USA and Canada

When the global economic crisis took hold, the price of palladium plummeted, leaving newly arrived president and CEO Bill Biggar with a tough decision regarding the fate of North American Palladium Ltd. Two years later he tells Andrew Pelis about the company’s rapidly changing status.

The president and COO of Endeavour Silver Corp. explains to David Hendricks how using modern exploration methods on old mine properties can uncover new, undiscovered veins.

World air cargo traffic will expand at a 5.9 percent annual rate over the next two decades, with worldwide air freight traffic expected to triple through 2029, according to the Boeing World Air Cargo Forecast 2010/2011.

Boeing released the biennial forecast, which is widely cited by airlines and industry groups, at the International Air Cargo Forum and Exhibition 2010 in Amsterdam.

Fulcrum BioEnergy is poised to begin construction on its first facility that will produce ethanol from household waste. Keith Regan learns how this trash-to-energy plant could be the first step toward a network of such facilities capable of producing a billion gallons a year of clean, renewable transportation fuel.

Transcend United Technologies and Spectrum Solutions announced today that they are joining forces to create a large IT and communications technology provider with a significant presence in the Twin Cities.

The new entity has advanced capabilities working with Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, ShoreTel, Riverbed and other IT and communications vendors, and becomes one of the largest technology resellers in North America.

As part of a comprehensive plan to modernize and expand its fleet of equipment, Amtrak is buying 70 new electric locomotives to provide improved performance and reliability for its Northeast intercity passenger rail services.

The six-year, $466 million contract was awarded to Siemens and will create 250 jobs primarily at a facility in Sacramento, California, but also at plants in Norwood, Ohio and Alpharetta, Georgia.

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mezhgosmetiz-Mtsensk OAO (MGM), a privately-held welding wire manufacturer based in the Orel region of Russia.

The acquisition will provide Lincoln its first manufacturing operation in Russia as well as established distribution channels to serve the growing Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) welding markets. Terms were not disclosed. The acquisition has been approved by the Russian Federation regulatory agencies and is expected to close tomorrow.

Ford Motor Company has reported net income of $1.7 billion for the third quarter, a rise of 68 percent on the same period a year ago. Pre-tax operating profit totaled $2.1 billion, a $1.1 billion improvement from third quarter 2009.

Total revenue for the quarter declined by $1.3 billion to $29 billion, compared with the third quarter of 2009, which included revenue from Volvo; excluding Volvo’s 2009 sales, revenue increased by $1.7 billion.

The Chinese-designed Elevated High-Speed Super Bus may be pulling up to bus stops in North America in the not-too-distant-future.

Song Youzhou, designer of the super bus, has formed US Elevated High-Speed Bus (Group) Inc, to plan distribution and manufacturing of the vehicle outside of China, beginning with North America.