By John Helmer in Moscow Gold raiders may be pushing gold mining asset holders on to the defensive in Russian Fareast When Winston Churchill tried to express his ignorance of how Russians conduct their affairs, he famously referred to bulldogs fighting under a rug. These days, in the Russian gold mining sector, the bulldogs are […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian aluminium giant, Rusal has held a secret briefing at London’s Skinners’ Hall for its London IPO investors . When Gioacchino Rossini, the 19th century opera composer, had grown famous and rich, he was told that a group of his admirers were collecting the equivalent of $50,000 to erect a […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alrosa is retrieving its diamond market positions after initial misstatements by new CEO Alrosa, the Russian diamond miner with the largest share of the global rough diamonds market after De Beers, is reconsidering its international market strategy, and correcting several misstatements by its newly appointed chief executive, Sergei Vybornov. Veteran […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow The world’s largest potash miner, Russia’s Uralkali, reports recovery of growth, as commodity prices jump. Uralkali, the world’s largest potash exporter, is recovering momentum in a global market that is likely to see the Russian miner challenge its Canadian peers for earnings growth, profitability, and share valuation. “Despite difficulties in […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 28th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow If you recall Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling’s Hypothetical Future Value (HFV) system of accounting, one might find some parallels in Polyus Gold’s share marketing program. The man who invented the accounting system for promoting the value of a share today, for what it will be worth in the future, when […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow The modern history of making money the easy way — by taking it from people who didn’t know they had it, and couldn’t notice when it was gone — is founded on the most elegant of the irreducible fractions, one third. According to a series of reports this month by […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 14th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow These days investors in gold-mining stocks are behaving like diners in fashionable restaurants, subject to the same fitful appetites. On Tuesday, for example, they sold Highland Gold (HGM:LN) down 21%. But on Wednesday, they bought it up by 20%. Highland is now trading at its all-time low since listing in […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 31st, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow Never complain, never explain — that was the advice of the worst loser in modern American politics, Richard Nixon. Norilsk Nickel, the lead mining company of Russia and biggest nickel producer in the world, appears not to understand how to lose, now that its bid for LionOre has been topped […]

by John Helmer - Friday, May 18th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow Yury Trutnev, the Russian minister in charge of Russia’s economic relations with South Africa, is visiting South Africa, Angola and Namibia this week, in anticipation of President Vladimir Putin’s visit currently scheduled for the first week of September. Among the meetings Trutnev has arranged, the ministry told Business Day, was […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 27th, 2006
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By John Helmer in Moscow A lion, who copies a lion, is an ape. That is Victor Hugo, France’s 19th century poet hero, talking of the difference between writers and hacks. If Hugo had lowered (or raised) himself to think of steelmakers, his remark might inspire sceptical reflection on what is really happening in the […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 18th, 2006
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