By John Helmer in Moscow Russian state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB), chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is reported to have approved a US$1.8 billion loan for steel and mining giant Evraz Group, whose major shareholders include Roman Abramovich, following a board session of the board last Friday. Evraz sources decline to confirm the loan, […]

by John Helmer - Monday, November 24th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Uralkali, Russia’s dominant potash exporter, has made an offer to compensate the costs of the state-owned Russian Railways Company (RZD) to build the bypass around the Berezinki sink-hole and mine subsidence. The offer was reported in a Moscow newspaper, and confirmed by a company source. The offer was contained in […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian government agency responsible for negotiating the terms of DeBeers’s new Grib diamond mine project in the Arkhangelsk region of northwestern Russia has agreed to extend a deal deadline, which fell on November 15. At that point, and in the week that followed, De Beers and its affiliate Archangel […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, November 20th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s Black Sea strategy has been aiming to develop dry-cargo movements, both export and import, as the preferred direction for Russian oil exportsshifts eastward towards China, and from Arctic oilfields in the north, westwards into northern Europe. That was before theglobal financial crisis intensified in the autumn. But the signs […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Market reports that Smolensk Kristall refused last month to buy rough from Alrosa have been denied by Alrosa. According to sources in Alrosa, the Russian state diamond company, Kristall proposed a 20% discount on purchases of Alrosa’s current rough price. Alrosa refused to supply, claiming that its pricing is in […]

by John Helmer - Friday, November 14th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Government officials refuse to provide details of the order to reopen an investigation into the two-year old collapse of Uralkali’s Mine-1 at Berezeniki. Uralkali, meanwhile, fears that a scheme of renationalization may have been started, targeting a takeover of Uralkali from its current shareholders. According to an Interfax wire service […]

by John Helmer - Friday, November 14th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Financial collapse inside Oleg Deripaska’s aluminium empire in Moscow is triggering fresh moves by rivals and critics to oust his company from Nigeria and the Republic of Guinea (Conakry). A costly electricity failure at the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) has already paralyzed operations there for several weeks, while […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow De Beers has a hundred-million dollar hook in its mouth, and it isn’t sure whether to bite, or try spitting it out. Russian sources say that the conditional approval, granted last month by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the Verkhotina diamond mining project to commence with joint venture partner LUKoil, […]

by John Helmer - Friday, November 7th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow In some cultures it is considered entertaining sport for a crowd to watch roosters tear each other to death with specially-fitted steel talons. In other cultures, the crowd prefers to watch a man in fancy-dress stab a bull that has been specially bred to do nothing unpredictable with its horns. […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Leading Russian steel producer Evraz revealed its financial crisis management plan in Moscow on Thursday, although it claimed it will try to avoid cutting domestic jobs. Evraz said it will cut output for the second half of this year by 25%, compared to to the first half, in Russia and […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
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