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By Diego A. Dávila Novoa

The United States is correctly recognizing copper as a strategic material increasingly tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure such as data centers, grid modernization, electricvehicle (EV) charging stations, electrification, defense manufacturing, industrial reshoring, energy security and long-cycle economic competitiveness. Recent years have seen rising concern around future copper deficits, accelerating electrification demand, geopolitical fragmentation and the strategic vulnerability associated with concentrated mineral supply chains. As a result, significant volumes of copper cathodes have increasingly flowed into the United States through a combination of Comex positioning, arbitrage opportunities relative to the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), inventory relocation, tariff anticipation and broader long-term supply-security considerations. However, an important structural distinction is beginning to emerge inside the system — one that remains materially underrecognized across portions of industry, finance, policy, government and institutional planning frameworks. Accumulating copper cathodes inside the United States is not automatically the same as expanding the country’s ability to industrially utilize copper at scale. That distinction matters enormously because the cathodes themselves are not the final product. Their strategic relevance only materializes once the material is transformed into qualified conductive systems capable of supporting real electrical infrastructure deployment across the broader economy. Copper cathodes inside warehouses may improve availability. But availability alone does not automatically create executable electrical infrastructure. The strategic value emerges only once conductive material becomes integrated into functioning industrial systems capable of supporting AI infrastructure; grid infrastructure; utility modernization; electrification; heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems; EV charging infrastructure; defense manufacturing and broader industrial deployment. This increasingly shifts the discussion away from copper availability alone and toward a broader question of industrial synchronization involving conductive transformation capacity, fabrication capability, electroplating ecosystems, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) qualification, manufacturing scalability, logistics integration, workforce capability, permitting timelines and downstream deployment infrastructure. The challenge emerging inside the United States is therefore not necessarily geological scarcity. Rather, the bottleneck increasingly appears to be migrating downstream into the industrial interfaces required to convert material availability into executable infrastructure deployment, particularly as domestic transformation, fabrication, plating, qualification and deployment ecosystems attempt to scale under infrastructure constraints, long industrial lead times and evolving tariff structures affecting portions of the downstream conductive value chain.

Sep 1, 2026

By Debra Struhsacker

For the last few years, critical minerals have been in the news as policymakers and the media highlight the important role critical minerals play in all aspects of the U.S. economy, technology, infrastructure, manufacturing, energy systems and national defense. These discussions focus on how critical minerals are the foundational inputs to everything modern societies build and use. They even play a role in the foods we eat because some fertilizers consist of minerals like phosphates, potash and lime. Many experts predict that the global demand for lithium, copper, rare earth elements, graphite, nickel and other critical minerals will soar in the next decade as countries pursue electrification objectives, build artificial intelligence (AI) data centers that must have massive amounts of always available electricity, and develop high-tech defense equipment built with rare earth magnets and other critical minerals (International Energy Agency, 2025). The U.S. Congress defined minerals for the first time in the National Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development Act of 1980, stating: “The term “materials” means substances, including minerals, of current or potential use that will be needed to supply the industrial, military, and essential civilian needs of the United States in the production of goods or services, including those which are primarily imported or for which there is a prospect of shortages or uncertain supply, or which present opportunities in terms of new physical properties, use, recycling, disposal or substitution, with the exclusion of food and of energy fuels used as such.” (30 U.S.C. § 1601(b)(2)) Although most critical “minerals” are actually metallic elements rather than minerals, this article will refer to them as “minerals” to conform to the congressional definition and the current critical minerals dialogue. Forty years later, Congress enacted the Energy Act of 2020, which amended the 1980 Act to add the following definition for critical minerals: “The term ‘‘critical mineral’’ means any mineral, element, substance, or material designated as critical by the Secretary under section 7002(c) of the Energy Act of 2020.” (30 U.S.C. 1601(2)(b)(1)) The Energy Act of 2020 directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to identify critical minerals, to develop a Critical Minerals List (CML), and to update the CML at least every three years or more frequently if determined necessary by the Secretary. The USGS published the first CML in February 2022 (USGS, 2022). The 2022 CML identified 50 minerals critical to the U.S. economy and national security. In November 2025, the USGS finalized its 2025 CML (USGS, 2025a, 2025b) to include 60 minerals (Fig. 1), stating: “Critical minerals underpin industries worth trillions of dollars, and import dependence puts key sectors at risk.” In developing the CML, Section 1606(c) of the Energy Act of 2022 directs the USGS to include minerals that: 1. Are essential to the economic or national security of the United States. 2. The supply chain of which is vulnerable to disruption (including restrictions associated with foreign political risk, abrupt demand growth, military conflict, violent unrest, anticompetitive or protectionist behaviors, and other risks throughout the supply chain). 3. Serve an essential function in the manufacturing of a product (including energy technology, defense, currency, agriculture, consumer electronics and health care-related applications), the absence of which would have significant consequences for the economic or national security of the United States. This law also requires the Secretary to consult with the Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Energy and the U.S. Trade Representative in designating minerals, elements, substances and materials as critical.

