Geomechanics.io

Alcoa Australia sent 40 employees to volunteer with the St Vincent de Paul Society in Mandurah and Bunbury, handling donation intake, sorting and merchandising at Vinnies op shops that fund emergency relief, accommodation and support programmes. Through the Alcoa Foundation Community Impact Campaign, the company has committed nearly $130,000 to the Vinnies Passages Youth Engagement Hub in Peel, which supported 718 young people across more than 7,600 sessions last year. The 2024 campaign has allocated over $400,000 to charitable initiatives across 27 global locations.

South32 has completed the sale of its Cerro Matoso open-cut ferronickel mine and smelter in Córdoba, Colombia, to CoreX Holding following a strategic review triggered by structural changes in the nickel market. The divestment shifts South32’s portfolio further towards higher-margin copper and zinc assets linked to energy-transition demand and is intended to increase balance sheet flexibility for growth projects in those commodities. CoreX assumes full economic and operating control of Cerro Matoso, including all current and future environmental, social and closure liabilities.

Cardiff Central station’s £140M overhaul will proceed after ministers approved the final business case and funding, unlocking a major upgrade to Wales’s busiest rail hub. The scheme is expected to modernise platforms and concourse layouts, increase passenger handling capacity, and improve interchange with local and regional services. For civil and rail engineers, the decision confirms a significant pipeline project involving complex works in a constrained live-station environment in central Cardiff.

Ofgem has confirmed final determinations for the RIIO-3 price control, enabling up to £90bn of regulated investment in Britain’s gas and electricity transmission and distribution networks between April 2026 and March 2031. The framework sets allowed revenues and performance incentives for National Grid Electricity Transmission, gas transmission operators and the regional distribution network operators, targeting large-scale grid reinforcement, new 400kV and 275kV capacity, and resilience upgrades. Civil and geotechnical works will centre on substation expansions, cable route corridors and asset hardening to accommodate rapid electrification and higher renewable penetration.

New Murchison Gold’s Crown Prince gold mine has recorded a strong start, with initial production performing above feasibility study forecasts at the historic Murchison operation in Western Australia. The project, centred on the Crown Prince deposit near Cue, is ramping up conventional open-pit mining and CIL processing of near-surface ore, with early mill throughput and head grades exceeding modelled assumptions. For mine planners and geotechs, the outperformance suggests more favourable orebody continuity and grade distribution than block models predicted, potentially supporting revised pit designs and mine schedules.

Polymetals Resources has raised $34.4 million via a fully underwritten institutional placement and accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer to fund restart works at the Endeavor silver–lead–zinc mine near Cobar, New South Wales. Proceeds will support dewatering, underground rehabilitation and refurbishment of the 1.2Mtpa processing plant, including recommissioning of crushing, grinding and flotation circuits. The funding move signals momentum towards bringing the long‑life underground operation back into production, with scope to leverage existing shafts, decline access and tailings storage infrastructure.

The Australian Mining and Automotive Skills Alliance (AUSMASA) has appointed 16 training and mining subject matter experts to a new strategic panel to steer national qualifications and competency standards. The group will advise on technical content for trades such as mobile plant mechanics, drill and blast operators and underground production roles, directly influencing units of competency and assessment requirements. For mine operators and contractors, the panel’s work will shape future training packages, apprenticeship structures and skills recognition across both surface and underground operations.

Regal Rexnord is showcasing an end‑to‑end conveyor drive manufacturing process, walking through complete drive assemblies from heavy‑duty gearboxes to integrated backstops and couplings. The video focuses on how matched components within a single drive package are specified and assembled for mining conveyors, aiming to reduce misalignment, premature gearbox wear and backstop failures common in multi‑vendor systems. For plant and maintenance engineers, the approach signals tighter control over torque ratings, service factors and spares standardisation across critical conveyor lines.

