Geomechanics.io

A Productivity Commission proposal to replace company tax with a hybrid cash flow tax has drawn a lukewarm response from the Minerals Council of Australia and the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, which warn it could deter long-life, capital-intensive projects. Industry groups argue that immediate expensing of capital and tighter limits on interest deductibility may not suit multi-decade mines with heavy upfront spend on shafts, processing plants and rail links. They are calling for detailed modelling of impacts on marginal projects, junior explorers and existing royalty and PRRT settings before any shift proceeds.

Satellite analysis of more than 16,700 US dams shows over 2,500 structures are both in poor condition and classified as high-hazard potential, meaning failure would likely cause loss of life. Geoscientists report many of these ageing embankment and concrete gravity dams lack adequate spillway capacity, suffer from seepage and erosion issues, and sit downstream of growing urban development. The findings point to large unfunded backlogs in dam safety upgrades, with implications for risk-based inspection, emergency drawdown planning and prioritisation of remedial works.

Truck owner-operators hauling for Australian mining projects in 2026 are being urged to tighten insurance cover around high-value assets such as prime movers, side-tippers and low-loaders working on remote haul roads. Guidance focuses on checking heavy vehicle comprehensive policies for off-road use, unsealed access tracks and mine-site exclusions, and confirming public liability limits where loading, stockpile work or refuelling occur on third-party sites. Operators are also advised to verify downtime cover, gap insurance on financed rigs and clear disclosure of subcontracting or backloading to avoid claim disputes.

Henkel is targeting unplanned shutdowns on slurry and process pipelines with a Loctite composite “pipe bandage” system designed for rapid, in-situ repair of worn or leaking steel lines. The wrap combines epoxy-based fillers with fibre reinforcement to restore wall thickness and hoop strength without hot work, allowing operators to avoid cutting out sections or mobilising welding crews in confined or hazardous areas. For maintenance engineers, the approach offers a way to extend pipe life and manage localised corrosion or abrasion within existing pressure and safety envelopes.

Global Lithium Resources (GL1) is targeting the Port of Esperance as an export outlet for spodumene concentrate from its Manna lithium project east of Kalgoorlie, signing an agreement to progress port access and logistics planning. The move focuses on securing ship-loading capacity and integrating road haulage from the mine to Esperance, rather than railing via existing iron ore corridors. For geotechnical and civil contractors, the strategy points to future demand for heavy-haul road upgrades, stockpile pads and bulk-handling infrastructure along the Kalgoorlie–Esperance corridor.

Schlam is expanding its east coast footprint with a new Hunter Valley facility in Muswellbrook to service New South Wales coal and hard rock operations using its Hercules mining truck bodies. The site is positioned close to major open-cut mines in the Upper Hunter, reducing downtime for tray relines, structural repairs and wear package upgrades that previously required longer hauls to Queensland or WA workshops. For mine operators, local capacity for large-format fabrication and refurbishment supports higher truck availability and more responsive lifecycle management of ultra-class haul fleets.

BULK2026 in Melbourne will convene bulk handling operators, OEMs and engineers to tackle chronic issues such as conveyor belt mistracking, spillage at transfer points and dust control on high‑throughput shiploaders and stacker‑reclaimers. Technical sessions will focus on optimising long overland conveyors, improving chute design using DEM modelling, and upgrading ageing idler and pulley systems to cut unplanned downtime. For mine operators, the event signals growing emphasis on condition monitoring, smarter wear‑liner materials and retrofittable upgrades rather than full conveyor replacements.

More than 60% of global demand for critical minerals is now met via international trade, with the IEF warning that copper and nickel could face material shortfalls by the mid-2030s as total demand for copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium and rare earths climbs from 28 Mt in 2021 to nearly 41 Mt by 2040. EV copper use alone is forecast to jump from 200,000 t in 2020 to 3.4 Mt by 2035, while Indonesia supplies over half of nickel, the DRC about 70% of cobalt, and China over 90% of rare earth refining. More than 600 policies now target critical mineral supply chains, with the US, Canada and Australia incentivising exploration, refining and recycling, and Indonesia, Chile and Peru pushing in-country value addition and export controls.

