By John Helmer in Moscow Shares of uranium mining companies, like other energy sources, generally follow the commodity price, so when oil and the others collapsed a year ago, the Russian uranium miner, Priargunsk Chemical and Mining Company (ticker PNGO:RU), went down with them. From a historical peak of $800 per share struck in April […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 17th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s resources tsar, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, is considering a new plan to award the mining right to Sukhoi Log, one of the largest unmined gold deposits in the world, to a special-purpose company backed by Russian Technologies, the state metals and minerals conglomerate run by Sechin’s old ally, […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Udokan copper deposit, in southeastern Siberia, will not be mined any time soon, according to government and commercial mining sources in Moscow. For miners, who have been watching this particular copper pot pass from one hand to another, including BHP’s very briefly in 1992, this should come as no […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 26th, 2009
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By John Helmer At a hearing on June 9, the Australian Federal Court issued filing deadlines, and ordered a hearing date in August for adjudication of the clash between manganese miners, OM Holdings (OMH) of Singapore and Stratford Sun Ltd, a unit of Consolidated Minerals. It is the first skirmish over the tactics OMH has […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
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By John Helmer The world of manganese mining is so small, concentrated, and dependent on China, as both producer and consumer, that if there are shenanigans, the reputation of the trade can be swiftly and seriously threatened, especially in China. For the biggest of the producers, the Australians and South Africans, manganese is a sideline. […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, May 17th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow In the world of mining, it can be much more profitable to leave the gold in the ground, and take out the cash from booming share or equity value. According to Oleg Mitvol, the mine regulator for the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources until last month, Russian goldminers are guilty […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow In the global marketplace for potash — one of the vital nutrients for plant growth, food production, and fertilizer fortune — noone is sharper at spotting a bargain than China. That’s because Chinese farmers, and the state fertilizer distributors, comprise the world’s largest consumers and importers of potash. And more […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Yury Trutnev, the Russian minister in charge of Russia’s oil and mineral licences, is the top-earning member of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s cabinet for another year, according to official income data just released. For 2008, Trutnev has declared earnings of Rb369.94 million, equivalent now to $10.9 million. Presiding at the […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow In the Russian fertilizer business, the days are gone when you could make enormous profits mixing fertilizer ingredients into sacks; loading the sacks aboard ship; and earning your profit margin between the rising export price of the sack, and the government-fixed price of its constituents in the home market. Today, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has put his signature on one of the strangest mining prospector’s pay-sheets ever drafted in the history of mining. According to the prevailingRussian law, now one year old, if a miner does not qualify as Russian, and if what he discovers is big and valuable enough, […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 20th, 2009
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