Herrenknecht’s “Verena” Vertical Shaft Sinking Machine has begun sinking a 15m internal diameter, >48m deep shaft at National Grid’s Tilbury site for the 2.2km, 400kV Grain–Tilbury cable tunnel under the Thames, replacing the ageing 1960s Thames Cable Tunnel. The remotely operated VSM works in a water-filled shaft, avoiding groundwater lowering and keeping operatives out of the excavation, which is critical for safety in challenging geology. A second shaft at Gravesend and a Mixshield TBM for the tunnel will follow, delivered by Ferrovial BEMO JV.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland has launched tendering for a Programme Delivery Partner (PDP) Support Services Contract on the MetroLink scheme, moving the 18.8km, fully segregated, mostly underground metro towards delivery. The PDP will support detailed design, procurement and construction management for twin-bore tunnels, underground stations and associated systems between Swords and Charlemont in Dublin. The contract is expected to structure risk, interfaces and schedule across multiple civil, systems and rolling stock packages on what is billed as Ireland’s largest ever public transport project.

Delivery of the first Herrenknecht TBM for the Grand Paris Express Line 15 East marks the start of excavation preparations for the 5km Bobigny–Marcel Dassault drive on the Bobigny–Champigny Centre section. The machine will be shipped to the Normandie Niémen shaft in Bobigny in early 2026 for progressive assembly, ahead of a southward launch in spring towards the Rosny Bois-Perrier area. Eiffage plans to use a total of four TBMs on this contract, signalling a multi-face mechanised advance strategy for the section.

Four Earth Pressure Balance TBMs from China Railway Engineering Group, each over 100m long and just over 7m in diameter, are being procured for the northern twin tunnels of Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop East, delivered by Webuild’s Terra Verde JV. All four machines, powered by 100% renewable electricity, will launch from a 19m-deep box at Burwood, driving nearly 10km of parallel tunnels between Box Hill and Glen Waverley with 39 cross passages, two station boxes and an intervention/ventilation shaft. EPB configuration tailored to the corridor’s mixed geology signals complex ground control and settlement management requirements for designers and contractors.

The UK government has approved a 3km Docklands Light Railway extension from Gallions Reach to Thamesmead, including a new Beckton Riverside station, twin-bore tunnel under the River Thames, and an elevated terminus at Thamesmead. The scheme is costed at about £1.7bn, with most funding via Transport for London and Greater London Authority borrowing, supplemented by long-term central government support and potential “innovative financing” mechanisms. Construction could start around 2027, with passenger services targeted for the early 2030s, setting a tight window for tunnelling design and consents.

MossIA, the Acciona–Implenia joint venture, has handed over the northern Sandbukta open-cut zone, Moss Tunnel portal and northern tunnel stretch on Norway’s Sandbukta–Moss–Såstad double-track railway, part of Bane NOR’s Intercity programme on the Østfold line. The 10km scheme includes two main tunnels – the 2.7km Moss Tunnel and 2.3km Carlberg Tunnel – plus two escape tunnels, with MossIA designing and building 9km using drill-and-blast, scaling, shotcrete, waterproofing and cast in situ concrete. Delivered works include drainage, cable ducts, two technical buildings, surface landscaping and foundations for track switches and light masts.

AFRY, as part of the IG AI consortium, has been appointed owner’s engineer for the Lötschberg Base Tunnel expansion, a 40km section of the Lötschberg Base Line between Frutigen and Raron being upgraded to double track under Switzerland’s Rail Expansion 2035. IG AI will handle quality assurance for all railway engineering equipment, including design reviews, technical assessments and commissioning oversight, to meet defined capacity and safety targets across the NEAT corridor linking with the Gotthard and Ceneri base tunnels. The contract is worth about SEK118m (SEK38m to AFRY) and runs from October 2024 to December 2035.

Northern Star Resources has signed a 25‑year power purchase agreement with Zenith Energy to develop the Eastern Goldfields power projects for the KCGM operations near Kalgoorlie, anchored by 256MW of wind, 138MW of solar and a 138MW/300MWh battery system, with commissioning targeted from mid‑2027. The solar farm will use more than 230,000 5B Maverick-mounted panels, while Goldwind turbines up to 150m high with 182m rotors will be installed about 10km from Kalgoorlie, taking Zenith’s contracted generation above 1.3GW. A parallel joint venture adds 120MW of Wärtsilä dual-fuel thermal generation and a 132kV transmission network, with RJE Global supplying transformers and EPC services.

Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS), owner of the Pilgangoora hard rock lithium operation in Western Australia and the Colina project in Brazil, has appointed Alex Wilcocks as its new chief financial officer following a global search. Wilcocks brings more than 20 years’ experience and joins from Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy & Fertilisers, where she was CFO and held governance roles over the Covalent Lithium integrated mining and chemical conversion joint venture. Interim CFO Flavio Garofalo will retain senior finance responsibilities, with Wilcocks to commence on 25 May 2026.

Fortescue has installed its first large-scale BYD Battery Energy Storage System at North Star Junction in the Pilbara, a 250MWh, 50MW installation using 48 Blade Battery containers designed for high-temperature, heavy-duty mining conditions. The system will charge from daytime solar and feed Fortescue’s Pilbara Energy Connect network overnight, forming the first stage of a planned 4–5GWh storage rollout under its Real Zero strategy. A further 120MWh BESS is scheduled for Eliwana by early 2026, alongside the 190MW Cloudbreak Solar Farm now nearing 50% completion.

Vulcan Energy has secured a €2.2bn financing package, including €1.18bn in senior debt from 13 institutions, €204m in German Government grants and €528m from an equity raising at €2.24 per share, enabling a positive FID for phase one of its Lionheart lithium and geothermal project in Germany’s Upper Rhine Valley. Phase one targets 24,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate from geothermal brines using Vulcan’s VULSORB adsorption-type DLE, plus 275GWh of power and 560GWh of heat annually over a 30-year life. Key infrastructure will include geothermal-lithium production wells, substations, pipelines, a renewable power and heat plant, a lithium extraction plant and a central lithium plant, with commercial output planned from 2028 and lithium offtake fully contracted for the first ten years.

Artisanal and small-scale mining now involves an estimated 315 million people worldwide and supplies about 20% of global gold plus roughly 25% of both tantalum and tin, yet remains largely informal with significant social and environmental risks. Pan American Silver’s Brent Bergeron told the Resourcing Tomorrow 2025 audience that around half of the company’s sites now face artisanal activity, citing Peru where an estimated $8bn of gold leaves the country annually through opaque channels. Pan American is piloting on‑concession cooperatives, including a 98‑member group in Peru, and backs World Gold Council schemes where central banks buy artisanal gold in local currency to formalise supply chains.

Vale plans to expand its autonomous haul truck fleet to 150 units within two years, building on deployments at its Carajás and Brucutu iron ore operations using OEM systems from Caterpillar and Komatsu. Announced at Vale Day 2025 in London by CEO Gustavo Pimenta, the programme is framed around reducing high-potential incidents in ultra-class haulage and stabilising production in complex pit geometries. For geotechnical and mine planners, larger autonomous fleets will tighten haul road design tolerances, ramp geometry control and berm maintenance standards.

Lucara Diamond Corp has awarded Group R Mining and Exploration Botswana the lateral development contract for the Karowe underground project, covering all horizontal access from the production and ventilation shafts to the orebody. The scope includes excavation of primary and secondary development drives, connection of the two main shafts, and construction of associated ore-handling and ventilation infrastructure. For geotechnical and mine planning teams, the award signals progression from shaft sinking to full underground access development at Karowe’s high-value diamond orebody in Botswana.

Fortescue is reshaping its Pilbara decarbonisation strategy by shifting battery pack manufacturing for its electric haul and mining fleet away from Fortescue Zero while retaining Fortescue Zero for power systems architecture and integration. CEO Dino Otranto says the company is diversifying its EV supply chain across multiple OEMs and battery suppliers as it pushes towards its “Real Zero” operational emissions target, including large battery-electric haul trucks and ancillary equipment. The move signals tighter focus on systems engineering, interoperability and vendor risk management for high-capacity mine electrification.

SKF’s Quick Collect handheld sensor is giving mine maintenance teams without in-house vibration experts a low-barrier entry to condition monitoring by streaming live vibration and temperature data from rotating equipment. The pocket-sized device pairs via Bluetooth with a mobile app, enabling on-plant checks of pumps, conveyors and crushers and basic diagnostics without full-scale online systems. For reliability engineers, it offers a way to extend condition-based maintenance to remote assets and smaller sites where full vibration analysis capability is not justified.