South Africa is putting great effort into improving living standards for its more disadvantaged citizens, as Alan Swaby discovers.

Several years ago, Arafura Resources identified the imminent shortage of rare earth oxides. Now, it is about to become an alternative supplier for users worldwide to China’s monopoly.

Andrew Bellamy, CEO of Austal, one of the world’s leading aluminium shipbuilders, talks to Jayne Alverca about the winds of change that are blowing in the wake of a major defence contract with the US Navy.

Austal, headquartered in Henderson, Western Australia, is the largest builder of aluminium fast ferries in the world, with a customer base that spans the globe. The company has reached this level of success in just over 20 years—an achievement that CEO Andrew Bellamy attributes to three key factors.

Under new and gifted management, Carrick Gold is undergoing a renaissance—and is currently poised to develop a major gold discovery within the Kalgoorlie West Project. Chairman Laurence Freedman talks to Jayne Flannery.

Con Edison Development, a leading developer of renewable energy infrastructure in the US Northeast, has delivered the largest operating solar installation in New England.

The ten-acre solar facility is sited on the New Bedford Business Park, which straddles the towns of Dartmouth and New Bedford in Massachusetts.

With more than 8,000 crystalline silicon panels, the installation delivers enough energy to provide power to 2,000 households. The ground-mounted panels are virtually invisible from outside the park.

Tullow Oil is to strengthen its Dutch portfolio through the acquisition of Nuon Exploration & Production, it has been announced.

Tullow will pay Sweden’s Vattenfall Group €300 million in cash for the Amsterdam-based company.

Tullow said the acquisition will significantly enhance its North Sea business, adding a portfolio of 25 licences that include over 30 producing fields, further development and exploration opportunities, and ownership of crucial infrastructure. 

Raytheon Company has been awarded a US Navy contract worth $84.7 million for continued production of ALR-67(V)3 digital radar warning receivers.

The Raytheon system is the US Navy standard for digital radar warning receiver technology, made for installation on all frontline, carrier-based F/A-18 E/F tactical aircraft and an integral part of modernization programs for US and international customers.

The contract was awarded by the US Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland.

Ireland-based Kentz Engineering and Construction Group has won a $33.6 million contract from Bariq Mining to carry out works at its Jabal Sayid project.

Kentz’s Saudi operating unit, Saudi Arabian Kentz Co Ltd, has won the procurement, construction and commissioning contract to carry out the structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation works for Bariq Mining’s copper processing plant at its new Jabal Sayid copper mine located in western Saudi Arabia.

The mine will produce copper concentrate with gold and silver credits. 

Mining is never an easy life but as Alan Swaby learns, not even the harshness of the Arctic Circle can faze some operators.

You might be forgiven for thinking that developing a brand new iron ore mine, well inside the Arctic Circle, might throw up the odd problem or two. But Karl-Axel Waplan, CEO of Northland Resources, is remarkably matter-of-fact about a project that will have consumed at least US$700 million by the time it gets off the ground.