Geomechanics.io

Hamm is rolling out a full digital compaction suite for 2026, centred on Smart Compact Pro for asphalt and Smart Compact for earthworks, to automate roller settings and pass counts in real time. The system integrates sensor-based stiffness measurement, temperature monitoring and GNSS positioning to guide operators on optimal vibration amplitude, frequency and rolling patterns. For contractors, the package targets more uniform density, fewer test cores and better documentation of layer thickness and compaction quality for client handover.

Close to $82 million in Victorian funding has been allocated to restore fire-damaged transport infrastructure, targeting critical routes including Murchison–Violet Town Road. Works will cover replacement of wire rope safety barriers and steel guard rails, extensive tree and debris removal from verges and clear zones, and repairs to pavement and surface defects caused by intense heat and firefighting traffic. Asset owners will need to reassess barrier performance, signage durability and roadside vegetation management under extreme bushfire conditions.

Network Rail will this month start notifying staff of plans for widespread redundancies after “unforeseen” budgetary pressures hit its funding envelope for the current control period. The cuts are expected to affect both office-based and front-line roles involved in track maintenance, signalling renewals and structures inspections across multiple routes, potentially reducing in-house capacity for planned possessions and defect response. Contractors and consultants can expect increased pressure on delivery costs, tighter access to possessions and possible deferral of non-critical renewals and enhancements.

Transport Scotland is launching a £1.94bn multi‑lot framework to complete the remaining A9 dualling packages between Perth and Inverness, covering the last single‑carriageway sections of this 177km strategic corridor. The framework is expected to bundle design and construction for complex rural stretches with challenging geology, structures and junction upgrades, favouring Tier 1 contractors with major highways, structures and ground engineering capability. Contractors should anticipate long linear works with traffic management on live carriageways, significant earthworks, rock cuttings and drainage upgrades in a sensitive Highland environment.

Early bird tickets are now on sale for the PNG Industrial and Mining Resources Exhibition and Conference (PNG Expo), a three-day event in Port Moresby focused on large-scale open-pit and underground operations, processing plants and supporting civil infrastructure across Papua New Guinea. Organised by Prime Creative Media and Australian Mining, the expo will bring together miners, contractors, OEMs and service providers to discuss topics such as pit slope stability, haul road design, tailings and water management, and decarbonisation of diesel-heavy fleets. For engineers, it offers direct access to regional project owners and suppliers active in PNG’s structurally complex, high-rainfall terrain.

Victory Metals has reported “breakthrough metallurgical results” from its North Stanmore rare earths project in Western Australia, described as one of the largest clay-hosted rare earth deposits in the country. Testwork on the ionic clay mineralisation indicates significantly improved rare earth recoveries using relatively simple leach conditions, pointing to lower acid consumption and shorter residence times than hard-rock counterparts. For process engineers and mine planners, the results suggest potential for lower capital-intensity heap or tank leach circuits and more competitive operating costs if scaled successfully.

Austral Resources has agreed to acquire Glencore AG’s Lady Loretta underground copper mine in north-west Queensland, adding a high-grade sulphide operation to its existing heap leach–SX/EW oxide business at Anthill. The Lady Loretta asset, previously a major zinc–lead–silver producer near Mount Isa, includes established underground workings, a decline, ventilation infrastructure and a permitted mining lease, giving Austral a second ore source within trucking distance of regional concentrators. The deal signals a shift towards a mixed oxide–sulphide portfolio, with implications for new concentrator offtake, mine planning and geotechnical management of deeper stopes.

High-grade gold intercepts from Ora Banda Mining’s Golden Pole deposit are boosting the underground potential of the Waihi project near Kalgoorlie, with targeted follow-up drilling extending mineralisation along strike and at depth. The company is focusing on narrow, high-grade lodes accessible from existing underground development, aiming to convert recent hits into JORC-compliant resources and near-term ore feed for the Davyhurst processing plant. For geotechs and mine planners, the results point to deeper stoping fronts, tighter ground control requirements and potential schedule changes for underground access development.

Exploration activity across Australia’s resources sector this week includes Magmatic Resources commencing diamond drilling at its Myall copper–gold project in New South Wales, targeting deeper porphyry-style mineralisation beneath previous RC intercepts. Parallel campaigns involve new drill programmes and project development steps at multiple sites, signalling continued spend on brownfield extensions and greenfield targets despite cost pressures. Geotechs and mine planners should watch for updated resource models and potential shifts in pit-shells or underground designs as deeper porphyry and structurally controlled zones are tested.

