Finance & Funding

A 400km road built specifically into the Canada’s isolated but mineral-rich Ring of Fire region could cost between US$204-$443 million, according to a government-funded study. The road, entirely in the province of Ontario, would start in the port of Thunder Bay at the head of the Great Lakes and run northeast to the James Bay area, just south of Hudson Bay.

Canada-based Ritchie Bros Auctioneers announced it will buy IronPlanet, a private company based in the United States but operating globally, for around US$758.5 million. IronPlanet was set up in 1999 and focuses on the needs of corporate accounts, equipment manufacturers, dealers and government entities in equipment disposition solutions. The company conducts its sales primarily through online-only platforms, with weekly online auctions and in other equipment marketplaces.

Serbia’s minister of construction and infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlovic, said that the southern part of the Corridor 10 motorway is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. Speaking to the Beta news agency, she also said that work on the Corridor 11 motorway, on the Ub-Lajkovac section, is being carried out in cooperation with Chinese partner company Shang Dong. The government has also signed an agreement for construction of the Surcin-Obrenovac part of the Corridor 11. Ongoing talks between Serbi

The latest figures from the UK’s Construction Equipment Association (CEA) show that exports of machines continued to show modest growth in Q2 2016. This continued to reverse the declining trend seen in 2015, which reflected poor demand in many major overseas markets according to the CEA. Measured in volume terms (tonnes), exports showed 6.1% growth in Apr/Jun compared with Jan/Mar 2016. However, compared with the same quarter in 2015, Apr/Jun was still 10.3% below last year’s level. For the first half year,