Sep 1, 2026

By Rajesh Raitani, Emily Haas

The Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) MINEXCHANGE SME Annual Conference & Expo hosts innovationrelated content across division sessions each year. The development and integration of automation, robotic systems, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), digital twins, drones, remote monitoring and other intelligent systems have regularly been showcased as advancements that can be used to improve safety, efficiency and sustainability across the industry. Although the presence of these conference topics is evident, it is unclear if they are just an expressed interest of industry visionaries and experts or if they may be early indicators of emerging trends. To date, there has not been a systematic analysis of the presence, fluctuation and focus of conference topics over the years. Some sources support the analysis of conference data to help identify emerging trends, opportunities and interests. For example, the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) completed an analysis of conference programs from 1978 to 2014 to highlight historical milestones and emerging trends within their profession — an effort that assisted with future conferencing planning and other professional events (Reed and LaPorte, 2015). These authors identified several topics that appeared prevalent in the peer and gray literature that were not as prominent in conference offerings. They also indicated that the conference theme had minimal influences on the submission topics (Reed and LaPorte, 2015). In another effort, creators made links between tweets that used conference title hashtags during the Association of College and Research Libraries conferences from 2011 to 2019 as a form of trend analysis (Hennesy et al., 2021). Finally, related efforts have occurred in the text mining of journal article titles to identify latent topics and unique terms in the scientific literature (Ravikumar et al., 2023). Analyzing paper and conference titles has received attention in recent years to help propose and predict research topics (Wang et al., 2022). For example, Wang and colleagues (2022) indicated that trends revealed in paper titles can be useful for proposing more authoritative sessions at major conferences to align with industry trends. Consequently, an abbreviated activity was undertaken by SME’s Industry Innovation Strategic Committee in 2025. The goal was to (1) reveal stable and shifting priorities around innovation, (2) inform respective division planning for subsequent conference sessions and (3) ascertain whether the association is meeting members’ expectations around innovation-related content throughout the year. SME’s Industry Innovation Strategic Committee focused on the identification and dissemination of these tools in the field, and reviewed technical session titles from annual conference programs from 2016 to 2026. Using keyword frequency, theme clustering and division-specific tagging, the committee identified themes that seemed to be gaining traction, fading, remaining consistent, or changing in detail and scope regarding emerging technologies. This short article serves as both a retrospective view and possible planning tool for shaping future conference programming and, if applicable, inform impactful and relevant initiatives.

