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KGL Resources has secured a $433 million (US$300 million) streaming agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals to advance its Jervois copper project in the Northern Territory, covering a significant portion of upfront development capital. The deal, structured as a precious metals stream over future by-product output, is intended to accelerate mine construction and de-risk financing compared with conventional debt. For geotechnical and mining teams, the funding clarity signals likely progression to detailed underground design, pit optimisation and long-lead procurement on a compressed schedule.

Tungsten Mining is preparing a major drilling campaign at its Watershed tungsten project in north Queensland, targeting extensions to known scheelite mineralisation within the existing open-pittable resource envelope. The program will use multi‑rig reverse circulation and diamond drilling to tighten spacing on priority lodes and test down‑dip continuity, aiming to upgrade Inferred tonnes to Indicated and support a revised mine plan. For geotechs and mine planners, new structural and geometallurgical data from fresh core could materially change pit slope design, dilution assumptions and processing flowsheet options.

Queensland has declared the Sugarbag Hill ultra-high purity quartz sand venture a prescribed project, fast-tracking approvals under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act. The deposit is being positioned as a source of ultra-low impurity silica feedstock for solar PV and semiconductor supply chains, with processing to focus on tight control of trace elements such as Fe, Al and Ti. The status signals priority for associated infrastructure, including haul roads, power and water connections, which will be critical for meeting stringent product specification and export logistics.

France’s Eramet and Chile’s state miner ENAMI are heading to court over the Salares Altoandinos lithium project, a Cold War-era CEOL licensing relic now colliding with Eramet’s 1,200 sq. km of claims covering 99% of the La Isla and Aguilar salt flats in the Atacama. ENAMI has selected Rio Tinto’s $415 million bid, which includes its direct lithium extraction process and access to the Rincon pilot plant, for a project estimated at 4.5 million tonnes lithium and $3 billion capex. A dispute lasting up to two years, possibly moving to international arbitration, could delay Chile’s plan to double lithium output to about 500,000 tonnes annually by 2035 and complicate Kast’s new mining agenda.

The White House has named Highland Copper’s Copperwood project in Michigan, alongside Ivanhoe Electric, Rio Tinto and Wieland, as part of a push to expand US copper mining, smelting and fabrication capacity following President Trump’s tariff adjustments on steel, aluminium and copper derivatives. Copperwood is a fully permitted underground room-and-pillar mine designed to process about 6,800 tonnes per day over an 11-year life, producing roughly 64.6 million lb of copper and 107,000 oz of silver annually, with initial capex estimated at $391 million. The US Export-Import Bank has issued a $250 million letter of interest, and Highland’s shares rose 7.4% in Toronto, signalling stronger financing and policy backing for project execution.

New drilling at Vizsla Copper’s Poplar project in central British Columbia has extended the Thira porphyry system 200 metres north, with hole TH26-151 cutting 675 metres from 32 metres downhole grading 0.26% copper and 0.015% molybdenum, including 435 metres at 0.31% copper and 0.022% molybdenum from 198 metres. Together with hole TH26-148 (483 metres at 0.26% copper, 0.016% molybdenum from 9 metres), mineralisation now spans at least 800 metres east–west and 700 metres north–south and remains open. The 8,000‑metre programme is testing multiple porphyry targets along an 8 km alteration corridor within a 470 sq. km, road-accessible district 38 km from Imperial Metals’ Huckleberry mine.

Liberty Gold’s Black Pine oxide gold project in southeastern Idaho has entered the US National Environmental Policy Act process, with the US Forest Service issuing a notice of intent to prepare a full environmental impact statement covering public scoping, technical studies and coordinated federal–state environmental analysis. The project, in the Great Basin, holds nearly 4.2 million oz indicated and is scoped to produce about 2.2 million oz over a 17‑year mine life, and is now a FAST‑41 covered project with a published, integrated permitting schedule. Idaho has committed to align state permitting with FAST‑41, making Black Pine the first precious metals mine to operate under a single coordinated federal–state framework, while feasibility‑level work continues toward a year‑end technical report.

British Columbia Premier David Eby plans a temporary suspension of specific sections of the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act after the Gitxaała First Nation Court of Appeal ruling found the online mineral claims system, which allows staking on Crown land without prior consultation, conflicts with DRIPA. The government will amend DRIPA in the current session, treat the vote as a confidence matter, and seek a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that could take up to three years, prolonging regulatory uncertainty for explorers. The Association for Mineral Exploration reports only 15% of mineral claim applications are being processed within the 90–120-day service standard, warning delays threaten the 2026 summer exploration season.

