The Copper and Gold MinersNarrow moat

Caterpillar (CAT) — moat facet

Caterpillar's miners are buying on copper and gold, and it is tying them in with autonomous trucks and mine-planning software.

Resource Industries' customers are mines and quarries, and their spending follows commodity prices. In the second quarter of 2026 the segment's sales to mining, heavy construction and quarry customers were $3,685 million, up 22%1. The call summary attributed the growth to rising demand for copper and gold, with most key commodities remaining above investment thresholds2.

Cat autonomous haul trucks in operation690End 2024827End 20252,0702030 target, 3x 2024Caterpillar Q4 2025 call; target calculated as three times the 2024 figure
A fifth more in a year; the target is three times.

Miners buy the largest machines Caterpillar makes: off-highway and large mining trucks, electric rope shovels, draglines, hydraulic shovels, rotary drills and hard rock vehicles3. They also buy autonomy. Caterpillar ended 2025 with 827 autonomous haul trucks in operation, up from 690 a year earlier, and aims to triple the 2024 number by 20304.

Autonomy and software are how Caterpillar is deepening the relationship. It bought RPMGlobal, a mining software company, for approximately $733 million net of acquired cash in February 20265, and Skycatch, a spatial data company, in July6.

The mining customer is loyal once a fleet is chosen, because fleets are maintained and automated as a system, and volatile in how much it buys each year.

Named mining customers are starting to appear in Caterpillar's disclosures. Caterpillar and its Brazilian dealer Sotreq announced an agreement to provide Vale an autonomy solution for a mixed fleet of more than 90 trucks7. It is one of the few named customer relationships in Caterpillar's disclosures.

Dealer sales to users in Resource Industries rose 17% in the second quarter of 20268. That figure is the gauge: a turn negative while metal prices are still above investment thresholds would say the miners have finished expanding.

Moat trajectory: Widening

Mining sales +22% in Q2 2026; 827 autonomous trucks.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Autonomous haul trucks in operation
827 at end of 2025, from 690 at end of 2024

How deeply miners are tied in; slower growth than the tripling target would mean autonomy is not deepening the relationship.

Source: Caterpillar Q4 2025 call transcript ↗
References
  1. ReportedIn the second quarter of 2026 the segment's sales to mining, heavy construction and quarry customers were $3,685 million, up 22%.
    Caterpillar second-quarter 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - segment results and Cat Financial credit. — Q2 2026 · publ. 4 August 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedThe call summary attributed the growth to rising demand for copper and gold, with most key commodities remaining above investment thresholds.
    The Motley Fool, Caterpillar Q2 2026 earnings call transcript and summary - lead times, backlog delivery, rental demand, Wamego, the 10-megawatt engine restart and Skycatch. — Q2 2026 · publ. 11 August 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedMiners buy the largest machines Caterpillar makes: off-highway and large mining trucks, electric rope shovels, draglines, hydraulic shovels, rotary drills and hard rock vehicles.
    Caterpillar Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1 business: history, products, Cat Financial, employees and order backlog. — FY2025 · publ. 13 February 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedCaterpillar ended 2025 with 827 autonomous haul trucks in operation, up from 690 a year earlier, and aims to triple the 2024 number by 2030.
    Caterpillar fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call transcript (company PDF) - services revenues, tariff headwinds, power generation, autonomous trucks and the AIP order. — Q4 2025 · publ. 29 January 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedIt bought RPMGlobal, a mining software company, for approximately $733 million net of acquired cash in February 2026, and Skycatch, a spatial data company, in July.
    Caterpillar Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026 - backlog, outlook, tariffs, dealer inventory, balance sheet and the RPMGlobal acquisition - financial statements and notes: balance sheet, cash flow and the RPMGlobal acquisition. — Q2 2026 · publ. 5 August 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedIt bought RPMGlobal, a mining software company, for approximately $733 million net of acquired cash in February 2026, and Skycatch, a spatial data company, in July.
    The Motley Fool, Caterpillar Q2 2026 earnings call transcript and summary - lead times, backlog delivery, rental demand, Wamego, the 10-megawatt engine restart and Skycatch. — Q2 2026 · publ. 11 August 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedCaterpillar and its Brazilian dealer Sotreq announced an agreement to provide Vale an autonomy solution for a mixed fleet of more than 90 trucks.
    Caterpillar fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call transcript (company PDF) - services revenues, tariff headwinds, power generation, autonomous trucks and the AIP order. — Q4 2025 · publ. 29 January 2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedDealer sales to users in Resource Industries rose 17% in the second quarter of 2026.
    Caterpillar second-quarter 2026 retail sales statistics (sales to users), Form 8-K exhibit 99.2. — Q2 2026 · publ. 4 August 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 25, 2026