Sep 1, 2026

By William Gleason

During a mining roundtable at the U.S. Department of State on Aug. 7, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Government will invest $3 billion in critical minerals and battery projects as part of a push to increase domestic production, boost national security and support industrial policy. Part of this investment includes $180 million earmarked for education and workforce development for the mining sector, including up to $100 million to strengthen education in critical minerals and materials from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and $80 million from the U.S. Department of War (DOW) for investments in the Colorado School of Mines, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Johns Hopkins University. The DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) announced a notice of intent for up to $100 million to develop a new program called “Providing Opportunities for Specialized Education in Critical Technologies (PROSPECT).” The DOW investment will be used to build technology innovation hubs, form projectfocused partnerships between students and defense industry, develop new processes and prototypes, and certify hundreds of new students with advanced degrees in mining, geology and metallurgy. Department heads from the 14 ABETaccredited mining schools in the United States attended the meeting held at the Department of State. They were joined by Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as well as several industry leaders including James Litinsky, chief executive officer of MP Materials; Vicky Peacey, president of Resolution Copper; Robert Friedland, founder of Ivanhoe Mines; Mitchell Krebs, chief executive officer of Coeur Mining as well as representatives from Rio Tinto, BHP, Energy Fuels and a number of other industry leaders. “I am not aware of another time in history when the leaders of the U.S. mining education community have been brought together with a sitting President, Cabinet officials, and industry leaders to discuss the future of American mining,” said Aaron Noble, Charles T. Holland Professor Department Head - Mining and Minerals Engineering and interim department head - Materials Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech. “Mining education was not on the periphery of the conversation; we quite literally had a seat at the table where national mineral strategy was being discussed. I hope we look back on this as an inflection point for American mining education.” The historic funding announcement comes in response to a critical need for more mining and processing engineers in the United States. The DOE estimates the industry will need 6,000 more mining engineers during the next decade. Noble said U.S. programs currently graduated fewer than 200 mining engineering graduates annually. Meeting that demand has been a challenge for many years. Enrollment in U.S. mining programs has declined by approximately 45 percent since 2015, and data compiled by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) and the Society of Mining Professors show enrollment falling from nearly 1,500 students eight years ago to fewer than 600 in 2023. The investments offer the 14 mining schools an opportunity to expand enrollment, modernize curricula, strengthen industry relationships and build a more stable workforce pipeline. Kray Luxbacher, executive director and head of the University of Arizona School of Mining Engineering and Mineral Resources, attended the roundtable. She said mining school department heads across the country are “fighting to grow enrollment to meet industry demand.” “This funding is an opportunity to change the trajectory of mining,” Luxbacher said, “to bring in students who didn’t grow up around mining, show them what a modern career in this field looks like and give our programs the resources to compete for their attention.”

Sep 1, 2026

By Paul O. Knorr

The Marine Minerals Administration (MMA), a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior, has responsibility over both energy and nonenergy mineral development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) under the OCS Lands Act (OCSLA). The OCS extends beyond the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and encompasses the federal seabed. These responsibilities include all aspects of the department’s offshore energy and mineral resource management and conservation, safety oversight, environmental enforcement and related activities on the OCS, including activities pertaining to offshore critical minerals. The MMA’s Marine Minerals Program (MMP) is a matrixed program that manages U.S. offshore mineral resources including hard minerals, sand and gravel. As the sole steward of OCS critical and hard minerals, the MMP is responsible for understanding where critical minerals are located, identifying and understanding their environments, managing activities that affect these resources and implementing related federal policies. Several federal laws and regulations, such as OCSLA and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), govern federally authorized or regulated activities. However, there are six U.S. federal rules in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that are particularly pertinent to inform MMP’s procedures: 30 CFR 580 and 280 (prospecting for minerals), 30 CFR 581 (leasing of minerals), 30 CFR 582 and 282 (operations in the OCS related to minerals), and 30 CFR 583 (negotiated noncompetitive agreements for sand).

Sep 1, 2026

By M. Tangstad, M. Zhu, M. B. Folstad

The dissolution rate of silica (SiO2) into different compositions of SiO2-CaO-Al2O3 slags was studied at 1500° C and 1550 °C under an inert atmosphere of argon. The results show that the dissolution process is controlled by mass transfer of SiO2 in the slag. The experimental results were used to evaluate the dissolution rate, which was found to increase with increasing CaO/Al2O3 ratios as well as with increasing temperature. Boltzmann–Matano analysis was applied to obtain a profile-based effective chemical inter-diffusivity. The extracted inter-diffusivity coefficients decrease systematically with increasing SiO2 content and fall in the range of ~10-12 – 10-13 m2/s. These low values imply intrinsically slow diffusion-controlled SiO2 enrichment, so that approaching equilibrium is unlikely within the residence time of descending materials in industrial furnaces.

