USA and Canada

A quick glance over Chile’s basic health indicators makes one thing clear. With infant and maternal mortality levels amongst the lowest in Latin America, and the average life expecting coming in at close to 76 years, a figure that is up from just over 60 years in the early 1970s, it is plain to see that much of the country’s population is benefiting from what is an advanced health care system.

The privately-owned company, which specialises in drugs used in the treatment of lung disease and asthma, will be acquired in a deal worth up to $1.15 billion.

AstraZeneca, the UK's second largest drugs company, has been trying to gain a foothold in the emerging market for a new class of lung treatments known as LABA/LAMA drugs, administered via an inhaler. In purchasing Pearl Therapeutics it hopes to tap into a market where such drugs are used in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which affects about 210 million people worldwide.

Sustainable opportunities

While Guatemala’s enormous mining wealth is no longer the well-kept secret that it once was it is still an industry very much in its infancy. Through its Marlin Mine operations, Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, a subsidiary of the Canadian firm Goldcorp, is working to ensure the country will soon be able to unlock its potential.

It was in July of 1969, during the presidency of Juan Velasco Alvarado, that Petroperu was created based on La Pampilla Sate Refinery and expropriated refineries. In the more than four decades since the company has been a major contributor to the country’s economy.

The Davie shipyard at Lévis, just across the Saint Lawrence River from Quebec City, traces its origins back to 1825 when it was founded by an English sea captain called Allison Davie. Over its long lifetime it has built more than 700 vessels and drilling and production platforms and seen shipbuilding technology develop from wood and sail. During World War II, Davie built 35 warships (mine sweepers, corvettes and destroyers). Davie has also fabricated numerous other products for a variety of industries including power, defence and transport.

Following more than 800,000 metres of drilling and intense preparation, financing and community relations works, in addition to obtaining hundreds of permits and constructing the actual mine, it was in April 2011 that the first gold bar was poured at Osisko Mining’s Malartic mine in Canada.

With the 13th largest economy in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), Mexico has a long-standing tradition as a mining country with its history dating back to the pre-Columbian days, when mining was practised by the Maya, Aztec, Mixteco and Zapoteco peoples. Since those early days the country’s underground resources have played a significant role in the development and prosperity of its economy.

James Bay, a tongue of water licking out between Ontario and Quebec, is by any standards remote. The Cree nation that lives on its shores have staked their claim, not always without difficulty, to such economic development as has taken place in the region, but today the greatest impact on their way of life is undoubtedly mining.

Collahuasi, or to give it its full name Compañía Minera Dona Inés de Collahuasi SCM, is a joint venture owned by two equal mining majors, AngloAmerican and Xstrata, with 44 percent of the shares apiece. The remaining equity is in the hands of a group of Japanese interests led by Mitsui & Co Ltd, one of Japan’s largest trading companies and including Nippon Mining & Metals and Mitsui Mining & Smelting.