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Liebherr will present its “Hands on the future” theme at Conexpo, showcasing new mining and construction technologies alongside digital service solutions. The company is expected to focus on equipment automation, data-driven maintenance and remote monitoring platforms integrated across its excavators, haul trucks and cranes. For mine operators and civil contractors, the exhibit signals continued investment in OEM-provided condition monitoring and lifecycle support, tightening the link between machine telemetry, fleet planning and on-site productivity.

AusIMM has confirmed seven ambassadors for its 2026 International Women’s Day Event Series, including senior leaders from major miners and METS companies who will front events across Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. The series will combine in-person breakfasts and luncheons with live-streamed technical panels, targeting operational, geotechnical and processing professionals from graduate to executive level. Organisers are positioning the programme to tackle retention and progression of women in site-based roles, flexible rostering for FIFO operations, and leadership pathways in underground and processing plants.

Australia’s St Barbara is launching an aggressive 697 sq. km exploration campaign in Nova Scotia around its planned 15-Mile open pit hub, targeting 56 mesothermal gold prospects along 164 km of anticlines in the Moose River Formation and Goldenville Group, with fieldwork from May using surface sampling and reverse circulation drilling. A prefeasibility study for 15-Mile outlines 103,000 oz/year over 11 years at AISC of $1,188/oz, with a C$283 million Touquoy plant relocation expected to be repaid in about 12 months at $3,000/oz gold. Concurrently, St Barbara is exiting Simberi in Papua New Guinea via a sale of 50% to Lingbao Gold Group and Kumul Mineral Holdings for up to A$470 million to fund a $325–345 million sulphide expansion to 200,000 oz/year.

Nickel prices on the LME rose 2% to $17,835/t, extending a >20% rally since mid-December, after Indonesia ordered sharp output cuts at PT Weda Bay Nickel on Halmahera, slashing its ore quota to 12 Mt for 2026 versus 42 Mt in 2025. National nickel ore quotas are set at 260–270 Mt for 2026, well below the 379 Mt target for 2025, as authorities use RKAB permits to manage a surplus from Indonesia’s ~65% share of global supply. Macquarie has lifted its 2026 price forecast 18% to $17,750/t, while Indonesia is also cutting thermal coal quotas by nearly 25% year-on-year.

A confidential 2010 UK government briefing on Helmand province mineral prospects, including uranium, thorium, gold, iridium, marble and possible oil and gas, was emailed by then trade envoy Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to Jeffrey Epstein, the BBC reports. The document cited “significant high value mineral deposits” and “potential for low cost extraction” in Helmand, where most uranium indications still rely on Soviet-era surveys and early-stage USGS assessments. Any move to develop Afghan uranium would confront major security, infrastructure and safeguards barriers in an already supply‑constrained, geopolitically sensitive uranium market.

Silver surged as much as 6.6% to above $86/oz on Wednesday, recovering about a third of its late-January crash, even as the Silver Institute projects a sixth consecutive annual market deficit in 2026 driven by investment demand rather than industrial offtake. The Institute expects solar and other industrial demand to decline “moderately” as manufacturers seek substitutes at current price levels, while BMO Capital Markets argues inventories remain adequate when measured against actual ornamental and industrial consumption. Physical tightness is acute in China, where speculative buying has left producers and traders unable to meet order backlogs, inflating front‑month contract premiums.

White Gold Corp (TSXV: WGO) will spin out six Yukon critical minerals properties – about 15% of its 3,051 km², 21-property land package – into a separate explorer focused on copper, molybdenum, tungsten, antimony, zinc and bismuth. Key targets Bridget, Isaac, Mascot and Wolf lie in the Dawson Range near the Casino porphyry and include the Bridget Mo-Cu porphyry anomaly, a 3 x 3.5 km zone enriched in tungsten, bismuth and silver that remains largely undrilled. The move, backed by Yukon and federal critical minerals policies, lets White Gold concentrate on its flagship gold project with 1.73 Moz indicated and 1.27 Moz inferred.

Ascot Resources is rebranding as Cambria Gold Mines and pivoting to a hub-and-spoke plan that will feed its recently built Premier mill with ore trucked from the Red Mountain project, 25 km east of Stewart, British Columbia. Red Mountain hosts 3.19 million tonnes at 7.63 g/t gold (783,000 oz.), is suited to long-hole stoping with existing production-scale underground workings, and is intended to provide most of the mill feed, blended with Premier-Northern Lights and Big Missouri ore. Permitting for the Red Mountain access road, including consultation with the Nisga’a Nation, began in autumn 2025, with construction targeted for this spring, backed by C$175 million in new financing and a restructured Sprott agreement.

