Metals & Mining News Digest

MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) - Severstal and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) have reached a settlement in the antitrust case against Russian steelmakers that will see the company's fine slashed by 90% to about 900 million rubles from the original 8.7 billion rubles, business daily Vedomosti reported on Wednesday and Interfax sources confirmed.?

The Moscow Arbitration Court upheld the legality of the fine of 8.7 billion rubles in January and Severstal filed an appeal. On Tuesday, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal postponed the consideration of the company's motion to approve the settlement with the regulator until May 27. The third parties in the case to dispute the FAS decision are Rosneft, Zvezda shipyard, Gazprom, NLMK and Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK).?

A source familiar with the terms of the settlement signed by the parties said that in adjusting the size of the fine under the agreement between the company and the regulator a lower bar for percentage of revenue from hot-rolled steel sales in 2021 was used for its calculation.?

Severstal also partially fulfilled the regulator's earlier demands, developing and presenting to the FAS a trade policy for hot-rolled flat steel that sets out principles for pricing on the domestic market for this product and relations with customers, including conclusion of contracts, review of orders, delivery terms and so on, the paper said.?

The FAS agreed to repeal some of the orders it issued after investigating the "steelmakers' case," Vedomosti said, citing a source.?

In February 2022, the regulator found Severstal and fellow steelmakers NLMK and MMK to have violated antimonopoly legislation by setting and maintaining monopolistically high prices for hot-rolled flat steel products on the domestic market. Prices for hot-rolled steel rose faster than production costs.?

Furthermore, the FAS found that the steelmakers' sales volumes on the domestic market did not increase, but profits tripled compared to 2019-2020 figures.?

NLMK and MMK, which were fined 6.4 billion rubles and 8 billion rubles respectively, are also challenging the regulator's decisions in court.?

"Reasonable" fines?

A settlement on the antitrust case against Russian steelmakers will not cancel fines, but their size will probably be adjusted, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Yevtukhov told reporters in Tashkent on Tuesday.?

"As part of the amicable settlement there will certainly be fines, but they will probably be reasonable and not be burdensome for companies," Yevtukhov said.?

Commenting on the case of NLMK and MMK, Yevtukhov said the decision on the settlement will depend on the companies.?

"The fact that antimonopoly legislation was violated was when prices surged for all types of metallurgical products. We warned them that this would end with problems and litigation with the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Now the companies have concluded that an agreement needs to be reached. And since legislation allows for amicable settlements, it's good that they found such possibilities," Yevtukhov said.?

ASTANA. April 24 (Interfax) - Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Cameron have signed an agreement on strategic partnership, trade, and cooperation, the UK embassy to Kazakhstan said in a statement.?

"Today, UK Foreign Secretary and Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu signed a comprehensive strategic partnership, trade, and cooperation agreement. The document will serve as the legal foundation for taking forward bilateral cooperation across an even wider range of areas, including education, critical minerals, climate change, finance and business environment, defense and security, science and tech, culture, and people to people links," it said.?

The UK will treble funding for development projects in Central Asia and double the number of Chevening scholarships for Kazakh students, so more Kazakh future leaders can study Master's programs free of charge at Britain's world-class universities, it said.?

Cameron also announced UK support for global opportunities for young people by ensuring that English language teachers across the region will have access to tailored British Council English language teaching materials, it said.?

In addition, University of Oxford's Birsoz Initiative signed a memorandum of understanding with the Institute of Linguistics named after Akhmet Baitursynov, the Bolashak center for inter- national programs, and the Til-Kazyna Kazakh language center, which should enable Kazakh scholars to be placed in Oxford to teach Kazakh language, get year-long teacher training, complete research and visiting fellowships, and collaborate in language teaching methodology, it said.?

"Supporting Kazakhstan's ambitions to develop international partnerships and develop Kazakhstan as a hub for transnational education, a further series of UK-Kazakhstan educational partnerships were also announced today," it said.?

University of Coventry has signed a memorandum of understanding with Primus Education to set up a new campus for Coventry University Kazakhstan, which would offer a range of under- graduate and postgraduate programs, including in teacher training and education, it said.?

Queen's University Belfast and Kazakhstan's Narxoz University also signed a memorandum of understanding announcing their intention to both establish three double degree pathways in business and economics and explore closer collaboration, including through instituting a Queen's University Belfast branch campus in Kazakhstan, it said.?

MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - The board of directors at Uzhuralzoloto Group (UGC) on Thursday approved a 14% increase in authorized capital by issuing 30 billion new shares, the Russian gold miner said.?

"This is a technicality and, according to Russian legislation, one that is needed to approve the prospectus for a securities issue which would be valid for 12 months. This ensures flexibility when deciding on a deal," UGC said.?

The company has said repeatedly that it could in time conduct an SPO to bolster liquidity and join the IMOEX index, for it will need a free float of 10%, however it has not given any specific plans or dates. IB Sinara said a 180-day lock-up period would expire on May 22, "and the company is likely to conduct an SPO."?

UGC said on Thursday, though, that there are "no plans for an SPO at the moment!"?

UGC's shares accelerated their losses on the Moscow Exchange following the share issue announcement. They were down as much as 4.9% at one point but just 1.1% by 12:20 local time.?

UGC is one of Russia's biggest gold miners. It has two hubs - Urals, in the Chelyabinsk region, and Siberia in the Krasnoyarsk territory and Khakassia. Konstantin Strukov the biggest share- holder. The free float is around 6%.?

MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - Seligdar raised Dore gold production 9% year-on-year in Q1 2024 to 845 kg, the miner said.?

The production growth was driven by smooth work of heap leaching pad during the winter and over-fulfilling the ore stacking target in 2023.?

Ore mining fell 30% year-on-year to 2 million tonnes due to accelerated stripping. Inventory enabled ore to be prepared for stacking in accordance with the plan.?

Revenue from gold sales grew 77% to 6.7 billion rubles, due to an increase of 32% to 1,107 tonnes in the volume of gold sales and an increase in the average selling price by 33%.?

The tin mining division boosted ore mining 20% to 257,000 tonnes thanks to the renewal of underground mining equipment and drilling rigs.?

Production of tin in concentrate fell 5% to 617 tonnes. Production of copper in concentrate doubled to 566 tonnes. Tungsten production decreased almost two-thirds to 11 tonnes. Changes in metal production volumes are associated with a planned change in the composition of the mined ore, Seligdar said.?

Revenue from sales of tin, tungsten and copper concentrate rose to 1.4 billion rubles from 800 million rubles a year earlier as concentrate sales volume almost doubled.?

MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax) - Sweden's Kopy Goldfields, which completed a reverse takeover of Russia's Amur Zoloto in September 2020, boosted output 11% year-on-year in Q1 2024 to 9,160 gold equivalent ounces, the company said.?

Gold production from the Yubileiny CIP plant rose 46% to 8,500 oz thanks to higher grades. The Malyutka project's heap-leaching operations are in test mode, producing 660 oz in Q1. The Perevalnoye open pit mines and came to a halt due to their depletion. Alluvial gold mining is expected to begin in Q2.?

Zolotaya Zvezda, which is 25%-owned by Kopy Goldfields, produced 2,360 oz GE in Q1, 4.5 times more than a year previously.?

GE sales for Q1 2024 fell 41% to 8,200 oz while the average realized sale price of gold rose 10% to $2,038/oz.?

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