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Artemis Gold has halted processing at its Blackwater mine in central British Columbia after a ball mill gearbox failure forced a production outage expected to last 8–10 days, though mining activities continue and a replacement gear is on hand. First-quarter output will be below plan, but full-year guidance of 265,000–290,000 oz remains unchanged as the company brings forward second-quarter maintenance to use the downtime. The shutdown briefly knocked Artemis’ market capitalisation below C$9 billion, despite Blackwater having produced 192,808 oz of gold in its first eight months of operation in 2025.

Rio Tinto has completed an industrial trial with Prysmian to produce low‑carbon aluminium rod for power cables, blending metal from its hydro-powered Alma smelter in Quebec with ELYSIS inert-anode technology that eliminates direct smelting greenhouse gas emissions and generates oxygen. The trial sits within a five-year supply agreement signed in October 2023 to roll out lower‑carbon aluminium cable solutions for energy transmission and data centres. CRU forecasts data centres will grow from about 7% of North American cable demand in 2025 at roughly 17% CAGR to 2030, with aluminium gaining share for campus power distribution.

CITB has set a £11.5m employer networks budget for 2026-27, restricting access to micro, small and medium-sized firms (fewer than 249 staff) while creating a separate large employer fund. From April, these smaller employers can book training through networks at 50% match funding, subject to new annual caps of £1,500 for micro (up to nine staff), £2,000 for small (10–49) and £4,500 for medium (50–249). Large employers will instead access a £18,000-per-year large employer fund for any in-scope training, tied to an agreed training plan.

Manchester-based construction consultant Abacus has hired former Aecom leaders Steve Kenny as director of project management and Paul Camac as director of cost management, bolstering its 36-strong Manchester team. The move comes two years after Abacus was acquired by private equity-backed Contollo Group, which now has over 230 staff nationally and has consolidated consultancies including MBA, Tace, ESP and Kam. With clients such as Barratt Redrow, Bruntwood, Harworth and Sport England, the expanded leadership signals a push to scale project and cost management capability across complex built environment schemes.

Builders’ merchants ended 2025 with Q4 takings down 1.2% and volumes down 2.9% year-on-year, while prices were 1.8% higher, and December’s like-for-like volumes fell 5.8% despite a 3.6% price rise. Average daily takings in Q4 were 9.0% lower than Q3 and daily volumes 13.1% lower, mirroring ONS data showing a 2.1% quarter-on-quarter fall in construction output, led by a 3.6% drop in private new housing. The CPA has cut its 2026 construction output forecast from +2.8% to +1.7%, with private housing RMI now expected to contract by 1.0%.

Work has started on the £20m redevelopment of The Priory shopping centre in Worksop, with main contractor GF Tomlinson beginning structural demolition under Pagabo’s medium works framework for Bassetlaw District Council. Enabling works have included isolation of building services, soft strip of internal areas, full scaffolding to demolition zones and hoarding that cuts off part of the car park between the entrance road and service ramp to segregate the public from plant. A high-reach demolition excavator will remove primary structural elements while elevations near access roads are dismantled by hand, with demolition scheduled to complete by May 2026 and all stores remaining trading throughout.

Consulting engineer WSP has appointed former Ricardo Rail managing director Iain Carmichael as managing director for intelligent infrastructure across its UK & Ireland operations, five months after acquiring the British automotive engineering consultancy. Carmichael brings systems engineering, operational safety, risk management and third‑party certification experience, including leading Ricardo’s Asia office in Hong Kong from 2015 to 2018. WSP’s transport & infrastructure head Darren Reed expects the combined WSP–Ricardo capability to focus on digital, data‑enabled and safety‑critical infrastructure with stronger systems integration and resilience.

UK construction tender price inflation forecasts have turned more cautious, with Rider Levett Bucknall lifting its 2026 forecast to 3.45% (from 3.27%) as the Middle East conflict threatens fuel costs, trade routes such as the Strait of Hormuz, and key structural material supplies. RLB reports concurrent input cost pressures and weakening pipelines, with contractors pricing selectively and risk allowances diverging by sector and project type. Glenigan’s latest Index shows project starts under £100m down 15% year on year and overall market value 26% lower, leaving private residential and fragile major-infrastructure pipelines particularly exposed.

