TriOptimum introduces the ML-7 ore-cutting laser

PERTH, Australia, 12 March 2026

TriOptimum Resources & Materials today introduced the ML-7, a 120-kilowatt laser that cuts hard rock by heating it until it spalls, removing ore without explosives and without the vibration of a mechanical cutter.

In eighteen months of trials at the company’s test mine in Kalgoorlie, the ML-7 used 67 percent less energy per tonne than a 2018 roadheader in comparable granite, about a third as much, and cut at up to 44 tonnes an hour, with no one at the face.

Each ML-7 is commissioned with a cutting envelope set in software for its site, outside which it cannot aim. Where the laser operates as a licensed autonomous system, the envelope forms part of the operator’s license.

The ML-7 builds on more than twenty years of experience with laser cutting, including the mining laser at Citadel Station, licensed in 2004. First deliveries, to mines in Western Australia and Chile, are scheduled for the fourth quarter.

No blasting, a third of the energy, and nobody at the face. The ML-7 is the biggest change in how we cut rock since we started doing it in 1962.

About TriOptimum

TriOptimum Corporation (NYSE: TRIO) is a diversified technology company with six business segments: Security Products, Medical Systems, Network Services, Orbital & Research Systems, Resources & Materials and Agrisystems. Founded in Halsworth, England, in 1951, TriOptimum employs 118,400 people in 47 countries and reported revenue of $41.27 billion in 2025.

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