USA and Canada

American readers will today be looking forward to grilling out over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

This coming weekend will see the start of the great seasonal migration to decks, balconies and backyards to fire up gas or charcoal grills.

May is not only National Barbecue Month, but also National Hamburger Month. While cooking food outside has occurred throughout world history, grilling became a popular recreation in the US in the 1920s. The first charcoal briquets were produced by Henry Ford, using scrap wood left over from making Model Ts.

Canadian junior exploration company Argex Mining Inc. has been collaborating with global specialist chemicals company PPG Industries on a project that could revolutionise pigment supply in the paint industry. President and CEO Roy Bonnell talks to Gay Sutton about producing paint quality titanium dioxide pigment grade directly from run-of-mine ore.

Exploiting Canada’s mineral riches is encouraging new technologies to be put to the test, as Alan Swaby learns from general manager Long Habour Operations Don Stevens, Long Harbour Processing Plant construction project director Rinaldo Stefan, and corporate affairs manager Bob Carter.

There are two things an ambitious engineer wants to see on his CV: big projects and ground breaking technology. For those lucky enough to be working for Vale on the Long Harbour project in Newfoundland, they will have both.

CSRAméricas 2012, the region’s leading annual event on corporate social responsibility, opened this week in Quito, Ecuador.

The inauguration was attended by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Inter-American Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno, who called on firms to adopt innovative means for including disadvantaged people in the workforce and making them partners across the value chain.

Moreno also stressed the importance of innovation for developing growth models that do not rely on the intensive use of natural resources.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has become the first commercial company to launch a spacecraft mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket at 3:44am Eastern time today, from its launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The rocket is carrying a Dragon spacecraft which will now be subjected to a series of tests to determine if the vehicle is ready to berth with the station.

After shattering both its international and domestic store growth records last year, 7-Eleven, Inc. is on target to have an even bigger year in 2012.

The world's largest retailer by units added more than 4,600 stores worldwide in 2011 and plans to continue the company's accelerated growth.

Some 600 additional stores were built, acquired or transitioned from another business to the 7-Eleven brand in the United States and Canada during 2011.

As part of an on-going upgrade of health services in the area, the Niagara Health System is on the verge of completing a state-of-the-art new hospital for the St Catharines area. Jane McCallion talks to chief planning and development officer Gloria Kain to discover how you turn one million square feet of building into one million square feet of care.

Barrick Gold holds some of the world’s most exciting gold projects in its South American portfolio, and is determined to lead the mining industry in responsible mining. Julia Smith reports on its contribution to sustainable development and environmental best practice.

Osisko Mining Corporation has updated its assessment of fire damage incurred last week at the Canadian Malartic Mill and the preliminary time estimates for the recommencement of production.

Civil engineering inspections have been conducted on the mill floor and roof areas affected by the fire, and safety concerns in the area of the Number 4 cyclone bank have been addressed. Clean-up and repair work has commenced.