Frik Els , Editor

African Minerals Ltd., closed up 7.1% in London on Monday after completing an investment accord with Shandong Iron & Steel Group Co bringing the counter's gains for the year to 57% and giving it a market capitalization of some $3.6 billion. Shandong will invest $1.5 billion for a 25% stake in African Minerals' massive the Tonkolili iron-ore project in Sierra Leone. Phase I of the project will cost $1.2bn and includes railway and port reconstruction in the war torn country while phase II and III will add another $8 billion to the bill. Sierra Leone, one of the world's poorest nations, is attracting increasing investments in its natural resources which also include diamonds and bauxite.

The Korea Herald reports a Korean consortium forged an agreement with Bolivia’s state-run miner Comibol over the weekend to manufacture lithium-ion battery parts, boosting Korea’s bid to tap the largest lithium deposits in the world. A research project involving extracting lithium will begin next month at Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni – an 11,000 square kilometers salt flat (pictured) – with plans for constructing lithium-carbonate processing facilities. The soft, silver-white metal is widely used in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops and electric cars and the price has been steadily increasing prompting talk of a Opec-style cartel to control production and prices among South American nations that together control 85% of the world's resources.

Gold futures lost over $16 early on Monday after US lawmakers and the Obama administration reached an 11th-hour agreement on raising the federal debt ceiling, but quickly pared the losses after data showed manufacturing activity at its lowest level in two years in the US and shrinking factory output in China. December gold initially retreated from the record settlement of $1,631.20 an ounce on Friday, trading as low as $1,608.20 before jumping back to within striking distance of record levels at the same time New York stock markets suffered a 200-point reversal, turning triple digit gains into a sharp sell-off spooked by the economic data.

In late morning trade shares in Miraflores-based Portage Resources had gained more than 12% after announcing a 10:1 future stock split that would, after cancellation of some of the shares held by its CEO, bring the total number in issue to a whopping 4.45 billion. When MINING.com reported on Portage Resources a fortnight ago the counter had gone from 2c to 65c a share in the matter of three months. The explorer has been snapping up properties in Peru hitting pay-dirt with reserves of 58 million ounces of silver at one of them. Portage is a prime example of how volatile stocks in juniors miner can be: its 52-week high is $1.24 and despite Monday's 12% jump to 32c, the stock is worth half of what it was just five trading days ago.

Toronto-listed Scorpio Mining Corp reported a quarterly profit helped by production ramp-up at its Nuestra Señora mine in Mexico, but missed market estimates compiled by Reuters, sending its shares to close just under 4% down. Vancouver-based Scorpio reported a net income of C$3.3 million and strong cash flow from operating activities in Q2 2011 of $11,9 million as recovered silver equivalent ounces reached 1,548,174, an increase of 79% from 2010 and contained metals produced in concentrates jumped 92% to of 734,558 ounces.

The Zimbabwe Independent quotes finance minister Tendai Biti (pictured) on Friday as saying the reality of Zimbabwe's situation is that there is no connection between Zimbabwe’s income from diamonds, its output and international prices adding the country's resources are in danger of turning into curse rather than a blessing. Zimbabwe exported 716 958,50 carats from its alluvial diamond mines but only $103,9 million of diamond export shipments was accounted for in the first half of the year. The military seized control of the rich diamond fields in Chiadzwa in 2006 and most observers believe an international ban on these gems are being widely flouted.

Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe Finance Ministers said on Friday the re-opening of the Shabani Mine is a critical imperative for the economy calling it is a tragedy that nearby town of Zvishavane is increasingly becoming a ghost town, with upstream and downstream industries which depend on asbestos mining having collapsed. Biti was presenting his mid-term fiscal review where he predicted the country's mining sector as a whole growing by 34%, buoyed by firming international mineral prices, improved power supply arrangements and output growth.

Lundin Mining Corporation reported on Friday net income of $57.7 million for the second quarter of 2011, up 36% from the same quarter last year. The numbers were below management expectations after lower than expected metal production and higher unit costs at its flagship Neves-Corvo copper mine in Portugal north of the city of Faro (pictured). Lundin said the Tenke Fungurume mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, its first venture beyond Europe, should start contributing to cash flows in the third quarter.

Madagascar has given French oil major Total a one-year extension of an exploration licence for the Bemolanga block shared with Madagascar Oil and expanded it to include conventional oil, a senior official told Reuters on Thursday. Madagascar Oil and Total announced earlier this month that it is scuttling plans to develop a 1.2bn barrel oil sand deposit on the island after three years of extensive work. The Bemolanga bitumen deposit was first drilled in the late 1800s and would have cost upwards of $8bn to bring into operation.

Wales Online reports mining at the historic Tower Colliery in Wales could begin again as soon as Christmas after a £30m scheme to regenerate the site was given the green light by councillors of the nearby town of Rhondda Cynon Taf earlier in the week. Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously worked pit coal mine in the United Kingdom at the time of its closure by British Coal in 1994 with a history dating back to at least 1805. It was bought out by the laid off miners and re-opened the next year before finally shutting down in 2008.