CopperTech Metals has formed a strategic partnership with Axiom Group, VBKOM and Fleet Space Technologies to deploy Fleet’s ExoSphere space-enabled, AI-powered geoscience platform at Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia, a 2.9–3.3% Cu operation with about 16 Mt in combined copper reserves/resources and proven cobalt. Axiom will embed ExoSphere and run a high‑resolution 3D seismic survey over the orebody and proximal areas to generate detailed 3D orebody knowledge models and AI‑driven drill targets. The partners aim to shorten exploration learning cycles, cut drill uncertainty and tighten near‑mine resource definition in KCM’s complex geology.

US battery recycler Aqua Metals has signed a term sheet to acquire Utah-based energy storage systems provider Lion Energy, aiming to control the full battery lifecycle from manufacturing and deployment to grid-interactive storage and end-of-life recovery. The deal would combine Aqua Metals’ recycled battery materials, including future supply of up to 1,000 tonnes per year of nickel carbonate to Westwin Elements from 2027, with Lion’s systems, software and manufacturing capability. Shares in Aqua Metals fell 6.9% on the announcement, leaving the company valued at $12.8 million.

Rail engineering consultancies Ayesa Engineering (Spain) and Egis (France) have been appointed to support the Ferrovial Bam Joint Venture in delivering HS2 Track Systems Lots 1–3, part of the £3bn rail systems portfolio. The Ayesa-Egis JV will design and assure complex slab track, tunnel and bridge interfaces, and systems integration across the Track Urban, Open Route Central and Open Route North sections, covering most of the 140‑mile Old Oak Common–Birmingham Curzon Street main line. The move imports Spanish and French high-speed rail practice into HS2 despite Spain’s significantly poorer recent rail safety record than the UK.

Walter Thompson (Contractors) Ltd has secured a £6.3m, 12‑month contract to convert Middlesbrough’s Grade II‑listed 1846 Old Town Hall into more than 7,000 sq ft of office space for digital and creative tenants in the Boho Zone. Works include demolition of a 1970s extension, essential structural interventions to the historic fabric, and full restoration and reactivation of the original clock tower. A new modern marketplace extension is planned as a focal element of the town’s 2028 bicentenary, backed by over £4.5m from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and £1.8m in government funding.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and Speedy Hire are launching a UK-wide occupational safety and health (OSH) skills commission to tackle shortages in competent safety practitioners across construction, infrastructure and industrial sectors. The initiative will convene contractors, plant hire specialists and training providers to map current OSH competencies, identify gaps in areas such as work-at-height, lifting operations and temporary works, and propose structured training pathways. Outcomes are expected to influence site induction standards, certification requirements and procurement criteria for major projects.

Bauer Technologies has secured the specialist piling package for phase two of the £650m Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Midland Metro extension, subcontracted by MPB Structures for Transport for West Midlands’ Midland Metro Alliance. The programme, running into Q3 2026, includes reinforced bearing piles, contiguous piled walls and test piles for embankment stations, abutments, piers and retaining structures, using rotary bored and continuous flight auger techniques to handle variable ground and tight access. Works feature large-diameter bearing piles up to 1,000mm and integrity testing with digital thermal imaging.

Vp has cut its profit forecast for the year to March 2026 to £26–29m (pre-tax, before amortisation and exceptionals) after a “disappointingly muted” January return in construction and slower-than-expected AMP8 water spend, despite reporting £17m adjusted profit in the first six months. The group is shrinking its Brandon Hire Station network from more than 100 branches to 41 and shedding 400 jobs, while also disposing of its 856-strong Mr Cropper pile cropping fleet to Aska Rodgers. New chief executive Alice Woodwark signals that material AMP8-driven revenue growth is now expected in FY27, not this year, implying continued tight plant demand from both general construction and early-stage water frameworks.

