USA and Canada

According to Department of Labor data released yesterday, the retail industry added nearly 50,000 jobs in November, the second highest increase since September 2007.

However, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) warned that new regulations could impede the continued pace of job growth.

The Department of Labor figures show that the retail industry added 49,800 jobs in November, raising the total of US retail jobs to 14.7 million. The retail industry has added nearly 200,000 new jobs this year alone, averaging 14,000 new jobs each month.

DS Waters of America, Inc., one of the country's largest providers of bottled water products, is to acquire the Colorado assets of Deep Rock Water Co.

Deep Rock has been in business since 1896. In addition to its bottled water products, it also provides coffee services and water filtration to its customers.

The Credit Managers’ Index remained largely unchanged for the third consecutive month, according to the latest figures from the National Association of Credit Management.

The index did drop slightly, from 53.7 in October to 53.5 in November, which would not ordinarily be great news, but as September’s data was particularly strong, it is no bad thing that October and November remained pretty much the same.

Thomas R. Cutler makes the case for electric hand trucks, which pay for themselves in saving lost work time and compensation claims.

The back is the most injury-prone part of the body. Almost everyone will suffer back pain at some time in his or her life, yet preventing back injury is much easier than healing a back injury.

Enviva LP, a leading manufacturer of processed biomass fuel in the United States and Europe, today announced that it is planning to build a 454,000 metric ton wood pellet manufacturing facility in Courtland, Virginia.

The project, which could be operational as early as the first half of 2013, is contingent on the property where the plant will be located being rezoned by Southampton County and on other permitting requirements.

Alberta is basking in its oilsands boom, but it is about to wake up to an equivalent minerals bonanza as Toronto-based DNI Metals unveils its massive minerals and rare earths deposits.

As global financial markets stagger, the metal that used to underpin them all is becoming very attractive. Toronto based and listed Continental Gold is focused on Colombia and is just two years away from large scale production.

As nations run out of money, gold returns to underpin global economics: it’s a good time to be producing it and Detour Gold has got its timing just right in its bid to exploit Canada’s largest gold deposit.

BHP Billiton announced today that it is reviewing its presence in the diamond business, which currently consists of its interests in the EKATI Diamond Mine and the Chidliak exploration project in Canada.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Kroff, Inc, one of the fastest-growing water treatment companies in the United States, is expanding internationally with the establishment of operations in South America.

Through the creation of a new company called Kroff Chile - Tecnologias y Procesos Limitada, based in Santiago, Kroff will provide cost-effective custom-blended chemicals and processes for water and wastewater treatment to companies in a variety of industries in that country, including energy, power and mining.