Emerson has released the latest version of its AspenTech Aspen Mtell® Asset Performance Management platform, adding AI-driven failure prediction on top of foundational asset health monitoring for process and mining operations. The update is designed to let operators move from simple condition-based alerts to scalable, model-based prognostics that can detect emerging equipment degradation and predict time-to-failure across critical assets such as mills, crushers and pumps. For mine operators, the key impact is earlier intervention windows, fewer unplanned shutdowns and more stable throughput without major changes to existing control systems.

Exitflex hydraulic hoses supplied by Motion are being promoted for abrasive, high-pressure mining environments where conventional hose assemblies often fail prematurely. The range targets hydraulic circuits on drills, loaders and longwall equipment exposed to rock fines, impact and pressure spikes, with reinforced constructions and abrasion-resistant outer covers designed to extend service intervals. For maintenance and reliability engineers, the key implication is potential reduction in unplanned downtime and hose-change labour in harsh open-pit and underground applications.

SMS Equipment is entering the European market by acquiring Suomen Rakennuskone Oy, a major Finnish distributor of Komatsu construction and mining equipment with an established service network across Finland. The deal adds European coverage to SMS Equipment’s existing operations in Canada, Alaska and Mongolia, giving miners a single dealer group spanning Arctic, sub-Arctic and boreal conditions. For mine operators, the move could simplify fleet standardisation, parts logistics and maintenance planning for Komatsu haul trucks and excavators across multiple cold-climate jurisdictions.

A 7m pedestrian bridge in the Netherlands has been unveiled as the world’s first using a concrete mix claimed to be CO₂‑neutral over its life cycle. Developers report that the binder system and aggregate selection are engineered so that production and curing emissions are fully offset by in‑service CO₂ uptake, without relying on external carbon credits. For designers, the project signals that carbon‑neutral structural concrete is moving from lab trials to full‑scale applications, raising immediate questions on durability testing, Eurocode compliance and verification of whole‑life carbon accounting.

Sandvik has secured a SEK417 million (~$46 million) order from The Redpath Group to supply underground mining equipment for Evolution Mining’s Cowal Gold Operations in New South Wales, covering load-and-haul, development and production drilling fleets. The package includes a Rhino 100 mobile raiseboring machine, signalling a push towards faster slot-raise development compared with conventional longhole methods. For mine planners and contractors, the deal points to continued investment in high-productivity underground fleets at Cowal as it expands below the existing open pit.

LGMG Peru has started 2026 with orders for 226 units of mining trucks and excavators now operating or being delivered across Peruvian mine sites, positioning the Chinese OEM as one of the country’s main heavy equipment suppliers. The scale of the fleet signals growing acceptance of LGMG’s large-capacity haul trucks and hydraulic excavators in hard‑rock open pits, where competition from established brands is intense. For mine operators, the move widens options for fleet renewal strategies, parts sourcing, and maintenance planning in a tight equipment market.

Mira Geoscience has acquired SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc’s HiveMap platform, a digital geological and geotechnical field mapping system designed for efficient collection, visualisation and interpretation of geoscientific data. HiveMap integrates directly with photogrammetry and LiDAR workflows, allowing structural, lithological and geotechnical observations to be tied to high-resolution 3D surfaces and point clouds. The acquisition signals tighter coupling between field mapping, 3D geomodelling and mine-scale geotechnical analysis within Mira’s existing integrated geoscience software suite.

EnviroGold Global has reported a technical advance in its proprietary NVRO Process™ after gaining a much sharper understanding of sulphide pre-concentration behaviour within the process flowsheet. The company says the revised sulphide pre-concentration stage materially improves project economics for the NVRO Process when treating a broader range of tailings, rather than only high-grade or narrowly specified feeds. This could open commercial opportunities for reprocessing complex sulphidic tailings storage facilities, where variable mineralogy and fine particle size have previously limited viable recovery.

DIPS (Data Integration using Projected Stereonets) is being positioned as the new standard for stereonet-based orientation analysis, building on more than 30 years of use in geotechnical engineering. The software supports detailed structural mapping workflows, allowing engineers to import large orientation datasets and analyse joint sets, foliation, and discontinuity patterns directly on stereonets. For slope stability, underground excavation design, and rock mass characterisation, it enables consistent kinematic checks and data integration across projects, reducing manual plotting and interpretation time.

