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Mongolia is demanding earlier profit payments and an increase in its effective take to about 60% from the $18 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project, where it holds 34% via Erdenes Mongol and currently receives no dividends until a multi‑billion‑dollar Rio Tinto loan is repaid. The push comes despite Rio waiving $2.4 billion of debt in 2022 and follows a separate Mongolian lawsuit over about $450 million in alleged tax underpayments for 2021–22. With copper output up 61% last year and Oyu Tolgoi slated to be the world’s fourth‑largest copper mine by 2030, any fiscal changes could materially alter project cash-flow models and country risk assumptions.

Critical Metals has approved a $30 million programme to accelerate drilling, infrastructure, engineering design and metallurgical work at its Tanbreez heavy rare earth project in Greenland, one of the world’s largest known rare earth deposits. Development is being supported by a multi-use storage and pilot facility in Qaqortoq and a fully integrated mobile assay laboratory providing real-time geochemical data for drill core and processing samples. First ore is targeted for Q4 2028–Q1 2029, with concentrate exports by Q3 2029 and offtake agreements already covering about 75% of expected concentrate output.

Lundin Mining will spend $215 million to lift its stake in Chile’s Caserones open-pit copper-molybdenum mine to 75% and acquire 31% of the nearby Los Helados copper-gold deposit plus a 0.62% NSR royalty from JX Advanced Metals, with completion targeted for April. Caserones produced 132,881 tonnes of copper in 2025 at a cash cost of $2.17/lb, and Lundin expects the deal to add up to 7,000 tonnes of attributable copper in 2026 and generate immediate free cash flow. Los Helados, 17 km south of Caserones, hosts 2.1 billion tonnes indicated at 0.4% Cu, 0.15 g/t Au and 1.5 g/t Ag, and Lundin is evaluating trucking higher-grade ore to the existing Caserones plant to displace lower-grade feed.

Electra Battery Materials has signed a new term sheet with LG Energy Solution to supply 60% of cobalt sulphate output from its Temiskaming Shores refinery in Ontario through 2029, with an option to extend three years. The $250 million plant, 500 km north of Toronto, is targeting early commissioning in Q4 2026 and a one-year ramp-up to full capacity of 6,500 tonnes per year of battery-grade cobalt sulphate, backed by a newly approved $73 million construction budget. Once operating, it is expected to be North America’s first cobalt refinery and one of only two major facilities outside China, which currently supplies about 90% of global cobalt sulphate.

Rio Tinto has shipped its first 200 tonnes of lithium carbonate from the Rincon brine project in Salta, Argentina, to Shanghai, marking the start of exports from a planned 60,000 t/y battery-grade operation. The project will ramp from a 3,000 t/y starter plant to a 57,000 t/y expanded plant due online in 2028, with full capacity targeted within three years and an expected 40-year life at about 53,000 t/y. Rio has secured a US$1.175 billion loan package from IFC, IDB Invest, Export Finance Australia and JBIC towards the US$2.5 billion expansion capex.

CleanTech Lithium has agreed a 40‑year special operating contract (CEOL) with Chile’s mining ministry for the Laguna Verde brine project, covering 153 km² from exploration through to closure and giving direct contractual backing from the Chilean state. Laguna Verde holds a JORC‑compliant resource of 1.9 million tonnes at an average 174 mg/L lithium carbonate, with a 2023 scoping study outlining 20,000 tpa LCE over 30 years and a pre‑feasibility study due this quarter. The CEOL, one of only a few granted in Chile and still subject to Comptroller General ratification, materially reduces tenure risk for project financing and process design decisions.

US military stockpiles hold only about two months of rare earth supplies for systems such as missile guidance, fighter jet actuators and phased-array radar, exposing operations against Iran to potential disruption if Chinese exports tighten. China controls over half of global rare earth mine output and nearly all processing capacity, has already imposed export controls, and plans to strengthen industry development and export management under its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). A $12 billion US stockpiling and allied trade-bloc initiative is unlikely to bring non-Chinese projects online fast enough, concentrating pricing and supply-chain power in a few producers.

