Geomechanics.io

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

An Ammann eABG 4820 electric paver has been deployed on National Highways’ A47 upgrade between Acle and Great Yarmouth, laying asphalt with over 90% recycled content alongside an electric Ammann eARX 26-2 tandem roller. The paver, claimed as the largest electric unit on the market, delivers up to 1,200 tonnes per day at 500 t/h with a 70% CO₂ reduction versus diesel, typically finishing night shifts at around 40% battery from a 95% start while placing 500–600 tonnes. Heidelberg Materials supported the trial by installing a nearby recycling plant that both supplied reclaimed material and provided daytime charging, with low-carbon hydrogen low loaders handling transport.

Treasury approval of the business case clears the way for a new Manchester Digital Campus on 5.5 acres of brownfield land at the former Ancoats retail park, delivering 900,000 sq ft of purpose-built office space in two blocks for 8,800 civil servants by 2032. Enabling works are scheduled for 2026/27 with main construction between 2027 and 2029, supporting an estimated 4,900 construction jobs and £2.3bn in social value investment. The scheme, led by the Government Property Agency and Manchester City Council, will sit alongside a new public park on the remaining land.

Atlas Copco has launched QHS integrated hybrid generators that combine battery storage and a diesel genset in a single canopy unit, capable of grid charging, self-charging via the engine, and optional solar panel input. The system automatically manages multiple energy sources to minimise engine runtime, claiming up to 80% fuel and CO₂ reductions and more than 95% less engine operating time versus diesel-only sets at low or variable loads. Rental-focused features include multiple socket configurations, external fuel connections, a terminal board and FleetLink telemetry for remote monitoring, diagnostics and fleet management.

Newcore Gold has increased the Enchi project’s pit-constrained resource in southwestern Ghana by 24% to 2.13 million oz., including 1.5 million oz. indicated and 626,000 oz. inferred, supported by a 60,000-metre drilling campaign across a 248-sq.-km land package on the Sefwi-Bibiani belt. Resource pits currently average only 85 metres deep, with most drilling to about 125 metres, and all four deposits remain open along strike and at depth, signalling scope for further expansion. A 2024 PEA outlined a nine-year open-pit, heap-leach operation producing ~122,000 oz./year, with initial capex of $106 million, after-tax NPV of $371 million and 58% IRR at $1,850/oz., ahead of a June prefeasibility study.

Freeport-McMoRan has filed for environmental approval of a $7.5 billion expansion at the El Abra copper mine in Chile, adding a new concentrator, desalination plant, water pumping system and expanded mine infrastructure while continuing leaching. The 51:49 Freeport–Codelco project aims to lift output by over 300,000 tonnes of copper per year from 91,000 tonnes in 2024, potentially moving El Abra from 17th to third-largest in Chile, with production targeted for 2033. It is the largest mining investment ever submitted to Chile’s SEA, alongside a separate $5 billion Escondida concentrator filing this week.

Chile’s Antofagasta Court of Appeals has suspended its own February ruling against the $2.5 billion Dominga project, temporarily reinstating the Environmental Qualification Resolution and sending the case to the Supreme Court. The Andes Iron development, 500 km north of Santiago near the Humboldt Penguin National Reserve, comprises two open pits and a port designed for 12 Mt/y of high-grade iron concentrate and 150,000 t/y of copper concentrate over a 26.5-year life. The move keeps one of Chile’s most contested coastal mining-port schemes in legal limbo, with biodiversity and spill-mitigation concerns still central.

Silver X Mining has raised C$69 million ($50 million) via an oversubscribed convertible debenture placement, selling 10,000 debentures at C$6,900 each after exercising a 15% overallotment option above its initial C$60 million target. The funds will support development capex at the Nueva Recuperada district in Peru, where a September PEA outlined a 3,000 t/d operation over at least 14 years, targeting 6 million oz/year silver-equivalent output from the Tangana and restart-ready Plata units. The study drew on 35.65 million oz AgEq measured and indicated and 116.55 million oz inferred, with a 40,000 m drilling campaign now in progress.