Ainscough Crane Hire has reported a 5% fall in turnover to £115.5m for the year to September 2025, with operating profit down 55% to £6.4m and profit before tax down 68% to £3.7m amid what the board called “subdued market conditions”. The Wigan-based firm nonetheless invested £28.7m in fixed assets, including £25.2m on new Liebherr cranes to maintain fleet age, while net debt rose from £32.4m to £37.7m. Borrowing headroom was increased from £29m to £39m, and US owner GSO/Blackstone extracted a £22m dividend in October 2025.

Palfinger has entered a strategic technology collaboration with US robotic construction specialist Icon, integrating its knuckle boom crane technology into Icon’s Titan concrete printing robot. Titan is designed to print concrete structures up to 27 feet high, supports multi‑level construction, uses modular components with stabilisers and crawler systems, and is intended for continuous 24/7 operation. Initial prototypes have completed testing for industrial use, signalling near‑term deployment of large‑scale robotic 3D concrete printing with reduced labour exposure and faster build cycles for structural shells.

Weir has secured a contract to supply a 150 t/h crushing and screening plant for Bezant’s Hope and Gorob copper-gold project in Namibia, centred on ENDURON ET905 and ET906 jaw crushers. The package also includes a Trio TF4012 vibrating grizzly feeder and a Trio EF3605 screen, configured for primary and secondary crushing of copper-gold ore. For mine planners and process engineers, the fixed 150 t/h capacity sets a clear constraint for upstream blasting/hauling rates and downstream milling circuit design.

Metso Corporation and Loesche GmbH have formed a partnership to roll out Metso Loesche vertical roller mill (VRM) dry grinding technology, now integrated into the Metso Plus offering for minerals processing. The VRM is positioned as a direct replacement for high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) and horizontal mills in primary grinding circuits, targeting reduced energy use and a smaller plant footprint. For process engineers, the move signals a push towards single-stage dry comminution flowsheets with fewer conveyors, screens and slurry handling systems.

Fortescue is rolling out a new Collision Avoidance System (CAS) as the first element of its HaulX technology suite, which CEO Metals and Operations Dino Otranto describes as a fundamental shift in the company’s vehicle safety approach. The CAS adds an engineered control layer on haul trucks and light vehicles, integrating proximity detection and automated intervention to prevent vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-person incidents. For mine operators, this signals tighter interaction control in mixed-traffic pits and a platform for progressive automation of haulage fleets.

Mineral Mining Services has mobilised its specialised reverse circulation drill fleet and crews to start a new RC drilling programme at the Leonora South gold project near Kookynie, Western Australia. The campaign follows a formalised “Drill-for-Equity” agreement with GoldArc Resources, under which MMS will receive part of its compensation in GoldArc equity rather than cash. The structure reduces upfront drilling costs for GoldArc while locking MMS into project upside, a model that could influence funding strategies for early-stage gold exploration in the Leonora–Kookynie belt.

Early works have started on National Highways’ Lower Thames Crossing, with archaeologists, ecologists and engineers mobilised across Essex and Kent ahead of main tunnelling works scheduled for 2028. Site investigations, environmental surveys and enabling works are being used to refine the alignment and construction methodology for the twin‑bore road tunnel beneath the Thames, planned as a key additional link to the Dartford Crossing. Geotechnical data from these early phases will drive detailed design of tunnel approaches, cuttings, and associated highway structures.

Five new railway stations in the West Midlands, including the three long-delayed Camp Hill line stops, will open to passengers over the next month, completing a regional rail upgrade aimed at restoring local stopping services. The scheme reconnects communities that have been without rail links for several decades, reducing reliance on radial routes into Birmingham New Street. For civil and rail engineers, the openings mark the handover of multiple infill stations delivered on an operational network, with associated track, signalling and platform interface works now moving into the operational testing phase.