Heavy Metal Equipment & Rentals is expanding its ultra-class haul truck offering to 131 Caterpillar 797s by end-2026, after acquiring 45 used units and ordering 10 new 797Fs from dealer Finning to add to its existing fleet of 76 trucks. The Canadian rental specialist is targeting large Canadian oil sands and hard-rock operations that need short- to medium-term access to 360–400 t class trucks without capex. For mine planners, the enlarged common fleet simplifies spares, operator training and haul profile standardisation across multiple sites.

US federal critical minerals policy in 2026 is set to move beyond rare earths to high‑risk inputs such as antimony and tungsten, where the US currently relies heavily on China, Tajikistan and Russia for supply into defence alloys, munitions and flame‑retardant applications. Washington is expected to prioritise domestic processing capacity over new mines, backing alternatives to traditional smelting and refining that cut emissions and withstand high US power prices. Intensifying competition for electricity from AI data centres will put aluminium, copper, magnesium and titanium processors under pressure, favouring technologies that materially lower energy use and total production costs.

Liebherr has opened a new Saudi Liebherr Company Ltd branch in Riyadh to expand support for mining and construction customers across Saudi Arabia’s central region. The facility is intended to provide closer access to OEM service for Liebherr mining trucks, excavators and cranes, with local parts supply and field maintenance rather than relying solely on coastal hubs. For operators, the move should shorten downtime for heavy equipment fleets working on central Arabian gold, phosphate and infrastructure projects, and may influence procurement strategies favouring OEM-backed lifecycle support.

Eldorado Gold has lifted its stake in Amex Exploration to 27.3% on a non-diluted basis by acquiring 14.87 million shares at C$4 each in a C$59.5 million private transaction that appears to replace Eric Sprott’s position. Amex’s Perron project in Quebec now hosts 8.2 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources at 6.1 g/t gold (1.6 Moz), plus 5 million inferred tonnes at 4.31 g/t (698,000 oz), including the high-grade Champagne zone at 16.2 g/t. Bulk sampling at Perron is in permitting, with toll-milling discussions under way and Eldorado’s Lamaque/Sigma mill an obvious processing candidate.

SSEN Transmission has secured a £1bn bank facility backed by an £800M guarantee from the UK government’s National Wealth Fund to accelerate four major electricity transmission projects in the north of Scotland. The facility is expected to support high‑voltage onshore infrastructure connecting new offshore wind and grid reinforcement schemes in remote areas with challenging ground conditions and long linear wayleaves. For contractors and designers, the funding signals a firm pipeline of large-diameter cable routes, new substations and associated civil works over the next few years.

United Utilities is preparing for AMP8 (2025-2030) with a capital works programme several times larger than previous five-year cycles, forcing a shift in how it delivers major water and wastewater infrastructure. Directors are signalling earlier contractor involvement, more alliancing-style frameworks and greater use of offsite manufacture to manage programme risk across multiple large treatment upgrades and network resilience schemes. For geotechnical and civil teams, this points to higher volumes of parallel design-and-build work, tighter standardisation of earthworks and structures, and stronger pressure on delivery productivity.

Arcadis has secured two National Highways contracts to provide programme and project management for asset management, roadside technology and major scheme delivery across multiple English regions. The work covers strategic road network assets and ITS/communications systems, supporting planning and delivery of upgrades on high‑traffic corridors where lane availability, pavement condition and real‑time traffic management are critical. For contractors and designers, this signals continued emphasis on integrated asset data, technology‑heavy schemes and coordinated delivery frameworks on England’s motorways and trunk roads.

Infrastructure’s exposure to corruption is linked to trillions of dollars in annual public spending, opaque political decision-making, and fragmented delivery chains spanning clients, contractors and consultants. The piece argues that structured project data – from procurement records and change orders to asset performance logs – can be mined to flag red‑flag patterns such as repeated single‑bid tenders, abnormal cost escalations and clustered contract awards. For engineers and asset owners, this implies designing data standards and digital workflows that make audit trails, benchmarking and anomaly detection routine parts of project delivery.

A tunnel boring machine on Anglo American’s Woodsmith polyhalite mine in North Yorkshire has passed the 30km mark, setting a new record for the longest single TBM-driven tunnel drive. The machine is driving the mineral transport tunnel towards Teesside, designed to carry ore on a 37km underground conveyor system from the mine head to the processing and export facilities. The milestone signals sustained TBM performance over an unusually long drive, with implications for segmental lining logistics, spoil handling and maintenance planning on extended underground haulage routes.

