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South Korea has weighed in with almost $700 million in free-hit funding to help lithium producer Pilbara Minerals move into battery chemical manufacturing amid debate about whether the Albanese government is doing enough to promote onshore processing of Australian minerals (reports The Australian Financial Review).

Plutonic deal sees De Crespigny-led gold miner emerge with 7Moz and 3Mtpa plant in WA gold belt; Plus, sell-off in lithium stocks doesn’t make sense.

Iron ore prices have reached highs not seen in more than nine months, topping $US130 a tonne in intraday trade in Singapore (reports The West Australian).

Rio Tinto is the latest miner to reveal a hit to its bottom line from higher inflation and weaker commodity prices, but chief executive Jakob Stausholm remains bullish on emerging demand from the energy transition (reports The West Australian).

Recent field exploration at Inca Minerals’ (ASX: ICG) MaCauley Creek project in north-east Queensland has generated “outstanding” bonanza grades of copper, silver, and lead, plus zinc, lithium, tantalum, tungsten and tin (reports Small Caps).

The call of Canada is being heard clearly by Australian lithium hopefuls, with some of the best-known names from the Aussie mining boom heading north to ride a wave driven by the US Government’s trade protection policies (reports Tim Treadgold on Small Caps).

Bellevue Gold has reshuffled its management team ahead of first gold production later this year (reports MiningNews).

Inflation, rising interest rates and the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine combined to drag markets lower this week even as China’s reopening promised to boost demand for Australia’s major commodity exports.

And another big position said to be held through derivatives. Plus, SQM betting on Azure’s lithium potential.

Takeover action brought some relief for investors this week as central banks ploughed through political objections to push on with their attack on inflation, promising to continue ratcheting up interest rates until consumers stop spending.