Dubai-based telecoms provider Du has opened a new call centre in Fujairah staffed by 100 per cent Emirati nationals.

The announcement comes as companies across the UAE and Gulf region strive to meet stringent labour laws passed in April last year requiring businesses to increase their intake of Emirati staff in skilled labour positions. Companies that fail to meet percentage quotas can be fined up to Dh20,000.

Caterpillar Inc. has selected Athens, Georgia as the location for a new facility to build small tractors and mini hydraulic excavators, bringing production back from Japan to the United States.

Best known as the home town of the rock band REM, Athens will soon be home to a state-of-the-art, one-million-square-foot facility expected to employ 1,400 people, with a potential of 2,800 extra jobs in the supply chain in the United States.

The total investment for opening the new facility is expected to be around $200 million.

National Grid and ScottishPower Transmission have awarded a contract for construction of the first ever subsea electricity link between Scotland and England & Wales.

The £1 billion contract has been awarded to Germany’s Siemens and Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian.

The major grid upgrade will increase the capacity of electricity flowing between England and Scotland by more than 2,000 megawatts, allowing new renewable energy projects to be developed in Scotland that could power three million homes.

A revitalized General Motors Co. today announced profits of $7.6 billion for the year ending 31 December 2011 after a strong performance in the US, but its European and South American operations are still losing money.

This figure represents a 62 percent increase over 2010 profits of $4.7 billion, despite a loss of $700 million across its Vauxhall/Opel plants in the UK and Germany—although this was an improvement over the 2010 loss of $1.3 billion in Europe.

Estrella Gold is a prospect generator company, focused on gold in Latin America and growing its inventory of gold resource ounces. CEO Keith Laskowski tells John O’Hanlon why he placed his 30 years’ experience in gold exploration at the service of a junior company.

Global demand for gold in 2011 rose to 4,067.1 tonnes, worth an estimated $205.5 billion—the first time global demand has exceeded $200 billion and the highest tonnage level since 1997, according to the World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends.

The main driver for the increase was annual demand in the investment sector, which hit 1,640.7 tonnes—up five per cent on the previous record set in 2010 and with a value of $82.9 billion.

Toronto-based exploration company Unigold is poised to begin an exciting phase of exploration and development in the Dominican Republic. CEO Andrew Cheatle talks to Gay Sutton about the latest gold discoveries.

The first phase of a luxury new residential block is rapidly rising from the ground in NoMa, the fastest growing neighborhood in Washington DC.Hosein Omidi-Shal, project manager at Paradigm Construction, explains how the work has been accelerated ahead of schedule by creative task assignment.

Paul Benson, CEO of junior Australian gold mining company, Troy Resources, talks to Gay Sutton about the challenges and rewards of low cost gold production.

There are not many gold mining companies, large or small, that have been able to deliver cash dividends to their shareholders 12 times over the last 12 years. Australia-based Troy Resources has not only achieved this, but continued to do so during 2008 when the world slipped into global recession. So what is the secret behind this impressive track record? 

The Dominican Republic is enjoying a period of investment in infrastructure and mining activities. Executive director Alejandro Gil tells Martin Ashcroft how Geocivil is growing along with it.

The Dominican Republic is attracting a great deal of attention at the moment, not least for the gold discoveries made by various mining operations, including Barrick Gold’s Pueblo Viejo.