BHP, Rio test electric trucks to cut iron ore emissions
Industry leaders begin testing electric haul trucks as mining seeks to cut emissions at scale.
Technology & innovation
Meteorite may have ‘rained gold’ on Australia
An ancient meteorite impact in Western Australia’s Goldfields may have redistributed gold while leaving behind rare geological evidence of one of Earth’s violent collisions. Researchers led by former Curtin University…
US deploys AI agents to speed critical minerals recovery
A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research team has developed AI agents capable of designing and optimizing critical minerals recovery methods from industrial waste in days instead of the months…
Fortescue Metals head defends zero emissions target
Fortescue (ASX: FMG) defended its plans to reach real zero carbon emissions across its Australian iron ore operations by 2030. “In the mining industry, we have been hammered for deployment of…
Chinalco bets $1.7B on Peru mine turnaround
Aluminum Corp. of China (Chinalco) is investing about $1.7 billion to overhaul its Toromocho mine in Peru, adding molybdenum output to drive a long-awaited turnaround. The upgrade at the site…
KoBold begins AI-driven lithium push in DRC
KoBold Metals, the mining firm backed by U.S. billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, has launched what it calls the largest lithium exploration campaign in history across the Democratic Republic…
Albemarle starts $3.1B Chile DLE permit process
U.S. lithium producer Albemarle (NYSE: ALB) has started the environmental review for a $3.1 billion (C$4.3 billion) lithium project in Chile that will deploy Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology to…
AI’s application still clouded by hype
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being promoted across the mining sector as a way to sharpen exploration and improve targeting, but industry executives say most tools deliver modest efficiency gains rather…
Fortescue rolls out battery trains in Western Australia
Australian iron ore producer Fortescue (ASX: FMG) has commissioned two battery electric locomotives in Western Australia’s Pilbara, marking a key step in its plan to achieve real zero emissions across…
Transition Metal scales up microbial copper recovery
Say bacteria, most people think infection. Or yogurts. But a San Francisco-based startup is using microbes to get at something the world is hungry for: copper. Transition Biomining, now rebranded…
Chile funds lithium, rare earth tech
Chile’s state-owned development agency Corfo has awarded up to $5.8 million to two research projects focused on direct lithium extraction (DLE) and rare earth recovery to boost mining innovation and…
Innovation slump drags mining productivity down: report
Mining productivity has fallen for more than a decade and has improved only 1% a year since 2018, a trend McKinsey & Company warns could threaten the sector’s ability to…