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.

Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Cop. said it has completed the acquisition of a 45.54 percent stake in Carmen Copper Corp. owned by a Singapore-based investment fund. Atlas recently raised $390 million in debt and equity to finance the deal. Carmen Copper is acknowledged as Southeast Asia’s largest copper mine during its peak, serving as a major backbone of Cebu in the Philippines' economy for over 50 years before a devastating typhoon and metal price slump led to the mine’s closure in 1994.

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.

Global giant Caterpillar Inc. announced on Monday plans to significantly expand its remanufacturing facility in West Fargo, North Dakota. The increased capacity will help meet the strong demand for remanufactured drive train components for large off-highway trucks and other mining equipment, including final drives, transmissions, torque convertors and steering clutches. The $50 million investment will include a 225,000-square-foot addition that will house increased production capacity for high-tech machining and metal additive processes, as well as a state-of-the-art metallurgical lab. 85-year old Caterpillar boasts annual sales in excess of $40 billion.

SF Diamond Co., a Chinese maker of drill bits and cutting tools, gained the most since its trading debut in Shenzhen more than five months ago after saying first- half profit rose 7 percent from a year earlier. SF Diamond’s first-half earnings report implies a 53 percent increase in second-quarter net income from a year earlier, compared with a 57 percent decline for profit in the first-three months of the year. The company, based in the city of Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province, said first- quarter profits fell partly due to one-time expenses associated with its listing.

Workers in South Africa's coal sector are expected to return to their posts on Tuesday after the unions and the SA Chamber of Mines signed a two-year wage agreement, ending an eight-day strike. 150,000 workers at miners Anglo American Thermal Coal, Delmas Coal, Exxaro Coal Mpumalanga, Kangra Coal, Optimum Coal and Xstrata Coal were on strike over wages. Talks with striking workers in the country's gold sector, where 200,000 workers are on strike continued on Monday. Mineworkers are asking for a 14% wage increase – far above the inflation rate in Africa's largest economy which hovers around the 4% level.

MTU Detroit Diesel Australia will showcase engines from 30 kW to 3,000 kW for mining applications on Stand 611 during AIMEX, September 6-9. […]

Two separate accidents at mines in Ukraine have claimed the lives of 37 miners, Reuters reported Sunday: Rescue work ended on Sunday at two Ukrainian coal mines where accidents killed 37, and the former Soviet republic held a national day of mourning. An explosion in a mine in the Luhansk region early on Friday killed at least 26 people and injured two, according to an updated report on the Emergencies Ministry website. Also early on Friday, 11 miners died and four were injured at a state-owned mine in the neighbouring Donetsk region when a piece of heavy machinery collapsed.

Sunday's resignation of a state-level Indian politician brought down by a fraud scandal related to iron ore exports is likely to shake the confidence of foreign investors in Canada, says a top Indo-Canadian banker. Hari Panday, founder of the ICICI Bank in Canada, urged the Indian government to explain its mining policies to Canada — the "mining guru of world" — as well as to important mining jurisdictions Australia and South Africa.