In 2019 the Spanish hub was riding high: almost 62 million passengers, eighty airlines, and roughly twelve hundred daily flights. That activity generated ten percent of the Madrid region’s gross domestic product and sustained forty-thousand direct jobs, turning the airport into one of the city’s most important economic engines. Then the pandemic landed. Global aviation slammed on the brakes and passenger traffic at Barajas collapsed by nearly seventy percent in the first nine months of 2020.

Deep within Guinea’s forested southeast, in a remote corner largely untouched by industrial ambitions, a mountain of promise is rising. Simandou, a storied iron ore deposit long described as the world's largest untapped resource, is swiftly becoming reality. After decades of anticipation, complicated negotiations, and immense logistical hurdles, a consortium of international giants and local heroes is transforming dreams into infrastructure, ore into opportunity, and potential into prosperity.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept for the mining sector – it has arrived at the forefront of mining technology. From automated haul trucks in Australia’s iron ore mines to AI-driven ore discovery in South America, AI in mining is driving a global digital transformation in mining operations and corporate strategy. Executive leaders of the world’s top mining companies – BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale, Anglo American, Glencore, and others – are championing AI initiatives to boost productivity, safety, and sustainability.