Aug 3, 2026

By S. Swanepoel, M. W. Erwee, Q. G. Reynolds, R. Fourie

Unexpected excursions in electrode hoist position are occasionally observed on direct-current arc furnace plants producing ferrochromium, and are not readily explained by changes in electrical power supply or known process disturbances. One possible mechanism for this is variations in feed reductant balance altering the freeboard gas composition and, hence, the thermophysical properties of the arc plasma, changing the arc's effective electrical resistance. This hypothesis is investigated using an integrated computational modelling workflow comprising thermochemical equilibrium simulations in FactSage, plasma property calculations using the open-source minplascalc tool, and magnetohydrodynamic arc simulations using the open-source plasmaArc solver. Three reductant balance conditions were examined across a range of effective slag temperatures. Results show that while the reductant balance does influence freeboard gas composition and certain plasma properties (particularly electrical conductivity and radiation emission coefficient when lower slag temperatures are considered), these two effects act in opposing directions and largely cancel one another. Arc voltages and resistances are consequently not significantly different between reductant conditions. It is concluded that variations in feed reductant balance are unlikely to be the primary cause of the observed hoist excursion events via this mechanism, and directions for future investigation are proposed.

Aug 3, 2026

By B. S. Xakalashe, M. Khama, Q. G. Reynolds

Pre-reducing chromite with hydrogen offers significant benefits, including reduced energy consumption in downstream smelting and lower carbon dioxide emissions. To leverage these advantages, it is essential to develop computational models that facilitate the design, optimisation, and control of the process. Full scale models such as 3D computational fluid dynamics models are often used to investigate the multi-scale flow physics in heterogeneous reactors. However, these models impose prohibitive computational expense in the modelling of heterogeneous reacting flow systems. The high computational expense prevents the use of high dimensional systems in real time control and online optimisation of reacting flow systems. In order to facilitate incorporation of predictive models in the heterogenous reacting flow systems control loop, computationally efficient reduced order models are required. Owing to these requirements, a reduced order model for pre-reduction of chromite with hydrogen was developed with the view to rapidly predict the performance indicators for pre-reduction of chromite with hydrogen. The Thiele modulus method was used to develop the reduced order model, and the model results were compared to isothermal pre-reduction experimental results at a range of pre-reduction temperatures from 1200 oC to 1400 oC. The model predicts the degree of reduction, diffusion of gases through the product layer, unreacted core radius of the grain radius, and local and global conversion. The final conversion across all temperatures as predicted by the reduced order model deviate from the experimentally calculated conversion by a maximum relative error of 2.7% while the initial conversions differ significantly, reaching a maximum error of 65%.

