By John Helmer in Moscow A senior Russian industry ministry official has come to the defence of domestic steelmakers, warning that an attempt to roll back or penalize their recent price increases could lead to the ultimate bogeyman — a flood of cheap Chinese-made steel into the Russian market. Andrey Dementiev, a Deputy Minister of […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 9th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has requested that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) open an investigation of price rigging in the domestic sale of steel products. It is the first direct intervention by the prime minister against the profit-taking by oligarch-owned companies since August of 2008, when his last, if […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow If Alexei Mordashov (right figure), owner of the Severstal steelmaking and mining group, has genuinely decided to let the stock markets lift the share value of High River Gold (ticker HRG:CN), then delaying the public release of the company’s financials and blaming the auditor are a funny way of going […]

by John Helmer - Monday, April 5th, 2010
No Comments »

September 24, 1950-April 3, 1988

by John Helmer - Friday, April 2nd, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow The Evraz Group, Russia largest steelmaker, has started a $440 million project to reconstruct the Novokuznetsk Metallurgical Combine (NKMK) mill to produce 25-metre and 100-metre rails for high-speed railway lines being built in Russia. A company announcement says the new mill at Novokuznetsk city, in the Kemerovo region, will be […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 2nd, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow China has joined an English peer, a Bush Administration retiree, and a special Kremlin envoy in the attempt to persuade or pressure the Guinean Government into halting its court proceedings and fraud and tax audits of international mining companies, and restore concession rights, corruptly acquired, to Guinea’s resource treasure. At […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow and Conakry Alexey Vasiliev, a Russian professor specializing in the history of Saudi Arabia, flew to the west African republic of Guinea last week in a bid to lobby the Guinean Prime Minister, Jean-Marie Dore, on behalf of United Company Rusal, the bauxite and alumina producer in Guinea. Rusal is […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
No Comments »

March 30, 2010 Stephanie Baker and Yuriy Humber for the athletic feat of reporting Mikhail Prokhorov’s all-win business career without detecting a single foul, penalty, or loss. Link: http://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Mikhail-Prokhorov-May-2010.pdf

by John Helmer - Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow In an unusual break with the traditional hold Russian steel companies like to keep on their domestic coking-coal sources, and secure the future expansion of their steel capacity with ample reserves, the Evraz group is reported to be considering the sale of two of its Kemerovo mines to global and […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 29th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow It’s fashionable in trade these days, especially when delicate consumer sensitivities are involved, to call a slaughter-house a meat-packing plant, as if what goes in the front-door can be made to seem as tasteful as what goes out the back. The German slogan, “Arbeit Macht Frei”, tried the technique on […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 29th, 2010
No Comments »