Sandvik is overhauling its global warranty processes for underground and surface mining equipment fleets to create a single, standardised framework across all regions and product lines. The company aims to give mine operators clearer visibility of coverage terms, claim status and component life data for assets such as DS422iE longhole drills and loaders, reducing variation between local service centres. Tighter, globally consistent warranty rules are likely to influence maintenance planning, spares strategies and total cost-of-ownership calculations for both greenfield and brownfield operations.

Dyno Nobel has launched the Navus handheld blaster, a 600 g electronic initiation device designed to trigger blasts via up to 2,500 m of harness wire anywhere on site. The unit extends the company’s electronic initiation range beyond fixed blast boxes, giving engineers more flexibility in complex pit geometries, underground headings and perimeter stand-off locations. For drill-and-blast teams, the compact form factor and long wire support enable wider separation between charge areas and firing points without adding extra infrastructure.

Versarien’s collapse puts its Cementene graphene-enhanced concrete admixture in doubt, raising questions over whether graphene additives can achieve consistent performance, certification and cost benefits in mainstream construction mixes. The UK Supreme Court’s Providence v Hexagon ruling is described as a landmark for late payment law, with implications for drafting and enforcing construction payment terms and adjudication strategies. A young plant hire firm in northeast England is reported to be achieving around 40% pre-tax margins, signalling strong demand and tight fleet management in regional equipment supply.

Australian specialist Marr Contracting is deploying a diesel-powered Favelle Favco M2480D luffing tower crane on Kanadevia Inova’s construction of Encyclis’ Walsall Energy Recovery Facility, which will convert up to 436,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste into about 49 MWe annually. The Malaysian-built M2480D can handle 330 tonnes at 15 m or 100 tonnes at 45 m with roughly 130 m hook height and no ties, and on this project is configured for 100-tonne lifts. Key picks include a 78-tonne economiser and 69-tonne boiler drum, enabling larger DFMA modules and fewer overall lifts.

Fenner’s grid and gear couplings from Motion are engineered for mining drives exposed to high shock loads, shaft misalignment and abrasive, contaminated environments, targeting applications such as crushers, conveyors and slurry pumps. The metallic grid and gear elements are designed to accommodate angular, parallel and axial misalignment while damping torsional vibration, reducing stress on gearboxes and motors in heavy-duty start–stop duty. For engineers, the key value is longer service intervals and fewer unplanned stoppages on critical rotating equipment in remote sites.

Digital integration of geotechnical data at Anglo American’s Barro Alto nickel mine in Brazil is using Seequent’s Central and Leapfrog Geo platforms to create a single, live subsurface model for risk management. Drillhole, mapping, monitoring and laboratory data are being federated into a cloud-based environment, enabling near real-time updates to pit slope designs and geotechnical domains. The approach is cutting manual data handling, improving traceability of design decisions and giving geotechnical engineers faster decision cycles for slope stability and mine planning.

Immersive Technologies is deploying simulator-based training programmes to help mines cope with acute supervisor shortages as veteran foremen retire and less-experienced operators are promoted early. Its solutions use high-fidelity equipment simulators and scenario-based modules to build decision-making, crew leadership, and shift management skills for haul truck, shovel, and drill supervisors in a controlled environment. Operators can rehearse responses to production bottlenecks, near-miss incidents, and equipment downtime events, allowing sites to standardise supervisory competence and reduce on-the-job learning risk.

Atlas Copco has expanded its DrillAir range with the X-Air⁺ 800-20 portable compressor, offering higher air flow than the earlier X-Air⁺ 750-25 while maintaining a compact canopy footprint for easier positioning on constrained drill pads. The unit is engineered to deliver full air power at a practical drilling pressure, targeting down-the-hole and rotary blast-hole rigs that need high-volume compressed air without upsizing carriers or compromising manoeuvrability. For mine operators, the design aims to support deeper or larger-diameter holes using existing drill fleets and standard transport logistics.

Schlam has delivered its 300th Hercules dump truck tray to Fortescue, marking a long-running fleet fit-out across the miner’s Western Australian iron ore operations. The lightweight Hercules bodies are designed to increase payload on ultra-class haul trucks by several tonnes compared with standard OEM trays, using high-strength wear-resistant steel and optimised geometry to reduce carryback. For mine planners and maintenance teams, the scale of deployment signals confidence in life-cycle performance, structural fatigue behaviour and compatibility with Fortescue’s autonomous haulage systems.

