USA and Canada

Kinross Gold Corporation, Canada’s third largest gold producer, has agreed to buy the remaining 91 percent of shares of Red Back Mining Inc. that it does not already own, to expand into Africa.

Red Back, based in Vancouver, operates the Tasiast mine in Mauritania and the Chirano mine in Ghana, and has exploration projects in both countries. Kinross has mines and projects in Canada, the United States, Brazil, China and Russia.

Caterpillar has chosen Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the site of its new powertrain components manufacturing and assembly facility to provide extra capacity for its expanding business in global mining operations. Sites in South Carolina and Alabama had also been under consideration for the plant.

Motorola has reported strong second quarter results thanks to consumer demand for its Droid phones, which run on Google’s Android operating system.

The company announced net income of $162 million, up from $26 million in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter was $5.41 billion, slightly down on Q2 2009, but still ahead of analysts’ predictions of $5.2 billion.

In sports stadium construction, meeting deadlines is critical. Luc Pelland, president of Structal-Heavy Steel Construction, explains to Gay Sutton how the company has built an enviable reputation by finding solutions for construction issues and consistently delivering quality products and services on time.

Three years ago the North American modular building industry witnessed the creation of its biggest organization when Modular Space Corporation came to life. Andrew Pelis talks with ModSpace senior vice president Kevin Bremer about the secrets behind the company’s success.

Le Bleu has been a top provider of bottled water to consumers, offices, retailers, high-end restaurants and resorts for more than two decades. Now top management is helping to nurture a fast-growing dietary supplement company, Nature’s Pearl. Keith Regan learns how the company is setting itself apart by embracing scientific studies on its muscadine grape supplement and using human networking to spread the word.

Calgary’s West LRT project represents a number of firsts and other major milestones for the western Canadian city and the province of Alberta. Keith Regan learns how the project’s intentional detour through an extensive public interaction and feedback process is helping to make for a smoother ride now that construction is well under way.

Commercially driven it may be, but as Alan Swaby learns while talking to the GM for North America, this French food company is equally passionate about taste, choice and quality.

The world’s leading producer of exclusively vegetable products isn’t from North America. It’s French. But after conquering practically all the known world, it was inevitable that it would eventually turn its attentions to that continent.

For more than 25 years, Jetcrete has been providing shaft wall building, ground stabilization and related services to mining and construction companies across the Australian continent. Now, thanks to a joint venture with Thyssen Mining, the company is aggressively entering the North American mining market, as Keith Regan learns from the joint venture’s general manager.

In 2009 Ray Smith was parachuted in as CEO and president to rescue True Energy Trust. Now 18 months into the job, he talks to Gay Sutton about the remarkable turnaround, about renaming the company Bellatrix Exploration Ltd., and about his ambitions to make it the rising star of the Western Canadian Basin.