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Airbridge has secured the maximum A$1.5 million grant under Western Australia’s Carbon Innovation Grants Program Round 2, run by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, to expand its carbon capture and utilisation technology. The funding will support scaling from an operational pilot plant in Perth into heavy industrial applications in the Pilbara, targeting large mining and processing emitters. For miners, this signals near-term opportunities to trial point-source capture and CO₂ utilisation on existing fixed plant rather than only at new-build facilities.

Redpath Mining has secured a five-year underground mining contract at Evolution Mining’s Cowal Gold Operations in New South Wales, with an early ramp-up scheduled for 2026 and full-scale development and production from July 2026. The contractor is already recruiting across multiple underground roles, signalling a build-out of crews and equipment ahead of portal establishment and development drilling. For geotechnical and mining engineers, the timeline points to imminent demand for ground support design, ventilation planning and production scheduling integrated with Cowal’s existing open-pit infrastructure.

Fluor has acquired FLSmidth’s Overland Conveyor Products Group, folding the technology and product line into its bulk materials handling subsidiary Virta Inc. The deal follows Virta’s earlier purchase of the RAHCO® brand, consolidating long-distance overland conveyor and mobile stacking system expertise under a single US-based design–supply provider. For mine developers, this signals a tighter EPC–OEM integration on high-capacity overland conveyor systems, potentially simplifying interface risk on multi‑kilometre haulage, waste stacking and in‑pit crushing projects.

Foran Mining is deploying Veracio’s Scan core-scanning technology at its McIlvenna Bay copper-zinc-precious metals project in Saskatchewan to compress exploration timelines during the 2025 winter drilling campaign. The system acquires continuous high-resolution imagery and multi-sensor data directly from drill core, enabling near-real-time geological logging and faster targeting decisions compared with traditional manual core logging workflows. For geologists and resource modellers, this means earlier structural and lithological interpretation, tighter drill spacing decisions, and potentially shorter cycles between discovery, resource definition, and mine planning.

ABB has expanded electrification and automation at Boliden’s Aitik tailings facility, integrating power distribution, process control and monitoring to support safe capacity growth at Sweden’s largest open-pit copper mine. The upgraded system strengthens water storage and recycling, with automated instrumentation and real-time data improving surveillance of dam performance and water balances. For geotechnical and tailings engineers, the project signals tighter coupling of electrical infrastructure, SCADA and dam monitoring as facilities scale to handle higher throughputs under rising copper demand.

Epiroc has launched the COPROD 89 drilling system for surface mining and quarrying, claiming higher penetration rates and lower fuel burn through increased flushing capacity and optimised tool geometry. The 89 mm COPROD string is engineered for durability and precision drilling in hard rock, aiming to extend bit and rod life while maintaining straight holes over longer benches. For mine operators, the key promise is reduced cost per metre drilled and improved rig utilisation without major changes to existing surface drill fleets.

FLS has secured an order to supply core comminution equipment for a greenfield copper concentrator in South America, centred on a 1600 x 2400 TSU gyratory crusher and two Raptor 900 cone crushers. The grinding circuit will use two 34‑ft diameter x 24‑ft long dual‑pinion SAG mills and two 24‑ft diameter mills, giving a high‑throughput, fully FLS-supplied front end. The package signals continued preference for large SAG-based circuits in new copper projects, with implications for power demand, liner wear strategies and maintenance planning.

SAIL has signed a 28‑year Mining Services Agreement with Kalinga Commercial Corporation Ltd to develop and operate the 14 Mt/y Rowghat iron ore project in Chhattisgarh, securing long‑term feed for its central India steel plants. The contract covers mine development, drilling, blasting, loading and haulage, shifting Rowghat from project stage to production ramp‑up. For geotechnical and mine planners, the long tenure and high annual tonnage point to sustained large‑scale pit development, waste dump design and haul road infrastructure over nearly three decades.

Metso will use the Future Minerals Forum 2026 in Riyadh (13–15 January) to showcase sustainable processing technologies for energy transition minerals, including copper, green steel feedstocks, gold and phosphate. CEO Sami Takaluoma, Minerals President Piia Karhu and Services President Heikki will lead panels and roundtables on end-to-end flowsheet optimisation, from comminution and beneficiation to service models. For mine planners and plant designers, the focus signals continued OEM push on lower-energy circuits and lifecycle service contracts in Middle Eastern and African growth markets.

Unite32, a Laing O’Rourke–AECOM joint venture, has secured the $7.1 billion delivery partner contract for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Venues Infrastructure Program. The team will deliver 17 new or upgraded competition venues and provide monitoring services for two additional sites distributed across Queensland, covering major stadium, aquatic and indoor arena works. Early contractor involvement and integrated design–construction management are expected to drive staging, temporary works and ground engineering decisions on constrained brownfield sites.

International No-Dig Auckland will bring the global trenchless technology sector to New Zealand on 28–29 October 2026, positioning Auckland as a regional hub for no-dig pipeline and utility installation. The event will gather major equipment suppliers, contractors and asset owners under one roof, with a focus on HDD rigs, microtunnelling systems and cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) rehabilitation. For Australasian civil and geotechnical engineers, it offers direct access to international case studies on minimising surface disruption, managing difficult ground conditions and upgrading ageing buried infrastructure.

Lower Thames Crossing, a proposed 23km road scheme including a 4.2km twin‑bore tunnel under the Thames, is ramping up local skills programmes to secure the workforce needed for delivery. National Highways and its delivery partners are targeting school leavers, apprentices and career‑changers in Kent and Essex with training in tunnelling, heavy civils and digital construction tools such as BIM. The initiative aims to build a locally based labour pool for large‑diameter tunnelling, complex groundworks and long‑span viaduct construction, reducing reliance on transient specialist crews.