Work is ramping up on National Highways’ A47 Thickthorn Junction upgrade near Norwich as roads minister Guy Opperman visits site and talks up the forthcoming Roads Investment Strategy 3 (RIS3). The scheme is replacing the existing roundabout with a free‑flowing grade‑separated junction to cut congestion on the A47/A11 interchange, a key strategic link to Great Yarmouth and the Midlands. Opperman signalled that RIS3 will prioritise similar major junction upgrades and corridor improvements on the Strategic Road Network, with detailed funding envelopes expected in the next spending period.

Forrestania Resources has entered a binding agreement to acquire several Western Australian gold exploration districts from Goldtribe Resources, expanding its tenure in the Forrestania and Southern Cross greenstone belts. The package reportedly includes early-stage tenements with historical gold workings and soil anomalies adjacent to existing shear-hosted deposits, giving Forrestania additional strike length along established mineralised trends. For geologists and mine planners, the deal consolidates ground in a mature Archean belt where brownfields-style targeting, rather than greenfields discovery, is likely to drive near-term drilling strategies.

Export Finance Australia has approved up to $385 million in loans and guarantees to support Australian suppliers delivering equipment and services to Rio Tinto’s Rincón lithium brine project in Salta, Argentina. The facility is expected to back contracts for process plant packages, modular infrastructure and specialist engineering for the planned direct lithium extraction and evaporation pond system. For contractors, the EFA backing reduces payment risk on offshore work and could favour Australian-designed process, materials handling and power systems in Rincón’s next development phases.

Metso has partnered with Loesche GmbH to launch a vertical roller mill (VRM) dry grinding solution targeting higher energy efficiency and reduced water use in comminution circuits. The system combines Metso’s process integration and plant design with Loesche’s VRM technology, which typically delivers fine grinding in a single, compact unit without the need for large downstream classification or thickening equipment. For mine designers, the dry VRM route can shrink plant footprint, simplify tailings handling and support projects in arid regions or where water licences are constrained.

Jenike & Johanson has launched a Solids Flow Essentials microlearning series targeted at process and plant engineers dealing with bulk solids handling in hoppers, bins and transfer chutes. The short, modular courses focus on practical issues such as arching, ratholing, segregation and wall friction, using Jenike shear testing concepts and flow property measurements to guide bin and silo design. For operations teams, the material offers a structured way to diagnose chronic flow problems and reduce unplanned downtime without full-length training programmes.

Dreadnought Resources has started reverse circulation drilling at the Metzke’s Find prospect within its 100 per cent owned Illaara gold project in Western Australia, targeting structurally controlled high-grade gold along a previously defined shear corridor. The RC programme is designed to step out from earlier intercepts and test down-dip and along-strike extensions of mineralisation, using relatively low-cost, high-production hammer drilling suited to the hard Archaean greenstone host rocks. Results will guide follow-up diamond drilling, resource definition and potential pit shell optimisation across the broader Illaara trend.

US–Israel military action against Iran has driven oil briefly towards $120 per barrel before settling in the $90s, as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen from about 80 ships per day to only a handful, erasing expectations of near‑term oversupply. BMO analysts report nitrogen fertiliser prices up roughly 30%, with Middle Eastern producers supplying nearly half of global urea exports and about 15% of global polyethylene capacity, pushing utilisation towards 90%+. Metals impacts are uneven: up to 5 Mt of Middle Eastern aluminium output may be disrupted, while sulfur‑intensive nickel and phosphate chains face rising cost and supply risk.

A revised offtake between Lynas Rare Earths and Japan’s JARE locks in annual purchases of 5,000 tonnes of neodymium‑praseodymium at a $110/kg floor price until 2038 and commits JARE to 50% of Lynas’ heavy rare earth output, including dysprosium and terbium. The deal decouples pricing from Chinese benchmarks used in the original 2011 $250 million agreement, offering Japanese magnet and electronics manufacturers a non‑Chinese supply chain anchored on Mount Weld ore and Malaysian separation capacity. Lynas, which produced 10,908 tonnes of rare earth oxides in 2024, saw its shares jump 16% to A$20.59.