By John Helmer in Moscow Saddleback Gold recruits General Sir Mike Jackson in an attempt to do battle for the Tajikistan gold sector. It has been 140 years since last two English adventurers walked into Tajikistan with a sales pitch of commercial goods and guns, and with the barely concealed intention to beat the Russians. […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow The break-up of the partnership controlling Norilsk Nickel and Polyus Gold grows more interesting by the day. A half-century ago, hardboiled US city cops used to prosecute the so-called badger game. At its origin, this involved a woman luring a man into a compromising position, only to be caught in […]

by John Helmer - Monday, September 10th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow Mitvol ignores London and goes to US to explain Russian mining rules Roald Dahl once wrote a comedy about a man whose mental powers included the ability to see through cards. Understandably, he spent his life slipping through casino doors, only to be evicted from the gaming table as soon […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 5th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow For the hundred and fifty years between the Opium Wars and the end of World War II, the China Discount was notorious in the Shanghai Bund, on the bank of the Huangpu River. It represented the gap between the little western traders would agree to pay for Chinese-made goods, and […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, August 25th, 2007
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MOSCOW – A press statement this week from the southeastern Siberian town of Irkutsk revived hopes that Russia’s El Dorado, and one of the world’s largest unmined gold deposits, may be about to go on the market. Sukhoi Log (“Dry Gulch”in Russian), according to Nikolai Suslov, deputy head of the Irkutsk region agency for natural […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 27th, 2007
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MOSCOW – The Armenian government ordered prosecutors last week to put a stop to an attempt by the Vedanta group in London to auction off its rights to the Zod gold mine to the highest bidder. Two weeks ago, following six months of investigation, the Armenian prosecutor’s office in Yerevan went to court on behalf […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
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MOSCOW – A man without enough zinc is likely to suffer from a loss of taste, smell, hair, and sexual arousal. It’s the zinc in oysters that is one reason, at least, for their popular association with libido. For miners of the bluish-white metal, however, global insufficiency is proving to be very good for business. […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 19th, 2007
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MOSCOW – Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant to Boston, gave his name to a scheme in which he promised a 50% return to investors within 45 days of their giving him money; or double their money within 90 days. About 40,000 people invested $15 million in 1920 dollars; today that would sum to $150 million. […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
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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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