Boss Energy has withdrawn its 2021 enhanced feasibility study for the Honeymoon in-situ recovery uranium project in South Australia and is preparing a fully updated development plan. The original EFS was based on restarting the mothballed plant and wellfields using legacy infrastructure, but recent drilling, higher uranium prices and changed cost assumptions have made those parameters obsolete. An overhaul of process design, production schedule and capital estimates is likely, with implications for wellfield layout, resin-in-pulp or ion-exchange circuit selection, and long-term groundwater management.

Queensland’s mid-year budget update shows resources royalties still underpin state finances, with coal, gas and metals revenue offsetting weaker coal prices and higher progressive royalty rates introduced in 2022. Treasury data points to sustained export volumes through ports such as Gladstone and Hay Point, with LNG, metallurgical coal and bauxite remaining key earners despite global price volatility. For miners, the figures signal continued fiscal reliance on high-value exports and reinforce the need to factor royalty regime risk into long-life project economics and expansion plans.

BHP’s $840 million investment to expand underground operations and upgrade surface infrastructure at Olympic Dam signals renewed confidence in South Australia’s copper sector amid surging energy-transition demand. The state is advancing large-scale projects across the Gawler Craton and Curnamona Province, including IOCG deposits near Prominent Hill and Carrapateena, supported by existing 200,000+ tpa smelting capacity at Olympic Dam. For geotechs and miners, the focus is shifting to deeper block cave and sublevel stoping designs, higher-throughput hoisting systems, and power and water infrastructure capable of supporting multi-decade expansions.

Western Australia is being tipped for a modern gold rush after geoscientists identified a major new exploration development, with state-scale datasets revealing previously overlooked greenstone belts and structurally complex shear zones prospective for orogenic gold. The breakthrough centres on integrating high-resolution aeromagnetic surveys with deep-crust seismic profiles to map concealed Archean terranes beneath thick regolith cover. For miners and explorers, the work points to new drill targets beyond mature camps like Kalgoorlie, with implications for revising prospectivity models and reallocating exploration budgets across the Yilgarn Craton.

A new vanadium processing facility planned for Western Australia is boosting confidence in scaling domestic supply of vanadium pentoxide for steel alloys and vanadium redox flow batteries. Australia already holds the world’s largest share of economic demonstrated vanadium resources, concentrated in titanomagnetite deposits in WA and the NT, but currently exports most material as raw or semi-processed product. The move to local downstream processing signals opportunities for miners and metallurgists in hydrometallurgical circuit design, impurity management and long-duration energy storage markets.

Government plans to convert the Building Safety Regulator into a Single Construction Regulator with powers spanning high‑rise building control, oversight of the building products regime and regulation of construction professions, but without directly carrying out product testing or certification. The consultation prospectus, issued by building safety minister Samantha Dixon, runs to 20 March 2026, with detailed regulatory reform proposals due summer 2026. For designers, contractors and product manufacturers, this signals tighter, centralised scrutiny of competence, product compliance and safety case evidence on complex residential projects.

Government plans to create a Single Construction Regulator to take central control of built environment professions, arguing that current self-regulation by bodies such as building control and architects’ institutions is too fragmented and inconsistent. A call for evidence is scheduled for spring 2026, with a full strategy and detailed regulatory framework for competence, oversight and enforcement due in spring 2027. The model will draw on safety regimes in aviation, energy and healthcare, and explicitly link regulation of people, products and buildings, signalling tighter accountability for designers, inspectors and contractors.

National Highways will start a six-year, £23M upgrade of the A36 through Salisbury in January, focusing initially on replacing ageing traffic signals on key junctions. The programme also includes phased road resurfacing and bridge repairs along this strategic north–south route, aiming to address long-term deterioration rather than short-term patching. Contractors will need to manage multi-year traffic management and staging on a constrained urban corridor, with implications for night working, temporary signal layouts and careful planning of bridge access and bearing or deck repair sequences.

A joint venture between Laing O’Rourke and Aecom has been appointed delivery partner for the A$7.1bn (£3.5bn) Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games venues infrastructure programme. The commission covers multiple new and upgraded sports venues and associated civil works across the Brisbane region, with a delivery horizon constrained by the fixed 2032 deadline. Contractors and designers can expect early market engagement on complex staging, brownfield interfaces and transport connectivity, with long-lead materials procurement likely to be critical under current Australian construction capacity pressures.

Manufacturing and factory testing of the first two tunnel boring machines for the $16bn (£13bn) Hudson Tunnel Project have been completed, preparing for excavation of new rail tubes beneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey from next year. The TBMs form a core element of the wider Gateway Programme to replace the existing 1910s North River Tunnels, which suffered significant saltwater damage during Hurricane Sandy. Despite previous attempts under the Trump administration to terminate federal support, funding and procurement are now sufficiently advanced for tunnelling to proceed.

Infrastructure designers are increasingly turning to immersive digital twins and extended reality (XR) to close the gap between CAD abstractions and real-world performance, moving beyond static 2D and 3D screens. By integrating live sensor data, construction sequencing and asset operation scenarios into interactive models, project teams can virtually walk through stations, tunnels or bridges, test maintainability clearances and rehearse complex lifts before site work. This shift demands new workflows, with geotechnical, structural and M&E inputs federated in real time rather than exchanged as periodic drawing sets.

Julie Wood has been confirmed by the ICE Council to succeed David Porter as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in November 2026, setting the leadership line-up two years in advance. The early confirmation gives continuity for ongoing work on infrastructure resilience, decarbonisation and digital delivery across ICE’s 95,000-strong global membership. Civil engineering firms can expect policy and guidance stability through at least 2027 as Porter’s term transitions to Wood’s, aiding long-term planning for major UK and international projects.