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…
Technology & innovation
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…
JV Q&A: How Seequent eases mining’s new complexity
Mining faces an intriguing set of new supply and demand curves, from copper shortages driven by AI data centres to the nuclear comeback lifting uranium’s prospects. Staying ahead now means…
Codelco fast-tracks automation after deadly collapse
Chile’s state-owned copper giant Codelco is to fast-track automation at its El Teniente mine after a deadly collapse killed six workers, in what became Chile’s worst mining accident in decades….
Antofagasta ignites Centinela mine expansion
Chilean miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) has launched the next stage of its copper growth strategy with the first blast at the Encuentro Sulphides pit at its Centinela mine in the…
Mars boffins probe mysterious new mineral
Scientists have spotted on Mars what could be a previously unknown mineral linked to the kind of sulphaty gunk that clogs tailings ponds on Earth. The unusual ferric hydroxysulphate, identified…
Marathons are a slog, but in an underground mine?
The world’s deepest marathon is to be run this October in an unprecedented challenging environment: 1,120 metres below sea level in one of Europe’s deepest mines. The event, set inside…
BHP OK’d to run Mt Arthur to 2030, eyes hydro future
BHP will run the mine for four additional years and may convert it into a pumped hydro facility to support a post-coal future.
JV Article: Why end-to-end optimization isn’t optional
Yokogawa Electric, a Tokyo-headquartered electrical engineering and software company, is celebrating its 110th anniversary this year (just like The Northern Miner!) with a new strategy to manage mining operations from…
Deep-sea mining scars last decades, but life returns
A new study led by Britain’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has revealed that the effects of a deep-sea mining experiment in the Pacific Ocean more than four decades ago are…
JV article: Vorticity speeds up mineral discoveries with geophysics software
Mineral exploration has relied on slow, outdated computing for decades to analyze geophysical data. While other industries have advanced, prospecting has lagged behind, hampered by inefficient software and limited processing…