By John Helmer, Moscow Now it’s official – the French, British, Americans, Chinese and Indians are all behind Guinean President Alpa Conde’s decision to revoke the Russian concession for the world’s largest unmined bauxite mining deposit, Dian-Dian, and hit the current concession holder, United Company Rusal, with back-tax and fraud claims, plus interest and penalties, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow In The Long Good-Bye, private detective Philip Marlowe says of the snob column in the newspapers, “I don’t read them often, only when I run out of things I dislike.” Some people feel that way about the weekly report from Emerging Portfolio Fund Research(EPFR). That is the Boston outfit which tracks […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 24th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow In just a few hours this week, Rusal’s share price collapsed as a Bloomberg report confirmed what the stock markets have been suspecting for some time now – one of Rusal’s anchor shareholders might need cash so badly, he wants to sell his shares. According to Bloomberg, the requirement for quick […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 9th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Oleg Deripaska has been losing ground to Russian rivals in Mongolia, and is facing unprecedented administrative sanctions in Ukraine and Russia. The commercial effect is to force upwards the cost line on his balance-sheets, squeezing the earnings from which he must pay his debts and shareholder dividends. The political effect is […]

by John Helmer - Friday, May 27th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Oleg Deripaska (right), the chief executive of United Company Rusal, not only persuaded Muammar Qaddafi and his son, Saif al-Qaddafi (left), to invest in Rusal shares to support the company’s listing in Hong Kong last year. It now appears the Libyans also bought a stake in Norilsk Nickel to assist Deripaska […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 26th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow After the report appearing yesterday on Rusal’s negotiations with the Government of Guinea was published, the following fresh information was communicated by a member of staff of President Alpha Conde, and confirmed by other Guinean sources.

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow In a series of preemptory dismissals, the head of global alumina operations for United Company Rusal, Yakov Itskov (left image), and his chief executive Oleg Deripaska (right image), have been ordered out of the rooms of Guinea’s two mining ministers, Mahmoud Thiam, and his successor, Mohammed Lamine Fofana, after the ministers […]

by John Helmer - Monday, May 9th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow When the electricity bill goes up in Russia, that is called “liberalization”. Editorialists in countries which don’t enjoy cheap electricity call that a good thing. By which they mean that Mother Nature’s special discount for Russia should be erased, and its competitive advantages in global trade destroyed.

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 28th, 2011
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United Company Rusal has awarded John Helmer the highest honour it can bestow — its fear of what he writes. The award is the first ever by the Russian corporation and state aluminium monopoly to a journalist specializing in the coverage of Russian metal, mineral and mining affairs.

by John Helmer - Friday, April 1st, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow It is now one week since Rusal obliged Norilsk Nickel to call an extraordinary meeting of shareholders for a fresh round of voting on the Norilsk Nickel board . This is the third such vote; the first was at the regular annual shareholders meeting of Norilsk Nickel on June 28, last […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 18th, 2011
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