By John Helmer in Moscow Polyus shareholders give Potanin big win over rival plan to transfer assets. In Harold Pinter’s play, The Birthday Party, a group of seedy characters in a rundown boarding house, at a miserable English seaside town, arrange a birthday celebration for one of their number. But he denies it’s his birthday, […]

by John Helmer - Monday, April 7th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Underground mine costs are pushing Alrosa towards diamond prospects in southwestern Africa Back in the good old friendly days,one thing was always understood by the senior executives and mine engineers of De Beers and Alrosa, the world’s diamond mining leaders. Alrosa faced serious risks and incalculable costs in trying to […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, April 5th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow An unprecedented strike by Russian bauxite miners halts Rusal production in Urals Richard the Lionheart (1157-99) was the greatest of English soldiers; the greatest artilleryman of all time. In laying siege to an enemy’s position, Richard applied the principle of concentrating force at the point of least resistance – bombarding […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
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After a series of battles with Newmont, Indonesian officials and NGOs keep up the anti-mine fight, this time targeting the Toka Tindung gold project. Author: John Helmer Posted: Monday , 31 Mar 2008 LONDON – The boomerang is an Australian aboriginal word for a throwing stick; but the weapon itself isn’t indigenous to Australia. Its […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 31st, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian multi-mineral fertilizer group calls for investor upgrade ahead of IPO. Traced on the map, Verkhnekamskoye (“Upper Kama”) looks like a molar tooth, with an unusually deep root. On the ground, in the Perm region of central Russia, it is the second largest deposit of potash known in the world. […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 28th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Deripaska and Prokhorov holding companies trade claims over Norilsk Nickel deal contract. Onexim, the Moscow holding unit for Mikhail Prokhorov, has broken its silence on the troubled sale of a 25% stake in Norilsk Nickel — in a manner of speaking. Terms for the deal between Prokhorov and Oleg Deripaska, […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, March 27th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow When T.S. Eliot was summing up what he knew of hollow men, he concluded: “this is the way the world ends/not with a bang but a whimper”. This is also the way Russia’s biggest-ever hostile takeover, Oleg Deripaska’s bid to take control of Norilsk Nickel, is ending. The contract deadline […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow The wind-chill factor this winter in Tajikistan has produced record low temperatures and uncounted miseries for a population struggling with inadequate electricity supply and failing heat. Tajik newborns have been reported as having died from hypothermia while in hospital wards. But on March 5, a single whistle-blow from the International […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow PR spin battles US recession to hype Russian steel deal Taylor Rafferty is an international public relations company which works for Alexei Mordashov, the controlling shareholder of Severstal, third ranked Russian steelmaker. Its job is to help Mordashov extricate his foot from his mouth, and his hand from public shareholder […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 24th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Polyus public shareholders in the dark about proposed new gold mine asset sale Sixty years elapsed between the first US patents issued for the yo-yo, and 1928, when the wooden axle on a string became a fad in California, and then spread across the US. By 1965, the yo-yo was […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 21st, 2008
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