Building a new lifelineKeith Regan reports on the approaches to environmental sensitivity and financial viability taken by a massive roadway project in Louisiana. Long before hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in August 2005, the roadway known as LA 1 had been battered by tropical storms, the grade-level roadway often submerged by storm-driven tides. Meanwhile, the vertical lift bridge that enabled shrimp boats and oil supply vessels to navigate past the highway often experienced mechanical and electrical glitches.

Changing constructionAl Petrangeli, president of the Florida division of Balfour Beatty Construction, told Martin Ashcroft about the companyÔÇÖs plans to change the industry by changing behavior. The UK-based construction giant Balfour Beatty made a big play for international expansion last year when it acquired Centex Construction, the commercial construction division of Centex Corporation.

Campus planningVanderbilt University is undertaking a massive building program to house more of its students on campus. Keith Regan learns from university architect Edward Belbusti how this is being achieved. Located on the edge of the downtown business district in Nashville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt University is an institution rich in tradition, but one that has embraced emerging trends in education.

Clad tidingsJust ten years after entering the US market with its interior products, Permasteelisa Cladding has become a top provider of customized exterior paneling. Keith Regan talks to the operations manager about the companyÔÇÖs service-first approach. A decade ago, already a well-established force in overseas markets, Italian company Permasteelisa Cladding Technologies arrived in the United States.

All that glittersClaude Lemasson tells Gary Toushek how people-centric policies have helped Goldcorp go from junior miner to the worldÔÇÖs second-largest gold company. These days Claude Lemasson spends a lot of time traveling between his Toronto office and the James Bay area of northern Qu├®bec, looking after his current priority, the ├ël├®onore project, a major new gold discovery situated within a relatively unexplored area of James Bay, in Cree Nation of Wemindji territory.

Crystal ballSenior vice president George Read tells Gary Toushek what he sees in the future for Shore GoldÔÇÖs diamond explorations. "On the Star Diamond project we have defined our resource and can now enter a pre-feasibility study, ultimately with the definition of a reserve calculation, then we move on to bankable feasibility by the end of 2008.ÔÇØ  George Read, senior vice president of exploration & development of Saskatoon, SaskatchewanÔÇôbased Shore Gold Inc., is commenting on the National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate p

Walking the talkOperational excellence is a cornerstone for the way Chevron Mining does business, president and CEO Mark Smith explains to Gary Toushek. Chevron Mining Inc., headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, was created in 2007 as a subsidiary when parent company Chevron Corporation merged its mining operationsÔÇöthe former Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co., which has been a subsidiary of Chevron for many years, and Molycorp Inc.ÔÇöinto one unit.

The first moverVirginia Mines once had areas of northern Quebec practically to itself. Today, itÔÇÖs a different landscape, but president Andr├® Gaumond tells Keith Regan that thanks to being first and doing it right, the company has a bright future. When Virginia Mines began as a junior explorer searching for gold and base metal deposits in the James Bay area of Quebec some 15 years ago, the area had seen little exploration and was considered a remote, hard-to-reach outpost.

Out of AfricaJim Gowans, president and CEO of De Beers Canada, tells Martin Ashcroft about the challenges of mining for diamonds in some of the remotest parts of Canada. CanadaÔÇÖs mining industry is about to enter a new chapter with the imminent opening of a record setting new diamond mine. De Beers, the name synonymous with diamonds, is on the verge of opening its Snap Lake Mine, remarkably the first mine to be opened by De Beers outside of Africa.

Rocks in a hard placeThrough the experience of executives at the EKATI Diamond Mine, Martin Ashcroft discovers how specific incremental improvement programs in individual businesses within BHP Billiton have evolved into a business excellence program where best practices from around the world are replicated across the organization. To say that this place is remote is somewhat of an understatement. The city of Yellowknife, capital of CanadaÔÇÖs Northwest Territories, lies almost 200 miles (300 kilometers) south-west.