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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s state stockpile agency Gokhran has this week released details of next year’s state funding for rough diamond purchases from Alrosa, revealing for the first time the average price per carat that will be paid. According to a direct Gokran source and to an Interfax briefing by another Gokhran official, […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow A powerful 6-point storm on Monday did an estimated $60 million worth of damage, and severely set back the construction schedule for the new Sochi cargo port, being built for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games at Imeretinsky Bay. The new port is being built by the holding company of bankrupt […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian business is child’s play, and very forgiving too, if you are big enough to pay for your mistakes. That’s why Alexei Mordashov is smiling in the picture, taken in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s office on December 4. Mordashov is the owner of the second most heavily indebted steelmaking group […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s state-owned oil pipeline company Transneft has upped the pressure on the controlling shareholders of Novorossiysk Commercial Seaport Company (NCSC) in what one Moscow maritime analyst calls today “an arm-twisting preliminary to next year’s contest over the sale of the 20% state stake in the port.” While in London the […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow To all junior miners, resource project developers, and investors in the risky wilds of Kazakhstan, be of good cheer — a Supreme Court judgement issued on December 11 in Sydney, Australia, has awarded the equivalent of US$11.4 million in compensation, penalties, and costs against a group of lawyers who have […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Archangel Diamond Corporation (ADC) has re-emerged from a bankruptcy proceeding initiated earlier this year by De Beers, to launch new charges in the Colorado state court against Russian oil company LUKoil, and well-known Russian oligarchs, Vagit Alekperov (lead bearer) and Alisher Usmanov (2nd bearer). ADC is now being directed by […]

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Step-1, believe me, I have no money Step-2, you drop your money in my hand Step-3, I wave goodbye and sail on my way By John Helmer in Moscow Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), the listed Russian dry-cargo fleet operator controlled by Sergei Generalov (left image), says it has run into a debt refinancing problem […]

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