By John Helmer, Moscow The greatest Canadian whom the Russians have ever known was Glenn Gould, the pianist. But when he played in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1957 – over the strenuous objections, even threats from the Canadian and US governments – he didn’t take his chair with him. That special chair, on which […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 7th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow A three-judge appeals court panel in Chelyabinsk this morning preserved the injunction against Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK) completing its takeover of Australian iron-ore miner, Flinders Mines. Today’s proceedings were a continuation of the May 30 hearing in Appeal Court no. 18 of the Chelyabinsk Arbitrazh Court, when Judge Galina Fedina, accompanied […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow What an enterprising lad! While Highland Gold, a London-listed public stockholding company, was looking in a forward direction, last Friday Roman Abramovich sold it a gold and silver prospect called Klen for the greater part of which he had paid $103,774 eighteen months earlier. Abramovich has now relieved Highland Gold of […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Judge Galina Fedina ruled this morning, after a brief, open hearing, that she is postponing until June 6 her consideration of the injunction against Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK) finalizing its takeover of Flinders Mines. The action was confirmed by the judge’s spokesman at the Chelyabinsk Court of Appeal no. 18, Olga […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Not even the epitome of Canadian accountability and compliance, Dudley Do-Right, can remember a case when a man who has just defaulted on bank obligations of almost $75 million been allowed to sell promissory notes on his next adventure on the Toronto Stock Exchange. If Dudley is mistaken, and if Maxim […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow The penultimate move in the two-month contest to stop the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK) takeover of Flinders Mines, scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock local time, is already proving to be as bizarre as everything else recorded in the Chelyabinsk arbitrazh court to date.

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Captain Matthew Flinders was a late 18th century British Navy captain and one of the greatest explorer navigators of his time. His circumnavigation around the southern continent he called Australia also led to the naming of dozens of places by his name, along with a species of local citrus tree. He […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 24th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Magic is a type of confidence trickery, but not all confidence tricksters are magicians. The difference is whether, when the magician pulls, the hat has got a real rabbit in it. Minerals under the ground have something in common with rabbits; that’s to say, sometimes they are there – sometimes there’s […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow The Fitch ratings agency today issued a warning that growing debt at Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), owned by Victor Rashnikov, is at a “higher level than previously expected”. With prices for MMK’s products falling, the company’s free cashflow is under pressure, the Fitch report claims, as it downgraded its outlook forecast […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 17th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Flinders Mines (FMS) is what one investor calls a hedge fund hotel, a hangout for bettors on a sure thing. The source means that after Victor Rashnikov (front seat, left), owner of Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), decided to buy FMS last November, roughly half the value of the company was bought […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
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