By John Helmer, Moscow Eating sheep’s balls is an acquired taste, though if you’re from the Caucasus or Azerbaijan, the taste comes with your mother’s milk, so to speak. If you are an Australian politician, complaining in public that someone else is biting yours is an everyday thing. Australia has always been sensitive below its […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow BHP Billiton (BHP), the world’s dominant producer of manganese, last week slashed the price of manganese for delivery to China, the world’s dominant consumer, by 14%, arousing the suspicion that the Big Australian is aiming to drive rival producers from the business, and when Chinese steelmaking is expected to revive next […]

by John Helmer - Friday, December 9th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Michael Wilson, a Kazakhstan-based lawyer specializing in mining and natural resources, has won a judgement from Australia’s highest court, reinstating a December 2009 award of more than $11 million. The five-year record of litigation has nailed three Australian lawyers — John Emmott, Robert Nicholls, and David Slater – for nicking clients, […]

by John Helmer - Friday, December 2nd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow The share price of OM Holdings (OMH:U), one of the few pure manganese miners in the world to be listed on an international stock exchange, fell 9% the day after the Australian and US governments signed a new military pact, inviting 2,500 US Marines to a base in Darwin, and threatening […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, November 20th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Brian Gilbertson, the leading South African mining entrepreneur, has launched a new stage of his investment in the Faberge jewellery marque with the first release for sale since 1917 of Faberge jewelled eggs, designed by the family of the original Russian court jeweller, Peter Carl Faberge. Four of the eggs, including […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 8th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow When the gravy train to China starts running, it can be educational for investors in the greater Sino-Russian iron-ore market to slow down, and patiently study how Australians, rivals of the Russians and other iron-ore suppliers, behave when the brakes are off – and the regulators appear to be going in […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 24th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Note to readers: The Australian dollar has been at or above parity with the US dollar for several months. All dollar amounts reported in this story are in Australian dollars unless indicated otherwise.

by John Helmer - Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
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By John Helmer in Moscow A year ago in Moscow, the Queensland state premier, an Australian Labor Party (ALP) politician named Anna Bligh, was threatened that if she didn’t give Oleg Deripaska what his United Company Rusal wanted from the state, he would punish the state treasury with the withdrawal of millions of dollars in […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, October 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The US has responded with a powerful SOS for reporters, setting in motion a model for similar protections worldwide. SOS stands for Sod Off Schillings. The new American legislation will make it impossible for practical purposes for Russians to attack American reporting of their activities by suing them or their […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
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Senator Bob Brown (left image) is the first Australian politician to call for official accountability in the secret dealings the Australian Government has had since 2004 with Oleg Deripaska. He is chief executive and controlling shareholder of United Company Rusal, the Russian aluminiun monopoly registered on the island of Jersey.

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 29th, 2010
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