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New South Wales will adopt the new National Construction Code (NCC 2025) from May, bringing state projects under the latest nationally harmonised building standards for structural safety, fire performance, accessibility and energy efficiency. Published by the Australian Building Codes Board with Federal, state and territory governments, NCC 2025 is the primary technical reference for design and construction compliance across residential, commercial and public infrastructure. Designers, contractors and certifiers in NSW will need to align specifications, documentation and approvals with the updated performance requirements and referenced standards.

Nominations for the 2024 Women in Industry Awards have been extended to 2 April, giving mining, manufacturing, transport, waste and infrastructure businesses extra time to put forward female engineers, operators and leaders. The awards, to be held in Sydney on Thursday 20 June, cover categories such as Excellence in Engineering, Safety Advocacy and Industry Advocacy, spanning both site-based and corporate roles. For geotechnical, civil and mining firms, the extension allows more complete internal nomination processes and recognition of technical project contributions often overlooked in annual HR cycles.

Two separate principal architects have been appointed for key 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic venues, with Architectus named principal architect for the Sunshine Coast Stadium and a counterpart selected for the Moreton Bay Indoor Sports Centre. The appointments clear the way for detailed design of grandstand structures, roof systems and multi-court indoor halls, alongside geotechnical and civil packages for access roads and services. These milestones lock in design leadership early, giving contractors clearer parameters for foundations, drainage, transport links and temporary works planning ahead of major construction.

SAMI Bitumen Technologies’ SAMIGreen polymer modified binder has been used to produce a low‑carbon asphalt mix on the first Auckland Transport‑approved project to incorporate such an additive. The binder replaces part of the conventional bitumen with a sustainable polymer formulation, cutting embodied carbon in the surfacing layer while maintaining performance requirements for rutting, fatigue and texture depth. COLAS New Zealand and SAMI say the approval process and field performance data could form a template for wider adoption of low‑carbon binders across New Zealand’s state highway and local road networks.

Coastal erosion has destroyed a section of the A379 Slapton line in Devon, severing a key coastal route, but central government has offered only sympathy and no funding or technical commitment to reinstate it. The community, which depends on the road as the primary link between Kingsbridge and Dartmouth, now faces long diversion routes on minor inland roads not designed for current traffic volumes or heavy vehicles. For geotechnical and coastal engineers, the situation signals continued uncertainty over who funds long-term adaptation of low-lying coastal highways exposed to accelerating shoreline retreat.

Work to install the second 320m HS2 viaduct over the M6 at junction 4 near Chelmsley Wood will start on 11 April, with engineers sliding the first 107m section of the west deck across a southbound slip road. The operation follows the earlier installation of the east deck and uses incremental launching to avoid long-term closures on one of the UK’s busiest motorways. For designers and contractors, the scheme illustrates practical staging for high-speed rail structures over live strategic highways.

The UK government has committed £27bn over five years under RIS3 to upgrade and future‑proof England’s strategic road network, with funding focused on extensive resurfacing, structural repairs and capacity improvements. The programme includes 30 defined renewal and enhancement schemes plus nine further projects in the pipeline, targeting key motorways and trunk roads managed by National Highways. Designers and contractors can expect sustained demand for pavement rehabilitation, junction and lane‑addition works, and asset‑life extension strategies across high‑traffic corridors.

Middle East conflict-driven disruption to shipping lanes and materials exports is prompting UK engineering firms to warn of “prolonged volatility” in costs and lead times for key inputs such as structural steel, bitumen and mechanical plant. Industry bodies are calling for government action including firmer National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline commitments, targeted guarantees for long-lead imports, and temporary financial support for contractors facing fixed-price public works. Project teams are being advised to revisit risk allowances, programme float and contract clauses on price escalation and force majeure for 2026–2027 schemes.

OTR – Tyres Wheels Service is supplying heavy-duty off-the-road (OTR) tyres and wheel assemblies to Australian mine fleets operating from remote outposts to large open pits, aiming to cut unplanned downtime and tyre-related incidents. The company couples tyre and rim supply with on-site condition monitoring, rotation planning and repair services, enabling better management of haul truck and loader tyre life cycles under high-load, abrasive conditions. For operators, the integrated support model shifts focus from reactive tyre changes to planned maintenance, with direct implications for availability and pit productivity.

