Geomechanics.io

Salares Norte in Chile is set to exceed 2026 guidance and underpin Gold Fields’ push towards the top of its 2.4–2.6 Moz production target, offsetting weaker output at Gruyere in Western Australia and Tarkwa in Ghana, where high turnover, fleet under-utilisation and potential loss of the licence threaten volumes. Harsh Atacama winter conditions that halted Lundin Mining’s Caserones and briefly Los Pelambres have not derailed Salares Norte’s ramp-up this year, after frozen pipes did so in 2024. Stronger gold prices and volumes have cut net debt 34% to $1.3bn and support a Windfall capex envelope of $1.7–1.9bn, with projected all-in costs of $2,075–2,300/oz pending EIA approval and FID.

US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis has dismissed US bribery and fraud charges against Gautam Adani over alleged $250 million payments to Indian officials for solar contracts, while sharply criticising the Justice Department’s “highly unusual” internal process. The judge singled out Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter for sidelining line prosecutors and relying on a word-count argument that labelled the case “primarily foreign”, and raised concerns about the authenticity of documents submitted. The ruling removes a major criminal overhang as Adani Group advances nearly $15 billion in new investments and a $1.6 billion share sale after recent SEC and OFAC settlements totalling $293 million.

Brazil Potash has secured a Federal Regional Court ruling upholding Amazonas state agency IPAAM’s authority to issue environmental licences for the $2.5 billion Autazes potash project and validating consultations with the Mura Indigenous peoples. The decision confirms existing licences and clears a major regulatory hurdle, although interlocutory appeals against the inadmissibility decisions are still possible. Designed for up to 2.4 million tonnes per year of potash, Autazes could supply about 20% of Brazil’s current demand in a market that imported roughly 97% of its potash fertiliser in 2025.

Gold futures in New York briefly hit $4,502.70/oz on Wednesday, a two‑month high, as US CPI came in at 0.1% m/m and 3.4% y/y and core inflation slowed to 2.5%, trimming near‑term Fed hike odds and pulling two‑year Treasury yields down to 4.18%. Spot gold traded around $4,422/oz, with Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank flagging $4,200 as key support and the 200‑day moving average just below $4,500 as major resistance, while Comex September silver touched $66.98/oz and CME prepared 24/7 trading for 100‑oz silver futures. Gold and silver miners have rallied sharply, with Eldorado Gold up 33% month‑to‑date, Equinox Gold 29%, and Newmont 26%, versus a 9% move in bullion and SPDR Gold Shares.

Apex Critical Metals has reported further high-grade rare earth intercepts at its Rift project in Nebraska, including 10.2 metres at 5.27% TREO from 178.6 metres in hole RIFT26-14 and 8 metres at 4.48% TREO from 273 metres in RIFT26-12, both within ~150-metre zones above 2% TREO in the shallow west-dipping Trinity Zone. Earlier 2026 holes such as RIFT26-008 cut 191.9 metres at 2.5% REO, including 14.9 metres at 5.09% and 12.3 metres at 5.63%, with NdPr-enriched intervals averaging 49% NdPr over 10 metres. Mineralisation now extends over more than 700 metres of strike in the Elk Creek carbonatite complex, remains open in all directions, and is targeting an initial resource in Q1 2027.

Vale and ABB are extending their automation and AI partnership from the 11.2 Mt/y Conceição II “model plant” to multiple iron ore processing sites across Brazil, using the same integrated automation, electrification and IT/OT digitalisation framework. At Conceição II, ABB systems now control more than 7,000 instruments and over 100 monitoring cameras, optimising more than 400 process variables and delivering a 25% productivity gain, 40% more premium direct-reduction ore and a 26% cut in iron losses to tailings since 2024. The rollout targets further reductions in manual field interventions, higher energy efficiency and more consistent plant performance.

Copper for September delivery on Comex briefly hit a record $6.7140/lb ($14,802/t) as a tame US inflation print eased rate fears and a tight physical market drove LME cash copper to a $207.50/t backwardation over three-month prices, the widest of 2026, with LME stocks down 14% since end-July to 214,550 t. Supply pressure is compounded by Chile cutting its production forecast again and Indonesia’s Gresik smelter, which treats Grasberg ore, remaining offline after an 8 August boiler leak. On the project side, Sweden’s government cleared Boliden’s Laver concession appeal, unlocking environmental permitting for a 849.5 Mt deposit grading 0.24% Cu, while Bougainville authorised Lloyds Metals & Energy to study reopening Panguna, with 5.3 Mt Cu and 19.3 Moz Au in remaining reserves.

