Latest News

Credit: BETO SANTILLAN / Shutterstock.com

CiDi has reported more than 1,900 cumulative shipments of autonomous mining trucks, as the Hong Kong-listed technology company expands deployments across nearly 40 mines worldwide.

The figure represents a 213% year-on-year increase, according to CiDi’s interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026. Seven mines now operate fleets exceeding 100 autonomous trucks, with the largest deployment surpassing 220 vehicles.

CiDi said its MetaMine platform supports unmanned haulage across overburden stripping, coal loading and hauling, waste transport, energy replenishment and crusher feeding.

In February, the company secured an order for 500 autonomous mining trucks from Guangna Group, which it described as the sector’s largest single formal procurement order.

CiDi’s autonomous driving segment generated RMB784m (£86m) in first-half revenue, up 107% year on year and accounting for 97.6% of total revenue. Overall revenue rose 97% to RMB804m, while adjusted net loss narrowed 82% to RMB19.68m.

The US government has announced more than $2bn in funding for domestic mining and critical minerals projects, alongside over $180m for mining-related workforce development.

The Department of War outlined the investments during an industry roundtable hosted by President Donald Trump.

Funding includes more than $85m for Standard Bauxite to support refractory-grade bauxite supply and $150m for Minnesota-based Niron Magnetics to develop rare earth-free permanent magnets for defence applications.

California-based Sila Nanotechnologies will receive $1.4bn to expand silicon-carbon battery anode and lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing, while Sunrise Energy Metals will receive $400m to establish a scandium value chain.

The Export-Import Bank of the US has allocated $8m to 5E Advanced Materials for boron production, $25m to Westwater Resources for graphite extraction and $25m to Global Advanced Materials for tantalum and niobium development.

MaxMine has launched MAXI, an AI assistant designed to improve access to fleet management data for mining site supervisors.

MAXI includes hands-free speech-to-text capabilities, allowing supervisors to query operational data while working on site. The assistant uses analytics from MaxMine’s Pulse and Impact systems to identify issues including operational gaps and equipment malfunctions.

Supervisors can ask about activities, such as water truck visits to refill stations or excavator performance, and receive information without accessing a fleet management system directly.

MAXI also enables real-time shift documentation and automatically generates end-of-shift reports. MaxMine said future updates will allow the assistant to issue real-time alerts and suggest responses to operational issues.

CEO Shaun Mitchell said MAXI uses AI to identify and address issues before they escalate, while improving accountability among frontline teams.

FAST Metals has raised $4.3m in pre-seed funding to develop technology for recovering base and critical minerals from red mud and other iron-rich waste.

The company also announced a commercial partnership with Metalox Mineral to process one tonne of red mud and other iron-bearing waste per week at its Florida site.

FAST Metals’ technology separates metals including aluminium, scandium, titanium and rare earth elements from red mud, a byproduct of alumina production. It has also signed memorandums of understanding with additional trading partners.

The funding round was led by New Climate Ventures, with participation from Azolla Ventures, Humba Ventures, Astor Swiss and Rio Tinto through its mining technology accelerator with Founders Factory.

FAST Metals said the funding will support technical development and commercial operations, including optimisation of its recovery processes and expansion of customer engagement.

USA Rare Earth has agreed to acquire a 13.6% stake in French rare earths processor Carester, alongside InfraVia’s Critical Metals Fund, which will acquire a similar holding.

The investment will give USA Rare Earth and its subsidiary, Less Common Metals Europe, access to output from Carester’s Caremag facility in Lacq, France, alongside its rare earth separation, processing and recycling expertise.

Carester will gain access to feedstock from USA Rare Earth, including material from the Serra Verde project in Brazil and Round Top deposit in Texas.

Caremag is scheduled to begin operations in late 2026, with planned capacity of 800tpa of neodymium-praseodymium oxide, 500tpa of dysprosium oxide and 100tpa of terbium oxide at full ramp-up. Its dysprosium and terbium output could represent around 15% of current global production.

USA Rare Earth said the investment will support Carester’s processing operations, R&D and working capital. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2026, subject to customary conditions.