By John Helmer, Moscow A Canadian Supreme Court judge has ruled that Alexei Mordashov rode roughshod over the rights of minority shareholders in Crew Gold, when Mordashov’s gold group completed its takeover of Crew Gold, and paid $4.65 per share to buy up minority shareholders. Justice Ronald Veale, the senior judge of the Supreme Court […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Now for those who think the appetite for due diligence and accountability deadens the taste for opportunity, the good news from the Russian goldmines comes today from Alfa Bank’s metals analyst Barry Ehrlich, in a set of three fine reports. The global supply and demand balance for gold is stable: the […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Mikhail Prokhorov – Russia’s no-fault oligarch, according to a dozen people familiar with the matter at Bloomberg – was tossed out of Russian politics for his incompetence last month. Yesterday it turned out that the only company he controls with an international share listing and a positive profit line, Polyus Gold, […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, October 6th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Last week, on September 26, Justice D.M. Brown of the Ontario Superior Court threw out a suit challenging the terms of the White Tiger Gold takeover of Century Mining, aka “the Arrangement”, which has been orchestrated by the Russian duo, Maxim Finsky and his career patron, Mikhail Prokhorov. An oral hearing […]

by John Helmer - Monday, October 3rd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Alexei Mordashov’s plan to revive the initial public offering (IPO) of his goldmining group Nord Gold has been reported to be aiming at a relaunch date before Christmas; his first attempt at selling shares on the London market was called off in February when market conditions were much more favourable to […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 29th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Nostradamus, the 16th century French sage, doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his recipe for the Black Plague. He recommended swift removal of infected corpses; fresh air; clean water; and drinking copious amounts of Vitamin C in rose-hip tea. He was also against the then customary practice of bleeding patients. […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, September 4th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow As Canadian stock market regulators open their first-ever investigation into listing practices by Russian companies trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the chief executive of High River Gold (HRG) has warned shareholders against reading reports appearing on this website. A Canadian shareholder of HRG has received an email letter from Konstantin […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 11th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow The greatest of the great Canadians, Glenn Gould was, by his own admission, a lover of driving big, fast cars on the open road. When criticized for his rule-breaking, he acknowledged: “I know I’m at fault for driving through red lights occasionally. But look at the number of times I’ve stopped […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 8th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow They said it could never be done, but Alexei Mordashov has done it! Having failed to buy out the 27% Canadian minority shareholders in High River Gold (HRG), who refuse to sell at his price, Mordashov, owner of 73% of the shares, has hidden the annual general meeting where noone but […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 4th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Alexei Mordashov, owner of the Severstal steelmaking and mining group (lapel button), has instructed the executives in his goldmining arm Nord Gold to prepare for another shot at selling their shares at an initial public offering (IPO) in London before Christmas. He’s also told them that the sooner they can buy […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
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