Tether International has lifted its stake in Metalla Royalty & Streaming to about 14%, buying 149,116 shares at US$9.14 each for US$1.36 million and taking its holding to 13.2 million shares out of 93.5 million outstanding. Metalla’s nearly 100 royalties and streams include a 1.5% royalty over part of Iamgold’s Côté gold mine and the Gosselin deposit in Ontario, plus exposure to First Quantum’s Taca Taca and Hudbay’s Copper World projects. The move extends Tether’s 2025–26 strategy of shifting crypto-derived capital into gold-linked royalties, alongside its 32% stake in Elemental Altus and more than 146 tonnes of physical gold.

Savannah Resources has signed three benefit sharing agreements with baldios in the Barroso region of northern Portugal, securing land access on Blocks A and C of the Aldeia concession and the western end of the C-100 concession for its Barroso lithium project, designated a ‘Strategic Project’ under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. The deals include rent-based compensation indexed to inflation, community participation in project oversight bodies and local reinvestment, plus a technical partnership with SBTMAD to manage and fire-proof about 100 hectares of agroforestry land. Barroso, with reserves now above 39 million tonnes of spodumene ore and planned output sufficient for roughly 500,000 EV batteries per year, is targeting a final environmental licence in Q3 2026, FID by year-end and first production in 2028.

Epiroc has signed a strategic memorandum with Avesoro to supply additional trucks, loaders and drilling equipment to the Bea Mountain Mining Corporation–owned New Liberty gold mine in Liberia. The agreement, confirmed by Avesoro CEO Özgür Gümüş and Epiroc President and CEO Helena Hedblom, expands an existing fleet rather than initiating a greenfield deployment. Increased OEM-standard loading and drilling capacity points to higher planned production rates and more standardised maintenance and parts support at the open-pit operation.

Medallion Metals has named Macmahon Underground as preferred tenderer for the underground mining contract at the Ravensthorpe gold project in Western Australia, covering portal establishment and initial mine development. The scope is expected to include decline access, level development and associated ground support, with Macmahon to deploy its underground fleet and technical services under a single integrated contract. For geotechnical and mine planners, the decision signals a move towards contractor-led design and execution for early-life underground access at Ravensthorpe.

Summer droughts that are draining reservoirs and driving wildfires across three continents are also constraining water-intensive copper, lithium and cobalt mines critical to the energy transition, Devan Pillay, President of Heavy Industries at Schneider Electric, warns. With many concentrators, heap leach pads and tailings storage facilities designed around stable water allocations rather than multi‑year deficits, prolonged shortages are already forcing throughput cuts and delaying new capacity. Pillay points to the need for mine designs that integrate closed‑loop process water, dry or filtered tailings and real‑time water accounting as baseline, not optional, features.

Cornish Lithium has secured a £7.2 million UK Government DRIVE35 grant to part-fund a £14.5 million drilling and testing programme at its Cross Lanes geothermal lithium project at Baldhu, near Truro in southwest England. The work will focus on deep geothermal brines, using test wells and flow testing to evaluate lithium concentrations, reservoir productivity and sustainable heat extraction. Results will determine the technical and economic viability of commercial-scale geothermal lithium production in Cornwall, with implications for well design, brine handling and direct lithium extraction process selection.

Hivekit has launched OPS.AI, a mine operations platform that proactively coordinates shift plans, identifies bottlenecks and executes pre-authorised directives across fleets and fixed plant. Early tests on historic mine data showed a 21% improvement in compliance to plan and higher utilisation of existing equipment and labour without changing fleet size. For planners and control-room teams, the tool effectively acts as a decision engine that can answer specific operational questions and push executable instructions back into dispatch and short-interval control systems.

Vale and ABB have formed a strategic alliance to deploy advanced automation and AI across Vale’s Brazilian iron ore operations, building on the recently inaugurated Conceição II Model Plant, described as one of the industry’s most advanced processing facilities. The partnership will focus on integrated process control, remote operation and data-driven optimisation of crushing, grinding and beneficiation circuits to lift throughput and energy efficiency while reducing unplanned downtime. For mine planners and plant engineers, this signals wider rollout of ABB digital platforms and control architectures across Vale’s iron ore portfolio.