Aug 3, 2026

By R. Snodgrass, G. Marsden, K. van der Merwe, R. Hundermark

The Southern African Ni-Cu-PGM smelting industry has evolved significantly from 1937 to date. As demand for platinum group metals has increased, smelting technology development has been closely linked to the need to process more concentrate, but also to changes in the chemistry and mineralogy of concentrates from the various platinum group metals-containing reef types. Early technologies relied on blast furnaces and Great Falls converters, but from the late 1960s, electric furnaces and Peirce Smith converters were commissioned. In the early 1990s, the introduction of water-cooled copper plate coolers into the slag zones of the primary furnaces enabled greater power intensity and throughput, with further intensification from the early 2000s requiring the use of deep-cooled copper coolers. Converting technology was also modernised to include a top submerged lance converter in one instance. Approaches to converter slag cleaning have evolved from recycling slag to the primary furnaces, to milling and flotation or electric furnace slag cleaning as the Cr2O3 content in slags has increased. The shift in the 1990s from Merensky ore derived concentrates to those from UG2 ores impacted the process design for the primary furnaces, with UG2 concentrates having lower matte falls and higher Cr2O3 levels. Conversely, concentrates derived from Platreef and Great Dyke ores, with high matte falls and lower Cr2O3 levels, have introduced other challenges. Furnace designs and operating philosophies have been improved to better handle these ranges of concentrates, the resulting slags and superheated mattes, the containment of which is non-trivial. The smelting of non-roasted concentrates in the primary furnaces gave rise to rapid corrosion of the copper coolers, and triggered development of corrosion mitigation strategies. Advances in SO2 emissions control have transitioned from single contact sulphuric acid plants in the 1970s, to the adoption of double contact acid plants, tailgas, and dual-alkali scrubbing in the early 2000s. Low SO2 strength off-gas streams from primary furnaces are abated in some cases, with technologies such as the Sulphacid process introduced from the early 2000s and the Wet-gas Sulphuric Acid process from the early 2020s. With advances in process intensification, increases in operating temperatures and throughputs, and use of water cooling, consequences of furnace failures have become more severe. Water leaks into the molten material environment, primary furnace containment, and slag granulation have been particularly challenging. Technologies, operating, and maintenance philosophies have been developed for prevention and mitigation of failures, and the adoption of process safety management approaches has yielded systematic benefits. With the outlook in demand for PGMs changing as a function of automotive requirements, smelting technology will continue to evolve for further enhancement of safety and environmental protection, reduced costs, and greater efficiencies.

Aug 3, 2026

By M. Tadie, D. A. Barrett, B. von der Heyden, R. Cromarty

This paper investigated the prereduction of ferruginous manganese tailings from the Nchwaning mine by isothermal reduction between 650 °C and 1050 °C. The treated tailings underwent subsequent magnetic separation to upgrade the Mn/Fe ratio and manganese grade so that the tailings can be used as high-quality ferroalloy feedstock. The tailings contain recoverable manganese but is penalised by elevated and complex iron content. There is a high degree of mineralogical variability found in the untreated tailings. Iron is present both as hematite and in solid solution within manganese minerals such as bixbyite, braunite, and braunite II. A hydrogen atmosphere was used in this paper as it is sufficiently reducing to produce metallic iron that can be separated magnetically. Lime and silica additives were investigated to determine their influence on Fe reduction kinetics and globule formation, which impacts the separability of Fe and Mn. Optical microscopy and SEM analysis of the treated material revealed distinct metallurgical behaviour between iron reduced from hematite – forming larger globules (50 µm to 600 µm) – and iron reduced from Mn-hosted phases, which formed smaller globules (0.1 µm to 2 µm). Relatively milder reducing conditions achieved the highest Mn/Fe ratio of 4.52 and an Mn grade of 57 wt.%. While below the desired target specification (Mn/Fe of at least 7.5 wt.% and Mn grade of at least 44 wt.%), this can still be met by blending the product stream with other low-grade Mn ores that contain minimal Fe. These findings highlight the potential for the upgradation of ferruginous manganese tailings.

Aug 3, 2026

By V. K. Risinggård, M. Sparta, U. Thisted

The Bockman method is regularly used to obtain accurate measurements of the hearth voltage of smelting furnaces. The method uses three measuring leads in order to cancel induction errors using destructive interference when transferring the hearth voltage from the bottom of the furnace to the top of the electrodes. This paper presents an investigation of the Bøckman system's reliability, limitations, and background using finite-element-method simulations. A 3D model of an industrial-scale smelting furnace for Mn-alloy production is developed and used to examine the induction caused by balanced and unbalanced electrical conditions and material distributions.

