
Chilean authorities have fined the world's largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold Corp, more than 16 million dollars for environmental offences. Construction at the Pascua-Lama mine, on the border with Argentina, has been suspended until a system to contain contaminated water is put in place.

Brazilian state-controlled energy giant Petrobras plans to continue operating in Argentina although it may sell some assets there, CEO Maria da Graças Foster said.

Argentina and Brazil will be launching their first two jointly developed scientific satellites for research along the Atlantic coast in a couple of years, according to Brazil’s Science and Technology minister Antonio Raupp.

United Airlines partner SkyWest Inc. agreed to buy more than 4 billion dollars of Brazil’s Embraer jets as new pilot contracts at the largest carriers allow commuter operators to fly bigger planes.

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica begins on Wednesday the longest and most ambitious of his overseas trips hoping to convince China to invest in infrastructure projects that are crucial for the development of the country and its foreign trade: a deep water port and recovering the rail cargo network.

Brazil’s Congress approved legislation that opens up state-owned ports to private investment and lifts restrictions on the building of private ports in a bid to eliminate serious bottlenecks strangling the country’s export growth. The Brazilian Association of Infrastructure and Basic Industries praised the approval of the bill and anticipate investment of 25bn dollars.

PDVSA, Venezuela’s government oil and gas giant will allow joint ventures with China National Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Corp. to manage 6 billion dollars in loans designed to revert oil output declines, said a PDVSA official.

Argentina’s nationalized oil company YPF signed on Wednesday an agreement with US oil major Chevron Corp to define the terms and conditions of Chevron's investment of 1.5 billion dollars in the vast Vaca Muerta shale field.

Uruguay awarded French gas and power group GDF Suez SA a contract to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) re-gasification plant at an estimated cost of 1.125 billion dollars, the government said on Tuesday.

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao on Tuesday asked the Venezuelan government for efficiency in managing an agro-industrial plant it has begun building near Caracas with a 52 million dollars investment from Beijing.