MINING.COM MINUTE: Biggest stories of the week

French firm has secured an eight-year contract to provide power cable and support services for the Mosaic K3 potash mine in Canada.

The CLEER (Clean, Low-energy, Effective, Engaged and Remediated) project focuses on water use, energy intensity and environmental footprint, with aggressive targets of a 50% reduction in each area by 2027.

Company will combine its salt and potash businesses to make savings and target customers more effectively.

It would have opened up for mining a vast national reserve in the country’s Amazon, larger than the size of Switzerland.

Rumours point at US chemical company Albenarle Corporation as the first potential buyer for PotashCorp interest in SQM, worth about $4.5 billion.

Ken Mackenzie vowed "to bring a fresh perspective to management’s ongoing process of reviewing the portfolio" and "the way we allocate cash".

Investors to vote on the two resolutions submitted ethical investing group ACCR at BHP’s annual general meeting in London in October.

Move would seek to secure approval for its friendly merger with smaller rival Agrium, creating the world’s largest potash miner worth about $36 billion.

Federal judge Rolando Spanholo said opening the area known as Renca to mining can only be done by an act of Congress under the constitution.