Gold advanced on Tuesday as US President Donald Trump signalled an imminent end to the Iran war, knocking oil off recent 30%-plus gains and easing inflation fears that had capped bullion. Spot gold rose up to 1.8% to about $5,240/oz and US gold futures gained 2.7%, while silver climbed 2% toward $90/oz, reversing part of last week’s 3% gold price drop and a 30-tonne ETF outflow, the largest in over two years. Analysts at TD Securities and BMO still flag elevated energy prices and unresolved Strait of Hormuz disruptions as key macro risks for miners and metals investors.

ICMM has released a Global Mining & Metals Greenhouse Gas Emissions Dataset and insights report showing that extraction of minerals critical for renewable energy technologies and sustainable development contributes a relatively small share of global GHG emissions. The dataset aggregates Scope 1 and 2 emissions from mining and metals operations worldwide and distinguishes them from downstream processing and end-use sectors such as power generation and transport. ICMM positions the tool to support more accurate value-chain accounting, scenario analysis and decarbonisation planning for commodities like copper, nickel, lithium and rare earths.

G&H has appointed former Mitie account manager and Amey operations manager Ian Moorby as its first head of operations to lead maintenance delivery, performance and growth. Moorby brings experience managing PFI contracts and compliance, planned and reactive maintenance, and project works across the northeast prison network for the Ministry of Justice. His role will cover recent and ongoing building maintenance and decarbonisation projects including Pudsey Sixth Form College, Windsor House, Evans Property Group’s head office, and Centrica-backed schemes at Heartlands and Hereford County Hospitals.

Clark Contracts has broken ground on a £20m, 191-bed purpose-built student accommodation scheme for Alumno and Henderson Park in Edinburgh’s Meadowbank and Jock’s Lodge area, with completion targeted for summer 2027. The development combines cluster flats with shared kitchens and self-contained studios, plus study and social spaces, landscaped courtyards, rooftop gardens and a ground-floor café/restaurant. For contractors and consultants, the long programme suggests phased delivery and extended coordination of fit-out, public realm and mixed-use ground-floor interfaces.

Grafton Group has agreed to acquire Macroom-based Cygnum Holdings, a timber frame manufacturer that generated more than €45.6m in revenue in 2024 from supplying offsite frames to house-builders across Ireland. Cygnum will be integrated into Grafton’s Chadwicks Group merchant network, with the existing management team retained and incentivised to grow profitability, subject to clearance from Ireland’s Competition & Consumer Protection Commission. The deal increases Grafton’s exposure to a housing market where notified timber frame use in scheme developments has risen from 37% in 2019 to 61% in 2025.

Emerson Crane Hire has taken delivery of the UK’s first Liebherr LTM 1400-6.1, a six-axle mobile crane with a 70-metre telescopic boom and 400-tonne safe working load on a chassis normally used for 300-tonne class machines. The unit is specified with an 80.5-metre luffing jib giving 120 metres maximum hoist height and 97 metres working radius, plus a 45.5-metre hydraulically adjustable jib with up to 40 degrees offset. Under UK STGO rules it travels at 16.5-tonne axle loads carrying its hook block, 10 tonnes of ballast and the Y-Guying system, which self-assembles via integrated hydraulic and electrical quick couplings.

Galliford Try has secured a £28m contract from Clarion Housing Group to build 126 canal-side social rent flats at the City Place site on Charterhall Drive in Chester, adjacent to the Shropshire Union Canal and the grade-II-listed Chester Shot Tower. The scheme comprises 23 one-bed and 103 two-bed units, with Latimer, Clarion’s development arm, overseeing delivery as part of the wider City Place masterplan. All homes are designed to be fossil-fuel-free, achieve at least EPC B, and provide 100% electric vehicle charging provision.

Costain’s 2025 results show revenue down 16% to £1,045.7m but pre-tax profit up 32% to £48.2m, as a 50% fall in road revenue and 25% fall in rail were offset by growth in energy and nuclear & defence work. Adjusted operating profit rose 9% to £47.1m, with adjusted free cash flow more than doubling to £63.1m and year-end net cash increasing to £189.3m despite a £10m share buyback and higher dividends. The forward work position reached a record £7.0bn, including £1.1bn already secured for 2026, giving strong visibility for civils and infrastructure delivery.