GRX Industry Awards will return on 6 May 2026 at the Global Resources Innovation Expo (GRX26) Awards Dinner in Perth, Western Australia, recognising mining and METS companies, technologies and individuals driving sector innovation. Categories will focus on leadership and “groundbreaking technologies”, signalling strong interest in digital mining systems, automation and advanced processing solutions. METS suppliers developing novel sensing, data analytics or equipment platforms for underground and surface operations may see this as a key showcase for commercial deployment and industry validation.

Chance Instant Foundations marks 50 years since Dayton Power and Light’s 1976 field trial of screw-type streetlight foundations using 8-inch helical anchors for 30'6" aluminium poles on a four-lane connector and 6-inch anchors for 23' poles in a residential plat. Crews, initially untrained, installed 16 foundations in 12 working hours, later averaging 17 minutes per site including adapter plate setup, drilling to ground level and removal. The hollow-shaft anchors doubled as cable-ways, were fully retrievable, eliminated concrete supply and curing delays, and gained Standards Committee approval for one- to five-pole installations where soil conditions allow.

Antamina has commissioned a Komatsu P&H 4800XPC electric rope shovel at its Peruvian copper-zinc operation, becoming the first mine in the country to run what Komatsu markets as the world’s largest shovel. The 4800XPC, typically paired with ultra-class trucks in the 290–360 t payload range, is designed for high-bench, hard-rock loading and is expected to materially lift unit productivity in Antamina’s main open pit. The move signals further electrification of the mine’s primary loading fleet, with implications for pit power distribution, maintenance planning, and operator training.

Innovation in construction is portrayed as less about novel technology and more about closing the execution gap between leadership’s “we want innovation” rhetoric and project teams’ day‑to‑day delivery constraints. Examples include contractors struggling to move from pilot trials of digital twins and 4D BIM on single bridge or station jobs to portfolio‑wide deployment, and clients not adapting NEC contract risk allocations to support offsite manufacture or low‑carbon concrete. For engineers, the message is to focus on procurement models, incentives and site workflows that let proven tools scale beyond isolated demonstrations.

Weba Chute Systems is being brought in by OEMs, EPCM contractors and mine operators to fix process flow bottlenecks arising when new or upgraded screens and crushers are integrated into existing circuits. The company applies custom-engineered transfer chutes, designed around site-specific ore characteristics and throughput, to stabilise material flow, reduce impact and spillage, and limit unplanned stoppages. For plant engineers, the trend signals growing recognition that chute geometry and lining design can be the critical constraint on circuit capacity rather than the primary crusher or screen.

Sandvik Rock Processing is expanding technical support for its crushing and screening solutions across West Africa, covering stationary crushers, screens and feeders as well as mobile crushers and screens. The company is targeting both greenfield and brownfield gold and iron ore operations that rely on high-throughput primary and secondary crushing trains, where uptime and liner wear management are critical. Stronger in-region service and spares availability is likely to reduce lead times for major components and support more aggressive production schedules in remote sites.

Barrick Gold has chosen Metso’s high‑intensity Concorde Cell™ flotation technology for the Lumwana copper mine expansion in Zambia, to operate in tandem with previously specified TankCell® units. The Concorde Cell is designed for complex, finely disseminated orebodies and ultra‑fine particle recovery, while TankCell units provide conventional rougher and cleaner flotation capacity. The combined flowsheet signals a move towards staged, high‑grade flotation circuits at Lumwana, with implications for reagent regimes, residence time design and potential debottlenecking of downstream dewatering and concentrate handling.

Flannery Plant Hire is offloading a substantial tranche of heavy plant in Manchester after investing £448m in new construction machinery over the past four years and committing a further £107m in capex this year for fleet renewal. Euro Auctions will run a single-sourced dispersal sale at Flannery’s Sorby Road, Irlam site on Tuesday 10th March, covering Cat, Hitachi and Komatsu excavators, Cat, Volvo and Hydrema dumptrucks, and Cat and Komatsu dozers. The disposal also includes Cat, Bomag and Volvo rollers, JCB 3CX backhoe loaders, John Deere tractors and 2019 Scania R580 trucks, offering contractors access to late-model kit at auction pricing.

Dust and carryback at belt conveyor discharge points are framed by Dan Marshall, Process Engineer at Martin Engineering, as problems that must be tackled with an integrated transfer-point design rather than isolated fixes. He points to coordinated use of primary and secondary belt cleaners, properly sized and sealed loading chutes, and correctly tensioned skirting to control spillage and fugitive material. The approach targets reduced liner and idler wear, fewer manual clean-up interventions around transfer points, and lower dust exposure for maintenance crews.

