Rio Tinto is the first of the big diversified miners to report its annual production figures for 2013, which showed strong growth despite industry concerns of weakening Chinese demand for steel.

The Anglo-Australian mining giant produced 70.4 million tonnes of iron ore in the fourth quarter, a six percent increase on the same period in 2012. It comes at the same time that the company implements a series of cost cuts that has seen it reduce exploration costs alone by $1 billion.

Founded in 1977, Grupo Zeta started life as a simple sales organisation set up by the legendary Don Miguel Zaragoza Fuentes, one of Mexico's best known entrepreneurs. Knowing that there would be a growing demand for gas in the country as its industrial base grew in tandem with its population, Zaragoza then set about the task of creating a full-scale downstream industry. He began to fabricate storage tanks, gas cylinders and every kind of gas handling equipment. Today Grupo Zeta is a fully integrated gas company that employs 70,000 people.

The Chinese telecom equipment company says it expects to make a profit of up to 29.4bn yuan ($4.9 billion), compared with 20bn yuan in 2012. This figure was boosted by the success of Huawei’s smartphone division and various cost cutting measures across the business. The firm also said growth in emerging markets helped offset subdued revenues in economies such as US and Australia, where it has faced security concerns.

In the present climate exploration companies are really struggling to secure investment to complete drilling programmes and progress to a defined resource they can either sell on or start to develop. But companies that have already moved into production and can point to reliable cash flow are in an enviable position.

Established as the Electricity Supply Commission in South Africa in 1923, it was in July 2002 that Eskom was converted into a public, limited liability company, wholly owned by government. Today Eskom is responsible for generating approximately 95 percent of all the electricity used in South Africa and approximately 45 percent of that used in Africa.

Though its mining history may span close to 500 years and counting, Mexico remains a major mineral exploration ground and retains its position amongst the world’s largest metal producers. The country’s rich geology and favourable regulations has made it an epicentre for mining activity, not least it is mountainous northern region, home to the legendary Sierra Madre gold and silver belt. It is here, 220 kilometres west of Chihuahua, where one finds the Pinos Altos mine.

Any kaizen event will reveal how one small incremental process improvement can be worth significant bottom-line impacts. Kaizen, Japanese for “improvement” or “change for the best,” refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, and business management. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions, and involves all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers.

The announcement by the German carmaker comes as it seeks to boost its sales in the region, and the world’s biggest carmaker by 2018. By that time the company also hopes to achieve its goal of selling a million Volkswagens and Audis, its luxury brand, to American customers.