Gold and silver prices plunged on Thursday, with spot gold dropping as much as 6% towards $4,500/oz—over $1,000 below its record from two months ago—and silver sliding more than 10% to under $66/oz, now about 45% off January’s $121.65 peak. The Middle East war-driven surge in crude and gas prices is intensifying inflation risks, curbing expectations of US Federal Reserve rate cuts after the Fed signalled just one cut this year. Fund rotation into energy and chemicals, plus institutional profit-taking on the “debasement trade”, is leaving bullion exposed to further downside despite ongoing geopolitical tension.

The World Gold Council has launched “Gold as a Service”, an open, shared infrastructure concept co-developed with Boston Consulting Group to link vaulted physical custody directly with digital issuance and management of gold-backed products. The proposed platform standardises custody coordination, reconciliation, compliance and redemption to support scalable, interoperable tokens and other digital gold instruments that can plug into modern trading, clearing and recordkeeping systems. WGC is inviting banks, fintechs, custodians and other market participants to help design the “trusted rails” needed to operate digital gold at market scale without compromising bar-level integrity.

Teck Resources holds a 10% net legacy profits interest, rising to 15% after 6 million oz of gold are delivered, over a 260 sq. km area that materially overlaps Barrick’s Fourmile deposit in Nevada, potentially complicating Barrick’s planned North American assets IPO. Analyst Orest Wowkodaw values Fourmile at about $15 billion, with resources of 4.6 million indicated tonnes at 17.59 g/t and 25 million inferred tonnes at 16.9 g/t, and estimates Teck’s royalty could yield $100–200 million per year at 750,000 oz annual output and $3,400/oz gold. Prefeasibility and feasibility work is scheduled through 2029, with project capital of $1.5–1.7 billion and total capex of $3.2 billion, while Newmont contests Barrick’s allocation of Nevada Gold Mines JV resources to advance Fourmile.

Aclara Resources has commissioned a rare earth separation pilot plant at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg to validate its proprietary flowsheet ahead of a commercial-scale plant at Port of Vinton, Louisiana, due in 2027, targeting both light (NdPr) and Chinese-restricted heavy (dysprosium, terbium) oxides from ionic clays in Brazil and Chile. Feed will be anchored by the Carina open-pit deposit in Goiás, forecast to produce 149 t/y Dy, 25 t/y Tb and 1,170 t/y NdPr over 18 years, with a post-tax NPV8 of US$1.07 billion and 21.8% IRR. Aclara has just closed a US$50 million private placement and holds DFC backing of up to US$5 million for Carina’s development study, with early works targeted for mid-2026 and operations in 2028.

Myriad Uranium is selling its Red Basin uranium project in New Mexico to Subatomic Industries, a new mining tech venture backed by 8VC and Overmatch Ventures, for $2.5 million cash while retaining a 10% free-carried interest. The deal delivers more than a 6x return on Myriad’s C$525,000 acquisition cost and shifts its focus to the Copper Mountain project in Wyoming, where it holds a 75% interest via an option with Rush Rare Metals. Red Basin sits in a district with a potential 45 million lb uranium endowment based on New Mexico Bureau of Mines estimates.

Revival in UK construction is now in doubt as Bishop & Taylor assess how the latest geopolitical shocks could derail an anticipated near‑term upturn in workloads and project starts. The podcast also examines the implications of Vistry CEO Greg Fitzgerald’s impending departure for the group’s large mixed‑tenure housing and partnerships pipeline. In a lighter segment, they discuss the election of a working plumber to the House of Commons and what direct trade experience might mean for future construction and infrastructure policy debates.

Clarion Housing Group is partnering with The Hill Group to deliver 188 new social rent apartments in Blocks D and E of a 557-home mixed-tenure redevelopment linked to the Woolwich Leisure Centre scheme in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The one, two and three-bedroom units, secured via a Section 106 agreement, are positioned in Woolwich town centre near Woolwich Arsenal DLR and the Elizabeth Line, targeting households on the local waiting list. All homes will connect to a district heat network supplied by air source heat pumps, with construction starting later in 2024 and first completions expected in 2029.