Aug 3, 2026

By C. Yu, B. Dejun, Y. Weilu, Z. Minglin, K. Htet Oo, Z. Suiyi, L. Xin, Q. Wensheng, K. Hua

Grinding sludge is a gel-like hazardous waste generated in large quantities during metal cutting processes. Conventional calcination and hydrometallurgical treatment of oil-rich grinding sludges emit flue gases and generate insoluble residues. This study proposes CH2Cl2-assisted phase separation under mild conditions to enhance oil removal and metal recovery by overcoming encapsulation effects. Neodymium iron boron grinding sludge, containing 10.4% oil, 8.3% neodymium, 4.5% praseodymium, and 55.8% Fe, was selected as a representative material. Complete dissolution was achieved using a dichloromethane/hydrochloric acid mixed solvent, producing an organic phase enriched with oil, carbon and grease, and an aqueous phase rich in Nd, Pr, and Fe. The aqueous phase was processed to sequentially precipitate a double salt containing 98.58% Nd/Pr and an iron yellow product with 99.97% Fe. This approach provides an effective and economical strategy for the simultaneous recovery of oil and metallic products from grinding sludge, avoiding harsh conditions or costly equipment, offering significant potential for practical on-site industrial applications.

Aug 3, 2026

By C. Gómez, E. Rubio, L. Alfaro, R. Cuba, C. Morante, J. Jarufe

The increasing global demand for metals compels the mining industry to optimise production methods and planning to meet rising needs. However, as mining operations extend deeper, the risks associated with mining-induced seismicity and rockburst hazards become more critical. This paper presents a novel and practical methodology for integrating seismic hazard considerations into mine production planning. By analysing historical seismic and mine production data, the methodology develops actionable guidelines for addressing short-term planning challenges. In contrast to traditional reliance on unwritten miner experience or time-intensive numerical modelling solutions, this approach offers a streamlined and timely framework for decision-making. The proposed framework is applied to a case study of a Peruvian polymetallic mine utilising the sublevel stoping method with backfill. The results demonstrate the methodology's ability to optimise short-term operational decisions, striking a balance between production efficiency and safety standards, and highlighting its potential for broader application in the mining industry.

Aug 3, 2026

By M. A. Dippenaar, J. L. van Rooy, R. Bush, M. Maoyi, A. Lotriet

Effective management of unsaturated fluid flow in open-pit excavations is critical, as mining disturbances like blasting can enhance fracture connectivity, permeability, and water infiltration, thereby compromising slope stability. This study evaluates infrared thermography as a non-invasive tool for detecting seepage zones in a fractured rock highwall at an open-pit quarry in South Africa. Field-scale measurements and photogrammetry data are used to gain a better understanding of unsaturated flow behaviour in fractured rock masses. Passive infrared thermography established baseline thermal anomalies associated with natural groundwater seepage, revealing distinct cooler surface patterns in highly fractured domains that aligned with geotechnical mapping. Active infrared thermography using controlled injection of cold water into the high wall enabled real-time thermal monitoring, confirming preferential channelling along lithological contacts. The findings demonstrate that infrared thermography is a powerful and reliable technique for remotely evaluating areas susceptible to seepage on high walls, highlighting its promise for improving hydrogeological risk assessment in mining operations.

Aug 3, 2026

By F. D. Agrensa, J. Hadjigeorgiou, S. J. Thorpe

The recent introduction in underground mines of mechanical hybrid rockbolts has been driven by efforts to eliminate the use of resin in heavily fractured ground. Mechanical hybrid rockbolts consist of a steel tendon mechanically anchored within a friction unit. Installation of mechanical hybrid rockbolts is percussion-driven by the rock drill and the mechanical anchor is subsequently activated using rotation. The bolt configuration and installation process overcome issues associated with hole closures and the use of resin. Recent work has focused on understanding the behaviour of the rockbolts under quasi-static and dynamic conditions but there is scant information on the anticipated performance in corrosive underground environments. This paper reports the results of a comprehensive accelerated corrosion investigation of the principal components of mechanical hybrid rockbolt, which can aid in establishing the long-term suitability of mechanical hybrid rockbolt in corrosive environments.