Fines exceeding £90,000 and a 26‑week suspended prison sentence have been imposed after 218 m² of asbestos-containing materials and debris were illegally disturbed and cleared at a demolition site on Greenheath Road, Cannock. Sohan Group Limited was fined £74,900 for failing to appoint a principal contractor under CDM 2015, while Maize Metals Limited was fined £13,400 for proceeding with demolition despite an asbestos management survey identifying ACMs. Unlicensed contractor Disa Properties’ representative, Ali Raza Baig, received a suspended custodial sentence, five-year director disqualification and curfew for arranging unlicensed asbestos removal.

Clarion Housing Group has awarded the Hill Group a £45m contract for phase two of the High Path estate regeneration in Merton, delivering 147 new homes – nine houses on Abbey Road and 138 apartments at High Path/Pincott Road – within a wider £1bn programme replacing 1,800 homes with 2,800. Demolition of Lovell House and Marsh Court finished in winter 2025, with house construction scheduled for spring 2026 and apartment blocks from early 2027, subject to Building Safety Regulator approval. All new homes will be gas-free, using air source heat pumps and rooftop photovoltaics, with upgraded shared spaces, cycle storage and a re-provided community centre.

Mott MacDonald has been appointed by Westmorland and Furness Council to develop a concept masterplan for a significantly upgraded Windermere railway station, forming the core of a wider “Gateway” vision for the Lake District. The commission focuses on remaking the arrival experience for visitors while improving local multimodal transport links, including rail–bus–active travel interchange. For civil and transport engineers, early design work is likely to centre on station circulation, public realm reconfiguration and integration with constrained town-centre highway and pedestrian networks.

Work has started on a strategic business case for a potential mass rapid transit (MRT) system for Greater Cambridge, led jointly by the Cambridge Growth Company and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. The study will define preferred MRT corridors, technology options such as segregated busways or light rail, and integration with existing assets including the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway and Cambridge railway station. Outcomes will shape future decisions on alignments, tunnelling versus surface routes, and funding strategy for high-capacity, segregated public transport infrastructure across the sub‑region.

The updated UK 10‑year Infrastructure Pipeline now totals more than £700bn of planned public and private capital projects and, for the first time, includes quantified estimates of workforce demand by project, region and phase. Granular data on skills requirements – covering roles from tunnelling and geotechnical specialists to steel fixers and plant operators – is intended to support contractors, consultants and training providers in sequencing recruitment and apprenticeships. For civil and ground engineering firms, the dataset offers an evidence base for capacity planning against overlapping major schemes in transport, energy and water.

Epiroc has signed its first ground support partnership in Oceania and Indonesia with DYWIDAG Australia, giving it wider distribution for products such as rock bolts, mesh and dynamic ground support systems in hard‑rock underground mines. The agreement targets high-stress, deep mining environments in Australia and Indonesia, where squeezing ground, seismicity and corrosion demand integrated support packages rather than standalone consumables. For operators, the deal signals broader local availability, shorter lead times and potentially more standardised support designs across multi-mine portfolios in the region.

Construction has commenced on Fortescue’s 440 MW Solomon Airport solar farm in the Pilbara, set to be Western Australia’s largest solar development and supplying about one-third of the solar capacity the company says it needs to reach its Real Zero emissions target. The project will feed Fortescue’s nearby iron ore operations, reducing reliance on gas and diesel generation across the Solomon power network. For mine planners and electrical engineers, this scale of behind-the-fence renewables will drive changes in load management, network stability design and contingency planning for remote operations.

Huawei’s Mining Business Unit president Andy Wu claims the company is at least six months ahead of rivals in deploying 4G, private LTE and 5G connectivity tailored for mine sites, integrating networks with edge computing and cloud platforms. Solutions discussed include autonomous haulage over dedicated 5G slices, high‑definition video for crusher corridors and stockpile monitoring, and unified OT/IT architectures linking SCADA, fleet management and environmental sensors. For engineers, the message is that robust, low‑latency wireless backbones are becoming a prerequisite for scaling automation and data‑driven optimisation underground and in large open pits.

Effect of joint orientation on inter-ramp stability is analysed using 2D limit equilibrium and 3D numerical modelling for slopes with persistent bedding, cross-joints and random joint sets. The work compares circular, non-circular and step-path failure modes, showing that adverse bedding dipping out of the slope can reduce inter-ramp factors of safety to below design targets even where bench-scale wedges appear stable. Guidance is given on selecting inter-ramp angles and slope heights when joint sets are variably oriented, stressing 3D assessment where joints are only semi-persistent.