Versamet Royalties has agreed a US$360 million cornerstone gold stream on Skeena Resources’ Eskay Creek open-pit redevelopment in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, securing 3.5% of payable gold for life-of-mine with no caps, step-downs or buyback rights and paying 10% of spot for delivered ounces. Eskay Creek, 49% built and targeting first production in Q2 2027, has 50.1 million tonnes at 2.6 g/t Au and 63 g/t Ag, with a 2023 study projecting 455,000 gold-equivalent oz per year for the first five years. The stream, expected to yield Versamet over 10,000 oz Au annually initially and lift its Canadian exposure to ~50% by 2028, is funded via an expanded credit package including a US$250 million revolver and new US$150 million term facility.

Altius Minerals has acquired a 9.9% stake in TNR Gold for C$4.2 million, buying 23.5 million shares at C$0.1775 each to expand its portfolio of royalty-linked equity positions. The deal gives Altius indirect exposure to TNR’s 0.4% NSR on McEwen’s Los Azules copper project, a 7% NPR on Batidero I and II at the Josemaria copper project (Lundin–BHP JV), and a 1.5% NSR on Ganfeng’s Mariana lithium project in Argentina. TNR also brings a 90% interest in the Shotgun gold project in Alaska, with 705,960 oz inferred resources.

Panama plans to authorise First Quantum to process and export about 38 million tonnes of stockpiled ore at the shuttered Cobre Panama complex, expected to yield roughly 70,000 tonnes of copper and take around 12 months once a three‑month ramp‑up is complete. Commerce and Industries Minister Julio Moltó expects the resolution by Tuesday, enabling shipments that could offset 2026 care‑and‑maintenance costs and add about 700 direct jobs to the current 1,600‑strong workforce. Authorities have already sold 122,000 tonnes of concentrate, generating nearly $30 million in royalties, while a 150 MW power unit has been restarted to support site maintenance and the national grid.

Saudi Arabia is overhauling waste management under Vision 2030, with the National Center for Waste Management (MWAN) targeting 94% diversion of municipal solid waste from landfill and 100% treatment of hazardous and medical waste by 2035. The strategy includes expanding engineered sanitary landfills, waste-to-energy plants and construction and demolition recycling facilities, alongside stricter permitting and data systems for industrial waste streams. For geotechnical practitioners, this signals rising demand for landfill lining systems, leachate control, gas capture infrastructure and brownfield remediation expertise across multiple regions.

OceanaGold’s Didipio gold-copper mine in the Philippines is ramping underground production from 1.7 Mt/y to 2.5 Mt/y with a new Sandvik load and haul fleet now arriving on site. The order comprises two LH621i 21 t-capacity loaders, three TH663i 63 t trucks and one rebuilt TH663 truck, replacing older units to support higher ore hoisting rates. The fleet renewal targets lower unit mining costs, improved fuel and tyre performance, and more consistent cycle times in the deepening underground operation.

Boonray Technology has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Railway 21st Bureau Group Co Ltd to deploy electric and autonomous mining trucks and supporting digital systems across the contractor’s large mine construction and contract mining portfolio. The partnership targets integrated fleets combining Boonray’s autonomous haul trucks with its fleet management and remote supervision platforms on China Railway 21st Bureau’s major open-pit projects. For mine owners, this signals wider availability of turnkey autonomous haulage packages embedded directly into EPC and contract mining bids in China.

France’s central bank has liquidated its remaining 129 tonnes of gold held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, selling the “non‑standard” bars between July 2025 and January 2026 and buying replacement bullion in European markets that meets modern international bar specifications. The transaction generated a €13 billion ($15 billion) capital gain, turning a 2024 net loss of €7.7 billion into an €8.1 billion net profit for 2025, while keeping total reserves unchanged at about 2,437 tonnes now stored entirely in the BdF’s La Souterraine vault. The Bank of France still plans to upgrade a further 134 tonnes of older bars to current standards by 2028.

Seequent, the Bentley Subsurface company, is expanding its subsurface modelling and data management tools to help miners better locate, characterise and extract orebodies, building on findings from its 7th Geoprofessionals Data Management Report. The report points to persistent issues with fragmented geoscience datasets, manual workflows and poor interoperability between drilling, geological modelling and mine planning systems. Seequent is responding by tightening integration across its portfolio (including Leapfrog, Central and GeoStudio) so multi-disciplinary teams can work from a single, continuously updated subsurface model.

