MINING.COM MINUTE: Biggest stories of the week

The European country holds between 1.2 to 1.4 million tonnes of lithium, located mostly around the tiny village of Cinovec, on the border with Germany.

The miner said decision was unrelated to Elliott Management's call earlier this month to unlock shareholder value by spinning off about $22 billion of BHP's US oil assets.

BMI Research expects prices to continue sliding for at least the next five years on rising supplies from Australia and Brazil and expectations for a surplus.

The giant equipment maker's quarterly profit surged past estimates helped by a recovery in most of its end markets.

Both iron ore and diamond output rose in the first quarter thanks to a continued ramping-up of the company's Minas Rio mine in Brazil and improvements in the gem market.

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) has announced it will invest over two hundred million dollars into the Bowen Basin, creating hundreds of jobs, which shows the ongoing strength of Queensland’s coal industry.

–9% on Friday.

They're pressing the company not only to accept a proposal by activist investor Elliott Management to spin off its US petroleum business, but to fully demerge all of its oil and gas assets.

Production for the first three months of the year slumped 37% compared with the same period of 2016.