Aug 3, 2026

By G. Danha, C. Lebudi, O. P. Oladijo, V. Moyo

Percolation vat leaching offers mid-tier artisanal and small-scale gold mining a practical compromise between heap and agitated tank systems. However, the common practice of sequentially using mercury amalgamation and cyanidation causes severe metallurgical and environmental failures. This review demonstrates that static artisanal and small-scale gold mining vats suffer critical oxygen starvation, triggering cascading geochemical hazards. Residual elemental mercury (Hg0) acts as an aggressive reagent sink, rapidly exhausting localized cyanide to generate highly mobile, toxic mercury-cyanide complexes. Concurrently, oxygen depletion retards sulphide ore oxidation, precipitating elemental sulphur (S0) and polysulfides that passivate the native gold surface. To mitigate these bottlenecks, this paper proposes low-complexity interventions: solid oxygen-release compounds (CaO2), hypochlorite pre-oxidation, and trace lead nitrate to sequester sulphur. Ultimately, formalising the sector requires the absolute decoupling of amalgamation from cyanidation and a transition toward modular, mercury-free vat systems.

Aug 3, 2026

By Y. Yanagimura, J. Hadjigeorgiou

Pillar wrapping refers to a ground support system that uses rope or cable slings. It is commonly used to support the drawpoint pillars in the extraction level of block cave mines. An instrumentation study was conducted at New Afton mine to quantitatively assess the field performance of pillar wrapping used in the B3 extraction level. Instrumented cable slings were installed at two drawpoints to capture the behaviour of the support system through cave initiation and early stages of propagation. Key factors that influence the performance of cable slings during early stages of the caving process were determined through the analysis and interpretation of the field data. A series of practical recommendations have been provided for designing and implementing cable slings.

Aug 3, 2026

By Carrie Smith

As demand for copper continues to climb alongside the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), electrification and advanced manufacturing, the United States faces growing pressure to secure domestic supplies of the metal. Analysts expect global copper demand to increase sharply over the next two decades, as the production of electric vehicles, renewable energy and AI data centers ramps up. At the same time, new copper mines have become increasingly difficult to develop. In central Arizona, one project is taking a different approach. Located in the town of Florence between Phoenix and Tucson, Florence Copper recently became the first major new source of U.S. copper in more than a decade. In early 2026, the project began commercial operations after spending years developing its copper recovery process at a test stage. Rather than relying on an openpit or an underground mine, the operation uses in situ copper recovery (ISCR), a process that extracts copper from underground without blasting, hauling or constructing tailings facilities. The project is the world’s first greenfield commercial ISCR copper project and produces London Metal Exchange (LME) Grade A copper cathode on site, which allows the finished product to move directly to U.S. manufacturers without off-site smelting. Not only is Florence Copper a new copper operation that will help strengthen domestic mineral supply chains, but it is also a testament to whether certain copper deposits can be developed using a lower-impact approach. Traditional copper mining typically involves removing large volumes of rock from an openpit or underground workings before processing and transporting concentrate to a smelter. However, Florence Copper’s in situ process eliminates many of those steps. “Rather than extracting and processing massive quantities of mineralized rock, the ISCR process at Florence Copper leaches copper minerals into solution below ground before pumping a copper-rich solution to surface and processing it into pure copper cathode sheets on site,” said Sophie Dessart, manager of communications and public affairs at Florence Copper. The process takes place between 122 and 365 m (400 and 1,200 ft) below the surface within a naturally fractured copper oxide deposit saturated with groundwater. Operators inject a mildly acidic solution, comparable in acidity to household vinegar, through a series of wells. As the solution moves through the orebody, it dissolves copper minerals before recovery wells pump the copper-rich solution back to the surface. At the surface, the solution enters a solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) plant, where it is refined into LME Grade A copper cathodes. Once the copper has been removed, the remaining solution is recycled back into the wellfield, creating a closed-loop process that repeats throughout the life of the operation. Although Florence Copper only began commercial production this year, development of the deposit stretches back more than five decades. Copper was first identified on the property in 1969 after geologists recognized evidence of mineralization near Poston Butte. Its initial investigations focused on conventional mining methods before companies began evaluating the site’s potential for in situ recovery during the 1990s. In 2014, Trekor Metals (formerly Taseko Mines) acquired the project, and in 2017, construction of a production test facility began. Two years later, the pilot operation produced its first copper cathode using ISCR. Over the next several years, the facility safely produced more than one million pounds of copper while generating operational data that helped engineers refine commercial design. “The production test facility played a critical role by allowing Florence Copper to demonstrate the safety, effectiveness, compliance with permit conditions and overall environmental responsibility of the ISCR process while also generating valuable operational data to optimize performance at commercial scale,” said Dessart. The company completed construction of its production facility in fall 2025 and produced its first copper cathode in February 2026. Dessart said the project reached its construction and commissioning phase on schedule and within roughly 4 percent of budget. Florence Copper now expects to reach full production in 2027, with the capacity to produce 85 million pounds of copper annually. Over its projected 22-year mine life, the operation is expected to produce more than 1.5 billion pounds of copper cathode. At full production, the project is expected to increase U.S. copper cathode output by 5 percent compared with 2025 levels and make the country’s third-largest copper cathode producer. The timing of Florence Copper’s commercial launch coincides with a period of growing concern about future copper supply. According to S&P Global’s 2026 report, “Copper in the Age of AI: The Challenges of Electrification,” global copper demand could increase roughly 50 percent by 2040, reaching 42 Mt/a (46 stpy). The report projects that AI infrastructure alone will require significant volumes of copper, with a single hyperscale data center consuming as much as 50 kt (55,000 st). Without substantial new investment, the report warns the world could face a copper supply deficit approaching 10 Mt (11 million st) by 2040. But with the addition of Florence’s production, the U.S. could add a significant amount of the critical mineral to its domestic supply. “Florence Copper is emerging as a critical new source of U.S.-produced refined copper at a time when global demand is accelerating significantly,” said Dessart. “We are proud to serve as a new domestic source of U.S. copper, helping strengthen supply chains, support economic growth and ensure that the materials essential to electrification, innovation and national security are produced here at home.”