Structural steel specialist Severfield has appointed former ISG finance chief Andrew Page as chief financial officer and executive director, effective Monday 16 February 2026, replacing interim CFO Jan Bramall, who has held the role since November 2025. Page previously joined ISG on an interim basis for Cathexis in early 2024 to pursue refinancing before the contractor entered administration that September, and is not generally viewed as responsible for the collapse. His earlier senior finance roles at Centrica, British Energy, FirstGroup and Ocado give Severfield a CFO with listed-company and construction-sector restructuring experience as it pursues a new group strategy.

Ministers are being pressed by the House of Commons transport select committee to spell out how the Railways Bill will actually deliver the government’s long-term rail investment pipeline under Great British Railways, warning that current proposals give only a “partial picture” of future schemes. MPs want clarity on how enhancements, renewals and major projects will be prioritised and funded within GBR’s structure, and how this links to existing control periods and the Integrated Rail Plan. For designers and contractors, the committee flags that opaque governance and funding rules risk delaying project development and supply chain planning.

Engineering and construction firms are using National Apprenticeship Week (9–15 February) to promote structured routes into civil engineering, with contractors, consultants and public-sector clients jointly publicising apprenticeship intakes and training pathways. Initiatives centre on Level 3–6 civil engineering and technician apprenticeships aligned to ICE and IStructE routes, combining site-based experience on live infrastructure projects with day-release or block-release study at FE colleges and universities. Employers are stressing early exposure to design offices, digital tools such as BIM, and geotechnical and structures rotations to address skills gaps on major UK transport and water schemes.

Transport for London has restarted preliminary market engagement for the Bakerloo Line Upgrade (BLU) Stage 1 Infrastructure Works, progressing modernisation of one of London’s oldest deep tube lines. The notice covers early contractor input on complex brownfield works in constrained tunnels and stations, including track, power and signalling renewals integrated around existing assets and live operations. Contractors are being asked to respond to a refined delivery and packaging strategy aimed at reducing possession durations and construction risk while maintaining service levels.

Rainfall 64% above the February average has triggered widespread flooding and landslides across Colombia, killing at least 13 people and affecting more than 10,000, with Antioquia, Cundinamarca and Valle del Cauca among the hardest-hit departments. Rivers including the Magdalena and Cauca have overtopped banks, damaging road embankments, bridge approaches and hillside settlements, and forcing evacuations in multiple municipalities. Geotechnical teams face saturated slopes, debris flows and scour at culvert and retaining-wall foundations, with authorities warning of further failures if intense rainfall persists.

Lundin Mining’s 70%-owned Caserones copper mine in Chile has become the first active operation to run an ultra-class haul truck with a hybrid-electric system, retrofitting Komatsu 930E truck #330 with a Cummins First Mode kit. The retrofit converts the diesel-electric truck to a hybrid configuration using an onboard energy storage system to capture and reuse braking energy on haul cycles. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the project provides an in-field reference for fuel burn reduction, potential payload-neutral decarbonisation, and integration of hybrid powertrains into existing 930E fleets.

AFC Energy has signed a Joint Development Agreement with Komatsu and Komatsu affiliate Industrial Power Alliance to integrate AFC’s proprietary ammonia cracking technology into a Komatsu industrial diesel internal combustion engine. The project will use ammonia as a hydrogen carrier, cracking it on-board to supply low-carbon hydrogen to the engine while retaining existing diesel engine architecture. For mine operators, this points to a potential retrofit pathway for large haul trucks and auxiliary plant without immediate replacement of high-horsepower diesel fleets.

Chevron’s Delo TorqForce MP has been approved by Allison Transmission as the first, and currently only, lubricant to meet the new TES 781 specification for stationary off-highway transmissions. TES 781 targets high-load, continuous-duty services such as hydraulic fracturing and high-pressure pumping, where transmissions run at sustained torque and temperature for long intervals. For mine operators using Allison-powered fixed or skid-mounted equipment, the approval provides a defined fluid option for warranty compliance and for managing wear, varnish and unplanned downtime in severe-duty drivetrains.

BHP’s Western Australian Iron Ore (WAIO) haul truck fleet is delivering about 127,000 t/month (1.52 Mt/y) of additional iron ore after an engineering upgrade developed with JC Hydraulic. The solution centres on modified hydraulic tipping systems on ultra-class haul trucks, enabling faster, more reliable dump cycles and reducing truck idle time at crushers and stockpiles. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the change effectively adds high-availability truck capacity without expanding fleet size, with revenue uplift estimated in the tens of millions of dollars per year.