Emesent has secured a A$2 million CRC-P grant from the Australian Government to develop and commercialise Cortex AI, an open, modular autonomy platform for GPS-denied and underground environments. The system is intended to plug into diverse robotic carriers and mining vehicles, providing navigation, mapping and autonomous operation in stopes, drives and other areas with no GNSS signal. For mine operators, this points to wider deployment of autonomous inspection and mapping workflows in complex voids without relying on proprietary, single-vendor platforms.

Xylem Inc is acquiring the Cornell Pump and Roper Pump businesses from Indicor for US$1.46 billion, adding established slurry, dewatering and process pump lines to its portfolio. The deal broadens Xylem’s coverage of mission-critical industrial duties, including abrasive and corrosive services common in hard‑rock mining, tailings handling and mine water management. By targeting sectors tied to infrastructure investment and industrial modernisation, Xylem is signalling continued capital allocation towards higher-growth mining and heavy industrial applications.

Hino has expanded its 300 Series Hybrid Electric line in Australia with the Tipper Pro, a factory-built Japanese tipper positioned as a faster-delivery, higher-quality alternative to locally converted units. The hybrid driveline, proven over nearly 20 years of Australian operation, targets lower fuel use and emissions on stop–start urban and civil works haulage compared with conventional diesel tippers. For contractors, the key implications are reduced whole-of-life operating costs and simplified procurement for small to medium infrastructure and road maintenance fleets.

Concerns over the “functioning independence” of the Office for Nuclear Regulation have been raised in the House of Lords after the regulator’s sponsorship was moved from the Department for Work and Pensions to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is directly responsible for nuclear policy and new build. Critics argue that placing the safety regulator under the same department promoting Sizewell C, small modular reactors and lifetime extensions could create perceived conflicts of interest. For civil and nuclear engineers, this may affect confidence in regulatory decisions on reactor design approvals, site licensing and safety case scrutiny.

Nearly nine in ten South East residents support Thames Water’s proposed £7bn White Horse Reservoir in Oxfordshire, intended to secure regional water supply amid widespread UK drought conditions. The strategic raw water storage scheme would add a major new offline reservoir asset to the Thames system, designed to buffer multi‑year rainfall deficits rather than just seasonal peaks. For civil and geotechnical teams, the scale and cost signal long-term demand for large embankment dams, high-capacity transfer pipelines and associated treatment and distribution upgrades in the region.

A 15‑year review of the Environment Agency’s Thames Estuary 2100 (TE2100) Plan finds sea levels in the estuary are rising faster than earlier design assumptions, putting additional pressure on the 520‑square‑kilometre flood risk management area. The findings are expected to trigger earlier or more extensive upgrades to defences including the Thames Barrier, raised tidal walls and embankments, and secondary barriers on tributaries. For geotechnical and civil engineers, this signals a need to revisit crest levels, overtopping criteria, and foundation performance under higher hydraulic loading over the plan horizon to 2100.

Procurement of UK infrastructure projects is again under scrutiny as clients and contractors question whether current lowest-price tendering, late contractor involvement and fragmented design–build packages are driving cost overruns and disputes. Debate centres on shifting risk allocation away from one-sided NEC and FIDIC contracts towards more collaborative models such as alliancing, early contractor involvement and target-cost frameworks on complex rail, highways and water schemes. For geotechnical and civil teams, earlier input on ground risk, temporary works and buildability is seen as critical to avoiding contingency-heavy bids and late-stage redesign.

Polymetals Resources is reporting further high-grade silver, lead and zinc intercepts from underground diamond drilling at the Endeavor mine in New South Wales, as it advances towards an initial mineral resource estimate. The latest holes have improved confidence in the continuity and geometry of the mineralised zones, supporting mine planning around existing underground development. For geotechnical and mining engineers, the emerging orebody definition will influence stope design, ground support requirements and sequencing for any restart or expansion of underground operations.

Beacon Minerals has reported high-grade gold intercepts from diamond drilling at the Iguana deposit in Western Australia, confirming two distinct in situ mineralisation styles that will feed into an updated Mineral Resource estimate. The dominant, early-stage style is sulphide-rich and notably lacks quartz, while a later-stage style is quartz-associated, implying different fluid events and potentially variable metallurgical responses. These contrasting sulphide versus quartz domains will be critical for future resource modelling, grade control and process route selection at Iguana.