CRC Etch-10 is a phosphoric acid-based metal etch and cleaner formulated for abrasive mining environments to improve coating adhesion and corrosion resistance on steel substrates. The product is supplied as a ready-to-use liquid, designed to remove light rust, mill scale and surface contaminants prior to application of epoxy or polyurethane protective coatings on fixed plant, mobile equipment and structural steel. For maintenance engineers, it offers a controlled, chemical surface profile where abrasive blasting is impractical or restricted by access, dust or noise constraints.

Sandvik will supply 16 AutoMine®-ready surface drills to Vale Base Metals’ Brazilian copper operations, including nine DR416i rotary blasthole rigs, in orders booked mainly across the June and September 2025 quarters with the balance in 2026. The DR416i, typically configured for large-diameter production holes in hard rock benches, is being prepared for future autonomous operation via Sandvik’s AutoMine® platform. For mine planners and drill-and-blast engineers, the deal signals further standardisation around OEM-ready autonomy, with implications for pattern accuracy, shift utilisation and maintenance planning on large open pits.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pronto.ai’s autonomous haulage system has moved more than 2 Mt of limestone at Heidelberg Materials’ Lake Bridgeport quarry in Texas using a mixed fleet of retrofitted haul trucks. The AHS runs on existing haul roads and benches without high-precision GPS infrastructure, relying instead on on-board sensors and software for navigation, obstacle detection and speed control. For quarry operators, the project shows AHS can be deployed on brownfield sites with heterogeneous fleets, focusing on retrofit kits rather than new autonomous-ready trucks.

Rio Tinto has signed a two-year strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services under which AWS will purchase the first copper produced using Rio’s Nuton® bioleaching technology from the recently commissioned industrial-scale operation at the Johnson Camp copper mine in Arizona, USA. Nuton targets low-grade and complex sulphide ores using proprietary bioleach chemistry and bacterial consortia to recover copper from waste and tailings that are uneconomic with conventional heap leach or flotation. The deal gives Nuton an anchor offtake customer and an early commercial reference for scaling the technology to other brownfield copper sites.

Multotec’s GV Cyclones are being promoted for above-ground tailings deposition in Tailings Storage Facilities, targeting tighter regulatory demands on water recovery and beach stability. The cyclones are engineered to produce a coarser underflow for steeper, more stable tailings beaches while maximising overflow water recovery for return to the plant, reducing fresh water intake. For operators constrained to surface TSFs, the key technical appeal is controlled particle size distribution and deposition geometry that can be tuned to site-specific geotechnical and hydrological conditions.

Mittersill tungsten mine in Salzburg, owned by processor Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG on the edge of Hohe Tauern National Park, is being used as a live testbed for prototype underground hard-rock equipment. The operation trials new drilling, loading and haulage systems in complex Alpine geology while maintaining production of high-grade scheelite ore for the company’s downstream powder and carbide plants. Its vertically integrated model and willingness to host OEM prototypes give suppliers rare access to a Western European, narrow-vein, underground tungsten environment under real production constraints.

Metso will supply a gold processing plant worth about €128 million ($149 million) to Ma’aden’s Ar Rjum mine, located roughly 200 km northeast of Ta’if in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Region. The package includes process equipment plus advisory services covering installation, commissioning and start-up, indicating a turnkey-style delivery rather than simple component supply. For project teams, the integrated support should reduce interface risk during ramp-up and streamline process optimisation in the early production phase.

Cavotec has secured an order from TAKRAF India to supply seven cable reel systems and six hose reel systems for a major Moroccan phosphate and sulphur processing and manufacturing complex. The integrated reels will deliver power and fluid services to TAKRAF bulk handling equipment, supporting continuous operation of large conveyors, stackers or loaders in a highly abrasive, corrosive environment. For engineers, the project signals ongoing demand for robust reeling solutions in North African phosphate logistics, with emphasis on safe cable management and reduced maintenance on moving yard machinery.

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.

A 2,500‑tonne capacity Liebherr LR12500‑1.0 crawler crane is heading to an undisclosed UK project, set to become the country’s largest crawler crane and surpassing Sarens UK’s 1,600‑tonne Demag CC8800. The LR12500‑1.0 offers a 200 m maximum hoist height and 180 m operating radius via an extra‑wide main boom, giving UK contractors new options for single‑lift installation of very heavy modules and tall structures. Mammoet has also added a 1,350‑tonne LR11350 (220 m hoist height) as it targets large offshore wind and other heavy industrial work.