REMATRACK TTX conveyor monitoring from Rema Tip Top is being used to prevent unplanned stoppages and product loss on high-capacity belt lines by continuously tracking belt condition and loading. The system uses belt-mounted RFID tags and fixed readers to log individual product movements, detect mis-tracking and slippage, and trigger alarms before damage escalates to a full shutdown. For mine operators, this enables earlier intervention on idlers, skirting and splice issues, reducing downtime and protecting throughput on critical haul and process conveyors.

Export Finance Australia (EFA) will back Australian critical minerals projects targeting European offtake, signalling more debt and guarantee support for lithium, rare earths and other battery-metal producers. The move is framed around the Australia–EU Critical Minerals Partnership, aiming to de-risk long-term supply contracts into EU gigafactory and EV supply chains. For project developers, EFA involvement could improve bankability for new mines and midstream plants, particularly where European buyers seek ESG-compliant, traceable supply outside existing Asian processing hubs.

Conference themes for the 2024 Australian Bulk Handling Expo will centre on practical bulk solids handling, focusing on what works when materials behave unpredictably in real plants rather than in idealised theory. Sessions are expected to drill into issues such as flow blockages, dust and spillage control, and wear on transfer chutes and conveyors under high-throughput conditions. For engineers, the event signals strong demand for field-proven design, maintenance and troubleshooting methods on operating sites, not just new models and simulations.

Rio Tinto has lifted its annual spend with Australian suppliers to a record near-$20 billion, signalling deeper localisation across its iron ore, bauxite and aluminium operations. The company is directing contracts to more than 6000 businesses, including regional and Indigenous-owned firms supplying mine haulage, drill-and-blast services, mobile fleet maintenance and process plant consumables. For contractors, the scale of this outlay points to sustained demand for geotechnical investigation, tailings and waste rock facility management, and brownfield upgrade works across Rio Tinto’s Pilbara and east coast asset base.

Barrick Mining will slow development of the Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan’s Balochistan province and extend its review by 12 months from July, citing heightened security risks linked to the Iran conflict. Phase 1 capex is estimated above US$5.6 billion for a deposit holding about 15 million tonnes of copper reserves, with the mine previously targeted to start up in 2028. The project is forecast to deliver roughly US$90 billion in operating cash flow over a 37-year life, making the delay significant for long-term copper supply planning.

Gemfields’ 2025 revenue fell 32% to $135.1 million and EBITDA dropped 85% to $6.2 million as disruptions at the Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique and the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia cut production and auction volumes. Seven auctions raised $129 million, but Kagem mining was halted for five months amid weak Chinese demand and oversupply from a rival Zambian producer, while Montepuez faced low premium-ruby recoveries, rising illegal mining and a fatal incursion that killed two police officers. The group is delaying commissioning of its $70 million Montepuez processing plant into H1 2026, has sold Fabergé for $50 million and completed a $30 million rights offer, while warning that Middle East-driven diesel supply risks could hit Mozambique and Zambia operations.

The US International Development Finance Corp. will convert a $31 million loan into equity for a roughly 20% stake in Syrah Resources, owner of the Balama natural graphite mine in Mozambique and the Vidalia Active Anode Material plant in Louisiana. DFC will also inject a further $15 million into the Balama subsidiary, backing one of the world’s largest natural graphite reserves at a time when China supplies 78% of mined graphite and dominates battery-grade processing. The move supports Syrah amid oversupply from cheaper Chinese synthetic graphite and ongoing delays to a Tesla offtake deal.

B2Gold’s latest infill drilling at the Llama and Nuvuyak deposits in Nunavut’s Back River district returned multiple high-grade intercepts, including 13.7 metres at 41.95 g/t gold from 218.25 metres (hole 25GSE-702) and 38.2 metres at 17.95 g/t from 501.1 metres (25GSE-715Z1), reinforcing scope to extend the Goose mine’s nine-year, 2.3‑million‑oz. plan. Back River currently hosts 15.5 million indicated tonnes at 7.16 g/t (3.56 million oz.) and 10.1 million inferred tonnes at 7.54 g/t (2.44 million oz.), plus 2.63 million inferred tonnes at 8.26 g/t at Nuvuyak. B2Gold drilled 28,599 metres in 2025 and has lifted district exploration spend from $32 million in 2025 to $46 million in 2026, targeting depth extensions along the iron formation corridor feeding Goose, which is forecast to grow from 170,000–230,000 oz. in 2026 to over 300,000 oz. in 2027.

