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…
Technology & innovation
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…
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…