Ioneer Ltd has signed a Master Service Agreement with Caterpillar dealer Empire Southwest to provide sales, service, technology, goods and equipment rental for the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada. The deal covers Caterpillar mobile equipment and dealer support across Arizona, Nevada and parts of eastern California, giving Ioneer a single framework for fleet supply and lifecycle maintenance. For mine planners and operators, the agreement signals early lock-in of OEM support, parts logistics and technology integration for a greenfield lithium-boron operation in the US Great Basin.

Fortescue is expanding its battery intelligence capabilities by acquiring US-based software company Zitara, which specialises in physics-based battery modelling and predictive state-of-health algorithms for large-format lithium-ion systems. The deal will see Zitara’s digital twin and cloud analytics tools applied to Fortescue’s heavy mining haul truck and rail battery platforms, supporting high‑cycle, high‑C‑rate duty profiles typical of iron ore operations. For mine operators, the move signals growing emphasis on accurate battery degradation forecasting, thermal management, and life‑cycle cost control in large mobile fleets and stationary storage.

Sempertrans has been selected to supply an ultra-strong conveyor belt system for Warrior Met Coal’s new Blue Creek longwall mine in Alabama, which is designed as a highly efficient operation with an anticipated annual production capacity in the millions of tonnes. The bespoke belt solution is engineered for the mine’s high-capacity coal flow and longwall layout, demanding high tensile strength and low elongation under continuous heavy loading. For mine planners and materials engineers, the project signals continued movement towards higher-spec, long-life conveyor components in deep, high-output US coal operations.

Gates is expanding its mining-ready power transmission offering, pairing high-performance hydraulic hoses with its high-power Predator synchronous belts for demanding crusher, conveyor and pump drives. The Predator belts are engineered for high-torque, shock-loaded applications common on long overland conveyors and primary crushers, aiming to reduce slippage and unplanned downtime compared with conventional V-belts. For maintenance and reliability teams, the integrated hose and belt package simplifies spares standardisation and supports higher installed power on existing drive layouts without major structural changes.

Hancock Iron Ore is deploying its AI-powered TrackDefectX system to automate defect detection across its heavy-haul rail network, targeting rail breaks, geometry faults and ballast issues that previously relied on manual inspection. Using high-resolution imaging and machine-learning models mounted on in-service rollingstock, TrackDefectX flags anomalies in near real time and feeds them into a central maintenance planning platform. The system, which earned Hancock the 2025 Excellence in IIoT Application award, is expected to cut inspection intervals, reduce unscheduled downtime and support more targeted tamping and rail replacement.

Cisco is promoting its IE3100H heavy‑duty industrial Ethernet switches for mining operations where equipment is exposed to constant vibration, shock and outdoor extremes, positioning them as a more robust alternative to standard plant-floor switches. The IP‑rated, hardened units are designed for mounting on mobile and fixed assets such as drills, crushers and stacker‑reclaimers, supporting industrial protocols and edge connectivity for condition monitoring and automation. For mine operators, the key pitch is reduced network downtime on high‑vibration assets and more reliable data links for OT systems in remote pits and processing areas.

Vermeer has launched the SM55 surface miner, a 54,431 kg (120,000 lb) machine designed to deliver production-scale cutting in a compact footprint suitable for quarrying, surface mining and civil construction. The unit’s drive-on, drive-off undercarriage allows single-load transport on standard low-bed trailers with reduced permitting, targeting contractors who frequently relocate between small to mid-size pits or road projects. Its configuration is aimed at sites where full-size surface miners are impractical due to haul road geometry, bench widths or local transport limits.

Critical Metals’ share price jumped 35% to about $18 in New York after it agreed to buy a Bromet-built, fully integrated mobile assay laboratory for roughly $1 million to support pre-mining pilot operations at its Tanbreez rare earth project in southern Greenland. The lab will provide real-time, on-site geochemical analysis for drill core and pilot plant material, complementing an Arctic-grade storage and pilot facility in Qaqortoq due mid-2026 and an international airport opening 12 km from site. A recent PEA outlines phased output from 85,000 to 425,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides per year from a 45-million-tonne kakortokite resource, with a pre-tax NPV of up to $3.6 billion and IRR of 180%.