USA Rare Earth has commissioned Phase 1a of its commercial sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnet production line at its 310,000-square-foot Innovation Lab in Stillwater, Oklahoma, enabling customer deliveries from Q2 2026. The line uses an oxygen-restricted jet milling process to reduce rare earth-metal powders to 3–5 microns before wet pressing, machining, coating and magnetising into aerospace, defence, semiconductor, energy and data centre-grade magnets. Capacity is planned to ramp to 600 mtpa by Q4 2026 and 1,200 mtpa with Phase 1b by Q1 2027, ahead of the Round Top mine start targeted for late 2028.

Gold’s March slump from a late-January peak of $5,589.38/oz to about $4,400/oz is being driven by a global liquidity squeeze and disrupted reserve flows rather than weaker fundamentals, says Sprott strategist Paul Wong. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has stalled oil revenues for Gulf Cooperation Council states, curbing their central bank gold buying, while deleveraging by hedge funds and systematic strategies has turned gold into a cash source amid rising volatility and a stronger US dollar. Wong likens the move to 2008 and 2020 stress episodes and sees scope for a rebound if renewed quantitative easing follows further financial tightening.

SAGA Metals has acquired the 64.5 sq. km Garneau titanium property in Quebec’s Havre-Saint-Pierre anorthosite complex from Rio Tinto, adding a second titanium–vanadium–iron asset alongside its Radar project in Labrador, where over 20 km of oxide layering is already being drilled at the Trapper zone. Garneau contains a 4.5 km by 7.5 km magnetic anomaly, a massive ilmenite boulder grading 32.4% TiO2 and remains untested by drilling, giving a defined but early-stage Fe–Ti target. SAGA will assume C$434,298 of exploration spend, while Rio retains a 2% NSR and nearby infrastructure includes the Romaine hydro complex and a Hydro-Québec road 4.5 km away.

Cerro de Pasco Resources has secured AMSAC approval for coordinated access to the entire 57-hectare Quiulacocha tailings storage facility in Peru, extending beyond its El Metalurgista concession and triggering a share price jump of over 20% to a C$445 million market capitalisation. The agreement, worth about 7.2 million soles (US$2.1 million) over its initial term, allows immediate execution of resource, geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling plus surface and subsurface geophysics from mid-2026. These datasets will underpin a new mineral resource estimate, feasibility studies and a full EIA for reprocessing historic tailings containing an estimated 262,000 tonnes of copper-era metal.

Ivanhoe Atlantic has secured Liberian government approval of its ESIA to use the Yekepa–Buchanan multi-user rail and port corridor for exports from the Kon Kweni iron ore project in Guinea, 46 km from the railway and 16 km from the border. The 751.9 Mt direct shipping ore resource includes 209 Mt at 67.8% Fe, with Phase 1 mining to start at 2 Mtpa and ramp to 5 Mtpa, and a proposed Phase 2 lift to 30 Mtpa from 2029. Ivanhoe expects to pay Liberia about $1.4 billion in rail user fees plus $600 million in other taxes and charges.

MacLean has entered a testing partnership with Sudbury-based Northern Construction Academy to accelerate development and deployment of its GR8 EV Surface Grader for global mining operations. The collaboration will use NCA’s training and test grounds to trial the battery-electric grader under realistic haul road and surface conditions, feeding performance and durability data back into MacLean’s R&D programme in Sudbury. For mine operators, the move signals faster validation of zero-emission surface support equipment and earlier access to a commercial battery grader platform.

Morgan Sindall Construction has started a £34.4m scheme at Queens’ College, Cambridge, delivering 13 Passivhaus-standard student housing blocks at Owlstone Croft plus refurbishment of existing Blocks A and B. The project will provide 60 new bedrooms and upgrade 87 existing rooms, alongside a café and gym extension, new cycle store, and added study and seminar space, for completion by summer 2027. New blocks will use a cross-laminated timber frame, mansard roofs with full-height rooms, and air source heat pumps with PV solar panels behind a detailed masonry façade in reconstituted stone.