Government backing has been reaffirmed for the £2.5bn West Yorkshire Mass Transit network, but the delivery programme has been stretched so first services are now not expected until the late 2030s. The revised timetable is intended to reduce delivery and cost risk on the multi-line, multi-centre system linking Leeds, Bradford and surrounding towns, rather than compressing design, utilities and land acquisition phases. For civil and geotechnical teams, this signals a longer pipeline for corridor safeguarding, ground investigation and major structures planning, but slower conversion of outline concepts into detailed design work.

Associated British Ports has issued a planned procurement notice for an Early Contractor Involvement and Works Contractor package worth up to £500M for its Solent Gateway 2 expansion near the Port of Southampton. The contract will cover major marine and landside works to extend port capacity, with bidders expected to support design development, constructability reviews and phasing to maintain operations during construction. Geotechnical and marine civil specialists should anticipate complex quay wall, dredging and ground improvement requirements on a heavily constrained, tide‑influenced site.

Northumberland County Council has submitted a funding bid to extend the reopened Northumberland Line after it carried nearly 1M passengers in its first year of operation, far above initial demand forecasts. The council is seeking backing to push services beyond the current corridor between Ashington and Newcastle, building on the recently delivered double-track sections, new stations and upgraded signalling. For civil and rail engineers, the move signals potential further works on earthworks, structures and level crossings along the former freight alignment if the extension is approved.

Savannah Resources is set to secure full ownership of the Aldeia C‑190 lithium lease at Barroso in northern Portugal, adding a JORC-compliant 3.5 Mt at 1.30% Li₂O on Block A, about 11% of the project’s global resource, for €3.25 million via staged payments to the Directorate General for Energy and Geology. Barroso, designated an EU strategic project, now totals over 39 Mt of high-grade spodumene and is planned as four open pits processing 1.5 Mt/year over 14 years, with break-even at roughly $600/t lithium. Production is targeted for 2028, but permitting and environmental licensing remain contentious in the Barroso World Heritage agricultural landscape.

Lundin Mining is selling its Eagle nickel-copper underground mine and Humboldt Mill in Michigan to Talon Metals in an all-share deal worth about $84 million, giving Lundin roughly 275 million Talon shares and a 20% non-diluted stake. Eagle, the only primary nickel mine currently operating in the US, has produced over 194,000 tonnes of nickel and 185,000 tonnes of copper, generating more than $3.2 billion in revenue to Q3 2025. Talon plans to use Humboldt Mill as a centralised processing hub while advancing the Tamarack project in Minnesota and a Beulah processing facility in North Dakota.

Erdene Resource Development has poured first gold at its Bayan Khundii open-pit mine in southwest Mongolia and is ramping to nameplate output of 85,000 oz. per year from a 650,000 tpa plant, underpinned by 3.8 Mt of proven and probable reserves grading 3.8 g/t gold and 1.7 g/t silver for a six-year mine life. The 50-50 joint venture with Mongolian Mining Corporation has invested about $115 million, installed a 240 km power line from Inner Mongolia and employs roughly 500 people, signalling district-scale intent. Nearby Zuun Mod, 35 km east, holds 271 Mt measured and indicated at 0.06% Mo and 0.06% Cu plus similar-scale inferred resources, positioning it as a potential major molybdenum-copper supplier to China.

Ioneer now expects to secure a new partner for its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada in H1 2026, after Sibanye-Stillwater withdrew from a proposed $490 million, 50% stake and Goldman Sachs-advised talks overran the original four‑month timetable amid weaker markets and geopolitical uncertainty. Backed by a $996 million US government loan and all key permits, Rhyolite Ridge has an updated DFS with a 95‑year mine life, NPV lifted to $1.5 billion, and reserves of 7.8 Mt boric acid plus 2 Mt lithium carbonate supporting an initial 77‑year plan. Average output for years 1–25 is now projected at 24,500 t/y lithium carbonate equivalent and 135,500 t/y boric acid, placing the operation in the global lowest cost quartile on an LCE basis and making co‑product economics central to any JV valuation.