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Codelco and Rio Tinto have signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the BMO Global Metals, Mining & Critical Minerals Conference to create a strategic framework for joint development of major mining investment projects in Chile. The collaboration is aimed at improving project development and execution performance, drawing on both companies’ experience with large-scale copper operations and complex brownfield expansions. For engineers, the move signals potential alignment on project delivery models, risk-sharing structures and technical standards across future Chilean underground and open-pit developments.

GRX26’s inaugural Global Resources Innovation Expo programme will run over three days with eight plenary keynotes and more than 30 speakers focused on “where innovation meets implementation” in mining and resources. Headliners include former Australian foreign minister The Hon Julie Bishop on new rules of resource diplomacy and Jason Crusan, CEO of AROSE and former NASA director, on cross-sector lessons from space systems engineering. The industry-led agenda signals strong emphasis on deployable technologies, automation and decarbonisation pathways rather than purely conceptual R&D.

Maestro Digital Mine has launched its PoE-enabled SuperBrite Marquee Display for underground mines, using a single Ethernet cable via the Plexus network to deliver both electrical power and real-time data to headings and working faces. The LED display is designed for high-visibility production, ventilation and safety messaging in low-light, high-dust drifts where conventional power distribution is costly and complex. For engineers, PoE removes the need for separate 110/230 V feeds and local transformers, simplifying installation, certification and maintenance of digital signage underground.

SGS’s Lakefield Metallurgical Centre of Excellence will mark its 85th anniversary in 2026, as the Canadian mining sector faces what the company calls a critical inflection point. The Lakefield facility, long used for complex metallurgical testwork on gold, base metals and critical minerals, is being profiled alongside the PDAC 2026 conference in Toronto. SGS experts are expected to focus on flowsheet development, pilot-scale processing and ore characterisation services that de-risk new projects and brownfield expansions in Canada and abroad.

Hillgrove Resources’ Kanmantoo underground copper mine in South Australia has driven a sharp profit increase in 2025 on the back of higher copper production and improved unit costs as the operation ramps up. The mine is transitioning from its former open-pit to a fully underground layout targeting the Nugent and deeper Kanmantoo orebodies, with stoping and development ore feeding an upgraded on-site concentrator. Management is positioning Kanmantoo for a strong 2026, signalling further throughput increases and longer mine life, which will influence regional processing, power and tailings planning.

GeoStruxer’s digital twin of a 12,000‑square‑metre grain warehouse in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, enabled a redesign of the original slab‑on‑grade foundation to a piled solution that cut pile numbers by 70% and CO₂ emissions by 44%. Using Bentley’s PLAXIS 3D and Leapfrog, the team integrated geotechnical models with structural analysis to optimise pile length, spacing, and layout while maintaining bearing capacity and settlement criteria. The approach reduced concrete and steel quantities, shortened construction time, and provided a reusable geotechnical model for future port developments.

One of the world’s largest copper producers has ordered 16 Sandvik D25KX down-the-hole rotary drill rigs to replace its surface drilling fleet at a Zambian open pit operation. The 2025 order includes Sandvik Remote Monitoring Service plus 12 months of on-site technical support, operator and maintainer training, and a dedicated spare parts stock. The package is aimed at sustaining high drilling uptime and productivity on large-diameter production blast holes in hard rock conditions typical of Zambian copper pits.

Bridgestone Americas will debut three new off-the-road tyres at CONEXPO-CON/AGG in Las Vegas next week: the 27.00R49 Bridgestone MasterCore V-Steel M-Traction Deep (VMTD), the 24.00R35 Bridgestone V-Steel Rock Deep Ultra (VRDU), and the Firestone Multi Block T. The 27.00R49 and 24.00R35 sizes target large haul trucks and rigid dump trucks in hard-rock mining and quarrying, while Firestone Multi Block T is aimed at smaller quarry and construction fleets. For operators, the key decision points will be matching tyre selection to haul profile, underfoot conditions, and rim inventory.

