Westgold recommences reef mining at Great Fingall

Westgold Resources has successfully fired the first high-grade stope at its iconic Great Fingall mine in Western Australia, now accessing virgin areas of the famous gold reef last mined more than a century ago. “The recommencement of stoping at Great Fingall is a proud achievement for all at Westgold and the Western Australian underground mining community,” said Westgold Managing Director…

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First Caterpillar battery-electric haul trucks arrive in Australia

Australia’s first Cat 793 XE Early Learner battery-electric haul trucks have arrived at BHP’s Jimblebar iron ore mine in the Pilbara. This marks the start of on-site testing of Caterpillar’s battery-electric heavy-haulage technology in collaboration with Rio Tinto. The two Early Learner trucks, delivered through an industry-first collaboration between BHP, Rio Tinto and Caterpillar, represent a major step toward a…

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Rio Tinto investing big in Rincon

Rio Tinto has approved an earmark of $2.5 billion to expand the capacity of its Rincon lithium project in Argentina to 60,000 tonnes per year. Rincon is the company’s first commercial-scale lithium operation; that capacity is comprised of the 3,000-tonne starter plant and 57,000-tonne expansion plant. Rincon’s mine life is expected to be 40 years, with construction of the expanded…

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Rio Tinto celebrates milestone shipment to China

Rio Tinto said it shipped its four billionth tonne of iron ore from the Pilbara in Western Australia to China after half a century of working together. The shipment was loaded at Dampier Port on 19 July, bound for China Baowu Steel Group – the world’s top steel producer. “China’s strong demand for high-quality minerals such as iron ore has…

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Epiroc buys Canadian ground support company

Epiroc has agreed to acquire Canadian-based Yieldpoint, which provides advanced ground support solutions that strengthen safety for mining and civil engineering applications, for an undisclosed amount. “Proper ground support is crucial to safe mining and infrastructure operations. Yieldpoint’s smart and robust monitoring solutions complement our ground support offering well, and expand our portfolio of digital solutions,” said Helena Hedblom, Epiroc…

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Sandvik issues layoff under restructuring

Equipment maker Sandvik said it will be cutting 1,100 as part of a cost-saving restructuring effort. The company, which said it will also be consolidating production units and optimizing its organizational structure, said orders from majors were at a good level but it had seen a decrease in business from smaller operators as well as from the infrastructure market. The…

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TOMRA hit with cyberattack

Norwegian mining and recycling giant TOMRA said it discovered an extensive cyberattack on July 16, directly affecting some of the company’s data systems.  “We immediately disconnected some systems to contain the attack, and TOMRA is currently assessing whether customers and employees might experience reduced stability in our services. Our primary focus now is to get all systems up and running…

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Triton awards Ancuabe FEED to YOME

Triton Minerals, owner of the Ancuabe graphite project in Mozambique, has selected China-based equipment engineering group Yantai Oriental Metallurgical Engineering (YOME) as its front-end engineering design (FEED) contractor for the asset’s process plant and non-process infrastructure. YOME, an associate of Yantai Jinpeng Mining Machinery, will begin work this quarter and target the enhancement and improvement of the plant’s design. The…

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