Rio Tinto and Glencore are weighing a spin-off of Glencore’s coal assets into a separate ASX-listed vehicle, similar to BHP’s South32 demerger, as part of early-stage merger talks that must yield a proposal by 5 February under UK takeover rules. Glencore’s coal operations in New South Wales, Queensland, central Africa and Latin America generate about 8% of a combined group’s US$45.6 billion EBITDA, while its trading arm contributes roughly 9% and remains structurally contentious. The merger would create the world’s largest miner and the leading copper producer at around 7% of global output, intensifying antitrust, coal-mandate and high-risk jurisdiction scrutiny.

Transition Metal Solutions has raised an oversubscribed $6 million seed round to scale a chemical additive that activates native heap microbes, lifting copper recovery from low‑grade sulphide ores without new bioreactors, inoculation plants or changes to existing irrigation and leach flowsheets. Site-specific formulations, designed using metagenomic analysis of each orebody, have pushed lab recoveries on primary sulphides from roughly 60% to about 90% and delivered in situ acid generation with leach rates around three times typical industry performance on refractory, high‑carbonate ores. Three‑metre column pilots scheduled for early 2026 aim to prove consistent, controllable performance at industrial scale, targeting both current heaps and large stockpiles of uneconomic sulphide ore.

Energy Fuels’ bankable feasibility study for its White Mesa mill in Utah projects stage-two circuit expansion to more than 7,500 tonnes per year of separated light and heavy rare earth products over a 40-year life, plus 198,000 lb. of uranium annually from the Pinyon Plain and La Sal mines. The project carries a post-tax NPV of US$1.9 billion and 33% IRR at US$410 million initial capex, with feedstock sourced from Astron’s Donald project in Victoria and Chemours’ Florida and Georgia operations. Benchmark data cited by the company suggest the expanded mill could meet 45% of US near-term rare earth demand and all heavy rare earth needs by 2030, positioning it alongside Lynas in non-Chinese separation capacity.

Silver fell as much as 7% from Wednesday’s record $93.75/oz after US President Donald Trump paused sweeping tariffs on critical minerals, instead signalling bilateral negotiations and possible price floors. Prices later stabilised near $90/oz, with about 434 million ounces now sitting in Comex-linked New York warehouses, roughly 100 million ounces more than a year ago, contributing to earlier short squeezes and thin-liquidity spikes. Analysts at StoneX and TD Securities warn that ongoing critical-mineral status, warehouse “sclerosis” and volatility-driven forced selling will keep silver price swings elevated despite a still “firmly constructive” medium-term outlook.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is reviving the Mines de fer de la Grande Orientale (Minefor) plan, a $29 billion iron ore export scheme targeting 15–20 billion tonnes of >60% Fe resources and an initial 50 Mt/y operation scalable to 300 Mt/y, about 2.5 times Simandou’s planned 120 Mt/y. The concept hinges on a greenfield bulk rail corridor and new Atlantic deep-water port to move ore from deposits likely including Banalia in Tshopo province, previously tied to Dan Gertler–linked Oriental Iron Company. Kinshasa has formed an inter-ministerial commission and is pitching Minefor, with total investment needs floated at “a little more than $50 billion”, to the US as part of a wider security and strategic minerals partnership, but no binding funding or defined orebody has yet been disclosed.

Orla Mining will start full construction of the South Railroad gold project on Nevada’s Carlin Trend by mid-2026 after an updated feasibility study doubled initial capex to US$395 million, driven by inflation plus added two-stage crushing and water management systems. The heap-leach operation is planned to process 66.6 million tonnes of reserves grading 0.71 g/t Au and 5.1 g/t Ag, targeting average output of 104,000 oz. Au per year over 10 years at US$1,505/oz. AISC, with first production expected in 2028. The study gives an after-tax NPV5 of US$783 million and 48% IRR at US$3,100/oz. gold, rising to US$1.7 billion and 95% IRR at US$4,500/oz.

Amazon Web Services will be the first offtaker for copper produced using Rio Tinto venture Nuton’s proprietary bioleaching technology at the Johnson Camp mine in Arizona, under a two-year supply deal for US data centres. The open-pit, heap-leach operation, run by Gunnison Copper, has a planned 15–20 year life and 25 million lb/year capacity, with Nuton’s process using microorganisms to leach sulphide ores and eliminating milling, tailings, smelting and refining. Nuton reports up to 85% recovery, potential 80% water and 60% carbon reductions, while AWS will provide cloud analytics to optimise acid and water use and speed scale-up across different ore bodies.

US lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to create a $2.5 billion Strategic Resilience Reserve for critical minerals, with a seven-member board empowered to buy, store and sell materials such as rare earths, lithium, graphite and cobalt across US facilities. The reserve would prioritise recycled feedstock but also accept mined material, recycle sale proceeds back into operations, and allow allied countries to join with contributions of at least $100 million. Proponents aim to counter China’s control of about 60% of mined rare earths and most downstream processing, and to anchor a Western price benchmark for currently thinly traded minerals.

Building materials producer Alumasc has appointed Pamela Bingham as chief executive from 31 March 2026, succeeding Paul Hooper after his 25-year tenure leading the group. Bingham, currently at seals and bearings specialist Eriks UK & Ireland as CEO, previously headed Glen Dimplex Heating & Ventilation and held senior roles at CRH, Weir Group and Rotork, bringing direct experience in industrial components and HVAC. Alumasc’s board is signalling continued focus on sustainable building products and decarbonisation-oriented solutions as the core of its next growth phase.

A London contractor converting a former public house and adjoining building into residential flats on White Lion Street, N1, has been fined after repeated failures to comply with Health & Safety Executive (HSE) prohibition and improvement notices over a 12‑month period, including unresolved work at height risks and inadequate site management competence. VNP Constructions Limited admitted breaching Regulation 15(2) of the CDM 2015 and two counts under Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, receiving a £7,200 fine plus £900 costs. Director Vasilis Paraskeva was personally fined £10,800 plus £900 costs under Section 37(1) for consent, connivance or neglect.

Ballymore has secured planning consent from the London Borough of Newham for 1,685 homes on its Thames Road industrial brownfield site on the north bank of the Thames, east of Thames Barrier Park, with construction expected to start in 2027. The Unex scheme, designed by Howells, adds more than 13,500 sq m of light industrial and flexible workspace, a new primary school, a riverside park and ground-floor retail and community uses, creating a dense mixed-use waterfront quarter. A sister Knights Road proposal in West Silvertown, by Allies & Morrison, would add a further 1,667 homes and 4,000 sq m of light industrial and flexible space if approved.

Root-Power has secured planning permission on appeal for a £45m, 100 MW battery energy storage system on the banks of the River Soar near Kegworth, connecting into local grid infrastructure as Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station is phased out. To address Environment Agency flood concerns, the BESS compound will be raised above ground level to allow floodwater to pass beneath, with an additional sunken storage tank providing extra attenuation volume. The scheme is designed for a 15–20 year operating life, targeting local peak-shaving, frequency support and improved grid stability.

Construction output in Northern Ireland rose 7.3% in the year to June 2025, its highest level since 2010 and well ahead of the UK’s 2.2%, driven by repair and maintenance now 55.8% above pre-pandemic levels and a 25.9% rise in housing that made up over one-third of Q2 2025 activity. Major schemes include the £671m Belfast Children’s Hospital, with John Graham Construction holding a £389m main works contract, while private non-housing and infrastructure are forecast to grow 5.5% and 4.2% respectively in 2026. Aecom and CITB warn, however, that wastewater capacity constraints in Belfast, Newry and Derry-Londonderry, only one new social housing start against 49,000 households on waiting lists, and short-term public budgeting now pose the main delivery risks.

Komatsu Europe is adding the 2.5‑tonne PC26E‑6 battery-electric mini excavator to its line-up, sitting between the 2‑tonne PC20E and 3.5‑tonne PC33E‑6 for urban, indoor and environmentally sensitive work. The PC26E‑6 delivers 15.8 kW, an operating weight of 2,655 kg and a bucket capacity of 0.035–0.085 m³, targeting typical 2–3 tonne class applications. It can be charged from a standard electricity supply without dedicated high-capacity infrastructure, with Komatsu emphasising fast charging and smooth performance to slot into existing diesel-based fleets.

GAP Hire Solutions has opened a consolidated depot on Postley Road in Kempston, near Bedford, merging its Milton Keynes Plant & Tools and Cambridge Survey depots into a single site. The facility brings plant, tools and survey divisions under one roof, giving contractors a single access point for heavy plant, small tools and specialist survey equipment. Managing director – south Richard Dey said the depot is intended as a platform to scale operations while supporting customers’ project delivery across the region.