BQE Water has signed a contract with Hudbay Minerals to advance engineering of a SART (sulphidisation, acidification, recycling and thickening) plant to IFC stage for integration into Hudbay’s Snow Lake mill in Manitoba, marking the first SART installation in Canada. The plant will treat metallurgical bleed streams and cyanide-bearing mine water, enabling cyanide recovery and copper sulphide precipitation rather than conventional lime neutralisation. For operators, this signals growing interest in reagent recovery and metal by-product capture as part of mill flowsheet design in cold-climate Canadian operations.

Construction has finished on the 170‑kilometre Stockinbingal to Parkes section of Inland Rail in New South Wales, one of 12 segments of the planned 1600‑kilometre Melbourne–Brisbane fast freight corridor. The package involved upgrading existing rail to accommodate double-stacked freight trains and higher axle loads, improving clearances and formation to support long-haul intermodal traffic. Completion of this link enables continuous inland freight movements through central NSW, reducing reliance on coastal routes and easing pressure on road freight networks.

Kutter is deploying a full Wirtgen Group train – including the MOBISCREEN MSS 502 EVO screening plant, MR 100 NEO impact crusher and MOBIBELT MBT 20 stacker – to mill, crush and recycle reclaimed asphalt directly on road projects. By treating RAP as a fully reusable raw material and processing it on site, the contractor cuts truck movements, fuel use and CO₂ emissions while feeding its own asphalt plants with controlled, consistent recycled aggregate. The setup supports high recycling rates without compromising layer thickness control or surface performance on rehabilitation works.

SAMI Bitumen Technologies has opened a new technical centre to expand research and development of bitumen additives and performance enhancers for Australian road construction and maintenance. The facility centralises laboratory testing, product formulation and quality control for polymer-modified binders, emulsions and warm-mix technologies, improving collaboration between SAMI’s technical teams and its large-scale production network. For pavement designers and asset owners, the centre signals faster validation of high-performance binders and more consistent field performance data for heavily trafficked highways and sprayed-seal networks.

Ballard Mining’s Baldock gold project in Western Australia has lifted its combined indicated and inferred mineral resource to 1 million ounces, signalling a substantial scale-up of the greenfields discovery. The resource growth follows recent drilling along the main shear-hosted lode system, with mineralisation defined over several kilometres of strike and to depths typical of Archaean orogenic gold camps in the Yilgarn. For mine planners and geotechs, the larger inventory strengthens the case for a standalone open pit transitioning to underground, with corresponding demands on pit slope design, dewatering and paste backfill options.

Power solutions provider Genus is pushing miners to address electrification and connectivity at concept stage, using integrated power and digital networks rather than bolt‑on systems. The company is working with delivery partners to design mine power architectures that can accommodate trolley assist, battery‑electric haul trucks and high‑bandwidth OT networks without major rework. For geotechnical and civil teams, this means earlier coordination on substation footprints, cable corridors and high‑load foundations for modular power assets planned for 2026 projects.

True North Copper has secured $5 million in Queensland Government funding to restart exploration at the legacy Cloncurry copper project, targeting extensions to historical high-grade lodes using modern geophysics and deeper diamond drilling. Aureka is ramping up RC and diamond drilling across its Western Australian gold tenements, focusing on structurally controlled shear-hosted mineralisation near existing 1–2Mtpa processing hubs to fast-track potential toll treatment. Rincon is expanding silver and base metal exploration in South Australia with step-out drilling around known vein systems and updated 3D geological modelling to refine resource targets.

Boss Energy is pursuing a new development pathway for the Honeymoon uranium operation in South Australia based on an alternative wide-spaced in-situ recovery wellfield layout. The concept aims to reduce drilling density and capital per pound of U₃O₈ while maintaining flow rates and leach contact, potentially cutting operating costs across the existing plant and satellite wellfields. For geotechnical and hydrogeological teams, the approach will hinge on demonstrating sufficient hydraulic connectivity, containment within the mineralised aquifer and reliable long-term recovery under the wider spacing.

A breakthrough electrochemical processing technology for low‑grade copper ores has secured $5 million in Federal Government funding in Australia. The process targets previously uneconomic resources, aiming to recover copper from low‑grade and complex deposits that conventional flotation and smelting struggle to treat. If scaled, the technology could materially change project cut‑off grades, extend mine lives at existing operations, and open new deposits in underexplored Australian copper provinces.

