant, and mine plans optimised around critical mineral ore zones rather than historic pit geometries.