Germany Chancellor plans lithium deal with Serbia after Rio ruling
Olaf Scholz plans to visit Serbia this week to secure supplies of lithium that are critical for the nation’s energy transition and auto industry.
In a trading update Russia’s Polyus Gold International, owned by Mikhail Prokhorov, a Vladimir Putin rival in upcoming presidential elections, announced a 8% increase in gold production to just under 1.5 million ounces which boosted earnings by 40% to $1.06 billion.
Last week the company announced it could raise us much as $1 billion as part of its planned listing and share sale in London. Polyus follows fellow Russian miners Evraz Plc and Polymetal International to London aiming for inclusion in the prestigious FTSE-100 index.
Polyus Gold is the number one gold producer in Russia and has a significant footprint in Kazakhstan. The company is co-owned by potash baron Suleiman Kerimov who last year orchestrated a $24 billion merger with fellow Russian operator Silvinit to create a company better able to compete with giant Potashcorp of Canada. Prokhorov owns 38% of Polyus.
Polyus commissioned a new mine Verninskoye in December which is expected to add materially to production and lift 2012 production to 1.6 million oz. 2011 was the fourth consecutive year of increased production for the company.
Prokhorov said in a recent interview with Reuters that he wants to do a merger deal with a major miner post-listing:
Polymetal, which mines gold and silver, was forced to deny it was in talks with Polyus about a merger last week, while analysts have said Canadian group Kinross Gold was among a list of potential partners.
With operations in Russia Kinross would be a good fit. Other possible merger partners include Australia’s Newcrest Mining and South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti.
MINING.com reported last week it appears to be open season on Kinross after losing $3 billion of its worth on the Toronto stock market following a bad investment in Africa.
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