Chile’s mining ministry will send five new Special Lithium Operation Contracts (CEOLs) for salars including Ascotán, Piedra Parada and Agua Amarga to the national comptroller in March, while advancing direct-award deals at Ollague and Laguna Verde before President Gabriel Boric leaves office. Regulators recently blocked CEOLs for Quillagua Norte and Quillagua Este over “legal deficiencies”, sharpening the distinction between private CEOL tenders and state–private JVs such as Codelco–SQM’s Nova Andino Litio and Codelco–Rio Tinto’s Maricunga project. Chile targets lifting lithium output from 280,000 t/y in 2024 to about 430,000 t/y by 2034.

MP Materials will build its $1.25 billion “10X” rare earth magnet manufacturing campus on a 120-acre site in Northlake, Texas, less than 10 miles from its existing Fort Worth plant, targeting commissioning in 2028. The fully integrated platform, supplied with feedstock from the Mountain Pass mine in California, is expected to support total output of about 10,000 tonnes per year of NdFeB magnets and include mining, refining, metallisation, alloying, sintering and closed‑loop recycling. Funding includes a $1 billion JPMorgan/Goldman facility, a $150 million Pentagon loan and $200 million in state and local incentives.

Panama’s business lobby Sindicato de Industriales de Panama warns that reopening First Quantum’s Cobre Panama open-pit mine, which once supported over 40,000 direct and indirect jobs and supplied nearly 2% of global copper, is central to lifting GDP growth from 4% in 2025 to a projected 6% by 2027. If the mine remains shut, SIP sees 2027 growth slipping to 3.7%, with weaker diversification as copper exports are replaced by primary goods like shrimp, fish and bananas. President José Raúl Mulino plans a June decision on a restart, while First Quantum says it could produce about 70,000 tonnes of copper in a year by processing existing ore stockpiles.

Gold’s 40% price surge in 2025 and a 155% jump in the VanEck Gold Miners ETF reshaped the producer rankings, with Newmont still number one despite a 14% output drop and asset sales, and Agnico Eagle moving into second after exceeding its production guidance and acquiring O3 Mining. Barrick’s volumes slumped after the Loulo-Gounkoto complex in Mali was suspended and only restarted in December, while Zijin boosted output 35% with acquisitions including Akyem in Ghana and Raygorodok in Kazakhstan. Northern Star hit guidance and closed a A$5 billion De Grey takeover targeting up to 3 Moz/y, but has already cut its fiscal 2026 outlook.

Nevada has overtaken Finland as the world’s top mining investment jurisdiction in the Fraser Institute’s 2025 Annual Survey of Mining Companies, with the highest policy perception index score driven by stable permitting, taxation and regulatory clarity for gold, silver and critical minerals. Ontario jumped from 15th to the global top three after October rule changes aimed at cutting mine approval times by half, while Saskatchewan rose from 7th on the strength of its uranium and potash districts. China, Burkina Faso and Egypt sit at the bottom of the 68‑jurisdiction Investment Attractiveness Index, with executives reporting that policy factors drive about 40% of investment decisions.

Global Atomic is facing a proposed securities class action in the Ontario Superior Court alleging “misrepresentations” by the company and CEO Stephen Roman in public disclosures between 10 November 2023 and 23 January 2025, with no damages figure yet specified and no court certification or leave under Section 138.8 obtained. The claim centres on a potential US$295 million debt facility from the US International Development Finance Corporation intended to fund 60% of capex for the Dasa uranium project in Niger, described as Africa’s highest-grade uranium deposit. Law firm Berger Montague alleges Global Atomic did not fully disclose loan pre-conditions and geopolitical risks, including deteriorating US–Niger relations and the junta’s mining-sector overhaul.

Work has officially started on the $4.1 billion Melbourne Airport Rail Link, a joint Federal–Victorian project that will route airport services through the existing Metro Tunnel. Early works focus on untangling the constrained multi-line rail junction at Sunshine, creating additional track capacity and segregation to accommodate dedicated airport services. For civil and rail engineers, key tasks will centre on complex brownfield staging, maintaining live suburban and regional operations, and integrating new MARL track geometry, signalling and power within the Metro Tunnel system.