Lithium boom unlikely to disrupt potash market — analyst

Canada led the world in the number of mining mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the first half of the year, says Ernst & Young. And while the number of deals fell in comparison to the highly acquisitive first half of 2010, the value of the transactions that took place this year more than doubled compared to the same period last year. The country was the leading buyer in H1 with 196 deals, and also the leading target destination with 129 deals. Australia came second as a buyer and target destination, with 83 and 72 deals respectively.

Beating already rosy expectations new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show mining companies intend to invest $82.1 billion this financial year on new and expansion projects, representing 55% of total capital expenditure in the country's economy. The spending spree by the resources sector – mostly in Western Australia and Queensland – represents a whopping 70% increase over last year. Mining firms spent 14.4% more last quarter, led by a 22% jump in plant and machinery purchases, and projections show further increases in the future. The positive capex news, accompanied by robust retail spending numbers saw the Australian dollar rise above 107 US cents.

Crossland Uranium Mines (ASX:CUX) plans to issue a report next month on an illuvial heavy mineral rare earth element resource at its 50% owned Charley Creek project in Northern Territory. A 16.7 tonne quantity of alluvial material has been obtained from the Cockroach prospect for testwork to investigate a heavy mineral process flowsheet and to generate samples of heavy mineral product for initial marketing and additional process development tests. Crossland says that the Charley Creek alluvials should be low cost sources of heavy mineral concentrates with high concentrations of REE and/or zircon.

A cashed-up BHP Billiton will spend $US367 million ($A344.31 million) expanding its coal handling operations in Newcastle. The world's biggest miner, which recently delivered an Australian record full-year profit of $22.46 billion, announced on Wednesday the third stage of development of the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Groups (NCIG) facility.

Valued at twenty times the price of a white diamond, pink diamonds are also extremely rare with only around 50 or so put out to tender each year. Pink diamonds comprise 0.03 per cent of global diamond production and 90% come from the remote Argyle mine in Australia, owned by Rio Tinto. For every million carats of rough diamonds produced at Argyle, less than one carat will be suitable for the tender which this year will include the three-heart shaped Argyle Semper Suite (pictured).

SYDNEY, Aug. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Vice President of Litigation BHP Billiton, Mr Damian Lovellhas today welcomed the introduction of the new ACICA Arbitration Rules designed to speed up the resolution of cross border and international commercial disputes. Mr Lovell, who is responsible for the dispute resolution strategy for the world's largest diversified mining company, said it is standard practice for BHP Billiton to include arbitration clauses in its cross border contracts:

Strike action involving 4000 BHP employees has nothing to do with money, a union boss says. Workers employed at seven BHP mines in Queensland will walk off the job this week after enterprise bargaining negotiations stalled.

As one of Australia’s largest independent coal producers, Westfarmers Curragh has made further investments into site safety, training and operational efficiency in the way it inducts, trains and up-skills new and existing operators for its Curragh North expansion.

Australia's Macarthur Coal has backed a slightly sweetened A$4.9 billion ($5.2 billion) takeover offer from Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal . Peabody and ArcelorMittal raised their offer by 3 percent to A$16 a share and will also add Macarthur's A$0.16 a share dividend, for a total offer value of A$16.16. Macarthur bowed to the higher offer after fending off four takeover attempts over the past three years.