Allan Morrison, Central Asia operations manager of BCM Group, West Africa’s longest established surface mining and civil earthworks contractor, talks to Jayne Alverca about what it takes to become the partner of choice to some of the mining industry’s biggest players.

As development at the South Deep mine in South Africa continues to advance, Gold Fields plans to ramp up production and reach full capacity by 2014. If things go according to plan, South Deep looks set to become one of the world’s most productive gold mines.

Junior exploration company Intex Resources is poised to begin developing what promises to become one of the world’s largest nickel mines, located on one of the poorest islands in the Philippines. CEO Jon Steen Petersen explains how the company has developed a unique mine plan to deliver a minimal environmental footprint and maximum benefit to the local community.

Force Fuels, Inc. has completed the refurbishment of 10 existing oil wells that have been shut down for several years on a property in Montgomery County, Kansas.

The company said that with oil production numbers as anticipated, it expects to open a further 10 wells within the next 15 days.

Africa-focused investment company Lonrho has said it will acquire a 51 per cent equity interest in seafood wholesaler Fish On Line for R3.5 million in cash.

Cape Town, South Africa-based Fish On Line operates bulk cold storage and fish processing facilities, wholesale seafood operations, and a global import & export business.

With its primary focus in the catering and retail sectors, Fish On Line deals in a wide range of products including prawns, lobster, salmon, pangasius, hake and kingklip.

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. has been awarded two term drilling contracts with Texas-based oil and gas producer Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

The contracts are expected to generate a maximum total revenue of approximately $1.8 billion, and represent 10 years of contract drilling backlog.

The deal will utilize two new-build drillships that Diamond Offshore currently has on order with South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Rolls-Royce and Daimler, through their 50:50 joint venture, have agreed to take over the German engine manufacturer Tognum in a deal worth €3.4 billion.

The two companies first bid for Tognum in early March, offering €24 per share; however it wasn’t until they raised their offer to €26 per share that they secured the backing of Tognum’s board.

Friedrichshafen, Germany-based Tognum is the world’s second-biggest manufacturer of high-speed diesel engines for the defence, marine and energy sectors.

Bombardier Inc. has been awarded the contract to design, build, operate and maintain a monorail system for King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The contract, for a Bombardier INNOVIA APM 300 system, is worth $96 million.

Saudi Binladin Group is the contractor responsible for the design and construction of the KAIA Development Project, which will see existing passenger facilities expanded and an additional passenger terminal building constructed to cater to rising passenger numbers.

South Africa’s largest private hospital operator Netcare has announced a rise in first-half profits of 15 per cent, driven by a strong performance in South Africa.

Profits for the six months ending 31 March rose to R666 million, up from R579 million in the same period a year earlier.

The company said that growth in the South African market was able to offset far weaker results in the UK, where the challenging economic environment had a negative impact.

The chief executives of AT&T and T-Mobile USA appeared before a Senate antitrust subcommittee this week to defend their proposed $39 billion merger.

AT&T (the second largest wireless provider in the United States) announced in March its intention to acquire T-Mobile USA (the fourth largest) from Deutsche Telekom to overtake the current market leader Verizon Wireless.