By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s aluminium and nickel oligarchs go to the mat for state bank funding. A fierce battle has begun for access to state bank cash to determine who ends up in control of Russia’s largest metal and mining companies, Norilsk Nickel and United Company Rusal. Rusal spokesman Vera Kurochkina disclosed officially […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, October 9th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Norilsk Nickel investigation of asset spinoff leads to questioning of shareholder intention Mikhail Prokhorov’s holding company, Onexim, has officially confirmed that Mikhail Prokhorov will not proceed with the asset division agreement he signed on September 14 with former partner, Vladimir Potanin. A statement issued to Mineweb by the holding’s chief […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s biggest iron-ore miner defers public share sale due to global cash crisis Metalloinvest, the Russian steel and iron-ore holding controlled by Alisher Usmanov, has failed to fix an international market value for listing and sale of its shares. This is the market interpretation after an announcement on Thursday by […]

by John Helmer - Friday, October 3rd, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Polyus Gold waits for the green light – or is it red? Glenn Gould, the world’s greatest pianist, and a notorious automobile driver, once admitted: “It’s true that I’ve driven through a number of red lights on occasion. But on the other hand, I’ve stopped at a lot of green […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Smelter pollution charges fly in Rusal-Norilsk clash. The fight for control of Russia’s largest mining company, Norilsk Nickel, has turned into a battle over smelter emissions and environmental safety. UC Rusal (Russian Aluminium), the Russian aluminium monopoly, fired the first shot as part of its hostile takeover attempt of Norilsk […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
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COURT TO RULE ON DISCLOSURE OF TRANSFER PRICE OF RUSSIAN OIL By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian oil trading company Gunvor, controlled in Geneva by Gennady Timchenko, is facing margin uncertainties as the global oil price falls, and Russian producers respond to a profit squeeze of high taxes and rising costs. Exactly what happens […]

by John Helmer - Friday, September 26th, 2008
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POTANIN IN BUY-BACK — IS DERIPASKA IN SELL-OUT? By John Helmer in Moscow The Bubble Metric Index (BMI) is a measure of the distance between the fantasy of money and financial reality. In the past month, it has been weighing unusually heavily on the oligarchs who own pieces of Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s largest mining company. […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
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Have gas, will travel By John Helmer in Moscow You have to be older than Condoleezza Rice (b. November 14, 1954) to remember the first episodes of the greatest western ever to be broadcast on US radio and television. That was “Have Gun, Will Travel”, beginning in 1957. Over the following six years, in 225 […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Analysts at Moscow’s Renaissance Capital reckon Russian asset values are priced below bargain basement. A typo in the lead cannot take the glister off Renaissance Capital’s fresh report on Russian gold buying opportunities. The report, by analysts Rob Edwards and Andrey Krupnik, is entitled “CIS Gold and Silver: A Golden […]

by John Helmer - Friday, September 19th, 2008
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Tajik publication attacks Mineweb’s Helmer and his reporting on aluminium group. Johannesburg – On September 11, Mineweb published a report by John Helmer, entitled “IMF Attacks Tajikistan Aluminium Co – orders international audit”. Publication followed attempts by Mineweb’s Moscow office to ask the following questions of Talco in Dushanbe: 1. According to an IMF country […]

by John Helmer - Friday, September 19th, 2008
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