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By John Helmer in Moscow Confidence in Roman Abramovich’s staying power supports Highland Gold’s value Top-secret documents have recently been discovered, proving that sex between consenting adults cannot be managed in space. That’s because zero gravity makes the normal positions impossible. US and Russian experiments are also reported to have been carried out to determine […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Is holding hedge fund a gold share price hawk or a vulture? On Thursday of last week, Oxus Gold, a junior gold miner listed on the London Alternative investment Market (AIM), lost 18% of its market value, pricing at 25.5 pence, with a market cap of GBP93 million. The chart […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Adam Smith hides his talent — making Tajik mining’s sow’s ear into a silk purse. A European Commission (EC) contract to promote foreign mining investment in Tajikistan collapsed this month into denials and mystification, as the deputy head of the Tajikistan government’s committee on foreign investment claims he has never […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian oligarchs use the media for pressure on price and financing terms for change of ownership at Norilsk Nickel. The Arab bedouin had a term for it – the jackals’ wedding. That’s a marriage of convenience between angry dogs, who couple for a single night, and then bite each other, […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow BlackRock pays bargain-basement price for Russian gold miner after IPO fails. The controversial US equity fund manager BlackRock, part-owned by Merrill Lynch, has failed in a bid to keep secret two transactions in which the fund appears to have acquired 34% of the shares of a small Russian gold miner, […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow German miner Chronimet and America’s Comsup Commodities reveal mystery of Armenia’s molybdenum mines. Molybdenum is a metal that doesn’t lose its cool. Used in a variety of alloys for steel, it remains rigid at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and doesn’t melt until 4,730 degrees F, a point at which everything but […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Kremlin insiders fall into disarray over ‘strategic’ mineral resources. Only in Russian politics can it be true that a politician, who is commanding in the polls, may also lack the authority to rule. And only in Russia is the political solution for this to lock everyone up. In 1925, Mikhail […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Can outsiders like Rio Tinto see who commands, who follows, in Russian uranium sector planning? It was Winston Churchill who once epitomized what he didn’t know of Russians, and what he didn’t like, by describing them as bulldogs fighting under a rug. In the Russian uranium business, the rug has […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Open warfare declared at Russia’s largest gold miner exposes Lord Gillford, and starts a run at Polyus assets. On their annual day of atonement for a year of sinning, the biblical Hebrews used to beat a goat over a cliff; or drive him into the desert to be devoured by […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Gold Fields’ sale of its Venezuelan gold assets to Rusoro is a profitable relief There is a traditional Russian toast that can be roughly translated: “May we have more pies and doughnuts, fewer black eyes and bruises!” After selling its loss-making Venezuelan gold assets at a profit to Rusoro Mining […]