Global mining majors added $250 billion in value in early 2026, lifting the MINING.COM Top 50 to a combined $2.41 trillion despite the US–Iran war and volatile gold at about $4,700/oz and silver above $70/oz, both off record spikes. BHP briefly exceeded a $200 billion market capitalisation, copper contributed $7.95 billion to its half‑year operating earnings, and six miners – including Agnico Eagle, Zijin Mining, Southern Copper and Newmont – now sit in the $100‑billion club. At the other end, Amman Minerals fell 27% on Indonesian smelter delays and Ivanhoe Mines cut Kamoa‑Kakula 2026 copper guidance to 290,000–330,000 tonnes, dropping it below the $18 billion Top 50 cut‑off.

Canadian processor pH7 Technologies is expanding its Vancouver facility, backed by up to C$4 million from NRC IRAP, to scale its organo-electrochemical platform that recovers platinum, palladium and rhodium from secondary materials without toxic reagents or tailings wastewater. The commercial plant already processes spent catalytic converters, producing 30,000–40,000 oz of platinum-equivalent PGMs per year under a tolling and offtake model involving partners such as Mitsubishi. pH7 is now piloting electrochemically generated oxidants to heap leach chalcopyrite and other sulphide ores without cyanide, targeting on-site mine deployment within 1–2 years across South America, Africa and Australia.

A specially designed immersion vessel for the Fehmarnbelt fixed link has passed final safety checks and received Danish Maritime Authority approval, allowing immersed tunnel construction between Denmark and Germany to proceed after significant delay. The vessel will place the first concrete elements off Lolland this spring, a critical step for the 18km immersed tunnel that will carry both road and rail beneath the Baltic Sea. Marine operations teams can now lock in weather windows, dredging interfaces and immersion sequencing for the initial production elements.

The Institution of Civil Engineers has warned that the UK government’s new Better Connected integrated transport strategy lacks the clear, long-term objectives and investment pathways needed to steer major rail, road and mass transit schemes. ICE argues the document omits essential components such as defined modal priorities, a sequenced project pipeline and stable funding signals that asset owners and contractors require for planning multi‑decade programmes. The critique signals continued uncertainty for large schemes needing early geotechnical investigation, corridor safeguarding and staged capacity upgrades.

A subsea electricity interconnector between the UK and the Netherlands has completed 15 years of continuous operation, as the two countries’ transmission system operators sign a new agreement to develop the proposed LionLink project. The existing high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable has been a key cross-Channel asset for power flows and grid balancing, informing design, reliability and maintenance strategies for future links. LionLink is expected to use next‑generation HVDC technology and multi‑terminal configurations, with implications for offshore grid integration, seabed cable routing and long-term marine asset durability.

Redevelopment of Peckham Rye Station Square in south London has started, with Bam delivering the long-awaited public realm and station forecourt upgrade for Southwark Council. Works are expected to focus on reconfiguring the station approaches, improving pedestrian circulation and step-free access, and rationalising bus, taxi and cycle movements around the interchange. For geotechnical and civil teams, key issues will include working adjacent to live rail infrastructure, managing utilities in a dense urban streetscape, and sequencing construction to maintain passenger flows.

Government ambitions for Ireland’s coast target up to ~37GW of offshore renewable energy capacity by 2050, implying large-scale deployment of fixed and floating wind farms in the Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and Atlantic. Delivering this capacity will require rapid consenting, grid reinforcement and new 220–400kV subsea interconnectors, alongside major port upgrades for turbine marshalling and heavy-lift installation vessels. For civil and geotechnical engineers, the scale signals sustained demand for seabed investigations, foundation design for deep-water sites, and coastal infrastructure capable of handling XXL monopiles and floating platforms.

Budimex has been selected as preferred contractor for deep foundation works on the passenger terminal of Poland’s planned Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK), part of the £27bn Port Polska hub between Warsaw and Łódź. The package will focus on large-scale piling and ground improvement for the main terminal superstructure, a critical early works phase on the greenfield site’s challenging alluvial and glacial deposits. Geotechnical contractors and designers will be watching for CPK’s chosen pile types, installation methods and monitoring regimes, which are likely to set benchmarks for subsequent airside and rail interfaces.