Aug 1, 2026

By Christian Connolly

The surface office’s shift change board shows 47 workers heading underground in the next hour. Before any of them descend, a safety manager works through a familiar routine with a clipboard in hand, moving down a printed roster, checking off names, and scanning a wall of safety helmets for current inspection stickers. At the same time, a crew foreman works through a binder searching for a certification card that should have been updated a month ago, while a desk spreadsheet behind them tracks personal protective equipment (PPE) assignments by serial number, last touched by hand. The new-hire onboarding process adds another layer of work. A fresh sticker is peeled and pressed onto the back of a helmet, with the number written on a paper log that will later be entered into the spreadsheet. It takes time, not because anyone is doing it wrong or slowly, but because this is simply how it has always been done. This daily routine represents where PPE management in mining still begins for some operations across North America. The administrative burden it places on safety teams compounds across every shift, crew rotation and piece of equipment that moves through the operation. For mines running multiple shifts across several active headings, with contractors rotating in and out alongside permanent crews, maintaining accurate records through manual systems alone is not just inefficient. It is a compliance liability waiting to surface.

Aug 1, 2026

By Jim McKinley

With a growing number of mines reaching closure and seeing closure costs materialize, regulators, lenders and banks are observing projects that fail economically by miscalculating these costs. Mine closure costs are often categorized as a type of liability, which is defined as the money owed by the company to offset effects from the project and the money available to pay for those debts, such as bonds. Often, decisions made before the first day of mining — such as co-disposal, dry stack tailings, waste segregation — can significantly change the bond calculation. Once the bond is calculated and funded, operators are encouraged to conduct closure research and use applied science for progressive bond release prior to final closure. However, the author has observed few instances of financially significant progressive bond release, as there are typically no robust procedures for bond return, either before or during closure activities. As a result, many companies decide that entering a state of care and maintenance (C&M) is less risky than attempting to fund closure activities with an unknown bond return mechanism. Although perhaps less risky in the short term, the primary long-term risk with entering C&M is that it increases the chances of the bond not covering the cost of closure and the chances of the government/regulatory agency inheriting the mine closure. Bonds are typically reevaluated on a regular cycle, such as five years, so every mining company goes through this financing challenge eventually.

Aug 1, 2026