Cementation Africa says demand for specialist underground contractors is rising as African mines go deeper after more complex orebodies. The contractor, which has completed 25 shafts since 2001, sunk more than 10,000 metres of vertical shaft infrastructure and recorded 8.5 million fatality free shifts, told International Mining that clients now weight engineering depth as heavily as construction capacity, a sign of how much of Africa’s copper and PGM pipeline sits underground.
US imports of Congolese copper reached a record 53,290 tonnes in July, reported in this edition’s Project Vault story, as tariff concerns pulled shipments forward. The flow matters beyond the stockpile: Congo is becoming a swing supplier to the US market at the same time Washington finances alternatives to Chinese processing.
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 76 kilometres northeast of Ozernovskiy on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula on October 16, the US Geological Survey reported. No damage to mining operations in the region had been reported when this edition closed, and the item is carried as a watch point for Russian Far East gold and base metal operations rather than a confirmed disruption.
The US Geological Survey has published 2025 dust monitoring data from the Kaibab National Forest and Grand Canyon National Park near the Pinyon Plain uranium mine in Arizona. The dataset is the kind of baseline evidence that features in permitting and litigation disputes around the mine, which sits near the Grand Canyon and has been contested by environmental groups and the Havasupai Tribe.