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

Marshalls has now supplied 2,000 tonnes of Stanton Moor buff sandstone from Dale View Quarry, Derbyshire, for Barcelona’s Basilica de la Sagrada Família, with a further 750 tonnes already allocated for upcoming phases. The stone, chosen for tight colour control, carveability and proven resistance to frost and salt, is being used mainly on the Glory Façade, the basilica’s largest and final principal façade. Formal stone cutting started in 2021, supporting a construction programme targeting overall completion around 2036.

Willmott Dixon has secured a £39m main contract via the Department for Education’s construction framework to redevelop Hopwood Hall College’s St Marys Gate campus in Rochdale, demolishing about 70,000 sq ft of existing buildings and constructing a new four-storey, 75,000 sq ft teaching block. The scheme will introduce higher education provision to Rochdale and is due to start imminently, with completion targeted for late 2028. Design features include roof-mounted photovoltaics, air source heat pumps and a hybrid ventilation strategy to cut operational energy demand.

Supply chain pressures in UK low- and mid-rise housing are intensifying, with an FIS survey showing specialist contractors routinely extending 60–78 days of credit and two-thirds experiencing post-award price reductions despite fixed contracts. Retentions and delayed payments leave 41% of firms in frequent cashflow stress, constraining training budgets and limiting investment in modern methods of construction such as offsite fit-out and prefabricated interiors. FIS chief executive Iain McIlwee urges house-builders, commissioning bodies and policymakers to reform procurement, payment and contract management to avoid further erosion of delivery capacity.

Defra’s new land use framework for England prioritises safeguarding the most productive agricultural land and reallocating lower‑grade farmland for natural flood management, but omits any reference to quarrying or construction minerals. The Mineral Products Association, whose members supply sand, gravel, masonry aggregates and agricultural lime and contribute £6.7bn GVA, says its 2025 consultation response was ignored and warns that mineral extraction’s role in rural economies and biodiversity net gain is being sidelined. The omission raises planning risks for long‑term aggregates supply to housing, infrastructure and farm productivity.

Balfour Beatty Group has pleaded not guilty at High Wycombe Magistrates Court to two Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 charges following the July 2023 death of construction worker Stuart Cook, 58, at AWE’s Aldermaston nuclear site in West Berkshire. The company denies breaching Section 2(1) regarding its duty to protect its employee and Section 3(1) concerning risks to non-employees arising from construction activities on the Atomic Weapons Establishment site. ONR is prosecuting as a conventional health and safety case, with no radiological risk reported and no trial date yet set.

Former Battersea Power Station Development Company chief executive Don O’Sullivan has lodged an unfair dismissal and whistleblowing detriment claim at the London South Employment Tribunal, alleging he was sacked for exposing serious financial misreporting that allegedly flattered the balance sheet of Jersey-registered BPS Holdings. The dispute centres on concerns first raised in November 2024 and discussed at a joint board meeting on 16 December 2024, which O’Sullivan says were later supported by a Moore Kingston Smith forensic accounting report, before his exclusion and suspension that same month. With the £2bn-valued Battersea scheme ultimately owned 80% by Malaysian firms Sime Darby and SP Setia and 20% by Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund, the case is listed for a final hearing in 2029 and is expected to be heavily contested.

Immediate load capacity of helical anchors and piles at installation is being challenged by data showing significant “aging” effects, with shaft resistance and overall capacity increasing measurably over days to months in clays and some sands. The discussion contrasts torque-correlated design methods with time-dependent capacity gains, referencing field load tests where post-installation capacity growth alters factor-of-safety assumptions and serviceability performance. For practitioners, the key issue is whether to rely solely on installation torque or to incorporate waiting periods and ageing factors into design for temporary works, tiebacks and lightly loaded foundations.

Excavation is under way 1.5km below ground at the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility in South Dakota to create three caverns, each roughly cathedral-sized, to house the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment’s liquid-argon detectors. The 1,300km-long beamline from Fermilab to the former Homestake gold mine demands tight control of rock mass behaviour, with extensive pre-grouting, cable bolting and shotcrete linings in complex, stressed Precambrian formations. Construction sequencing, spoil handling through deep shafts and long-term groundwater management are central geotechnical risks for the multi-year programme.