Birimian eyes 2020 production at $199m Mali lithium mine

Rio Tinto announced on Tuesday that it paid Can$73 million for 49% of Ivanhoe Mines. Rio Tinto acquired an additional 3,700,000 common shares in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Rio Tinto International Holdings Limited, increasing Rio Tinto's ownership in Ivanhoe Mines by 0.5 per cent to a total of 361,858,442 common shares or 49 per cent through a privately negotiated share purchase agreement.

North Atlantic Potash Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of JSC Acron, and Rio Tinto today signed a joint venture agreement on potash exploration opportunities and possible mine construction. The agreement relates to North Atlantic Potash''s potash permit holdings located in the southern part of Saskatchewan''s potash district. The joint venture will cover nine permitted areas that cover an area of about 600,000 acres (about 241,000 hectares) that extends from the eastern shore of Last Mountain Lake southeast toBroadview (see map on website: permits KP 375 in the west to KP 403 in the east).

The Blue Mountains Gazette reports the Australian Coal Association says $1.3 billion in proposed government compensation would delay by only one year the premature closure of four of the 21 mines that an industry survey found were under threat from the government's carbon tax. On top of the carbon tax set to kick in mid-2012, Australian miners also have to contend with the new minerals resource rent tax set at an effective 22.5% rate on the so-called super-profits of the extractive industries.

Workers in Australia and Norway are getting pay raises, and they are getting paid for staying on the job, not greater productivity.

Ivanhoe Mines said in a statement today that the investment agreement for the Oyu Tolgoi Project remains a fair and legally binding contract that deserves and requires the unqualified support of all parties. Media reports during the weekend quoted Mongolia's Mineral Resources and Energy Minister D. Zorigt as indicating that Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto would receive a letter from the Mongolian government asking the companies to consider entering into discussions to address a possible change to the investment agreement. A reported potential proposed change would see acceleration of the government's right to increase its current 34% interest in Oyu Tolgoi to 50% by purchasing an additional 16% at fair market value at some future point, after Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto recoup their capital investments in the project.

Job growth in mining and mining-related work in Australia is expected to increase by over 100% by 2031, outpacing other sectors of the economy, The Courier-Mail is reporting. The website says the total mining workforce is tipped to more than double in the next 20 years, from an estimated 693,000 who are now directly and indirectly employed to 1.45 million staff Australia-wide:

Iron ore's 20-year price run is likely to come to an end in the next three years, according to new data from Bloomberg, with a surge in supply set to knock $50 off the price of the crucial steelmaking ingredient by 2015: Global prices may fall 29 percent to an average $123 a metric ton in 2015 from a record $173 this year, according to the median estimates of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The decline contrasts with estimates for little change in copper and a 10 percent increase for aluminum in the same period, London Metal Exchange futures prices show.

GVK group, of which GVK Power & Infra is a part, is in talks with Indonesia's PT Kideco Jaya Agung for divesting part of its stake in the coal mines that it bought last week from Australia's Hancock Group for $1.26 billion, business daily Mint said citing two sources. On September 17, GVK agreed to pay $1.26 billion for a majority stake in three Australian coal mines and a port and rail project owned by Hancock Group to secure long-term coal supplies for the Indian group's power projects.

Three years before it has yet to really produce coal, the northern Galilee Basin is already fully booked to Indian and Chinese coal mining companies. The Australian Newspaper said India's Adani Group already owns some 7.8 billion tones into the Queensland coal field, and is poised to pay an additional US$1.3 billion for a 7.9 billion-tonne coal tenement. While Australian billionaire Clive Palmer owns some 3.7 billion tones into the field, which reports say he is developing with Chinese business partners. The northern Galilee basin has a total of 20 billion tonnes production capacity.