FEB. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – KAZ Minerals, the London-listed Kazakh copper miner, recorded a net loss of £2.4b last year, mainly due to a $2.1b write-off from discontinued operations. KAZ Minerals, formerly called Kazakhmys, has close links with the Kazakh elite.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
MARCH 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Underscoring China’s influence over Tajikistan’s economy, a Chinese company has agreed to build a $200m lead producing plant, media reported quoting a senior Tajik government official. China has increased its influence over Tajikistan over the past few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
FEB. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz parliamentarians threatened to nationalise the Kumtor gold mine by the end of March unless its Toronto-listed owner, Centerra Gold, agreed to a new joint-venture to run it.
The ultimatum increases the stakes in the long-running battle for control of the gold mine — Kyrgyzstan’s single biggest economic asset.
“We should finally end this epic,” Reuters quoted parliamentary speaker Asilbek Zheenbekov as saying after the parliamentary vote. “Today we adopted a tough resolution.”
The row over Kumtor has dented both productivity at the gold mine based in the eastern mountains of Kyrgyzstan and the country’s GDP as well as its image as a place for foreign investors to set up businesses.
Centerra Gold has accused Kyrgyz nationalists of wiping up public anger against Kumtor through bogus environmental infringements. Kyrgyzstan has said Centerra Gold needs to run and manage Kumtor more effectively.
The Kyrgyz government wants to swap its 32.7% stake in Centerra Gold for a 50:50 joint venture with the company directly in Kumtor. Commenting on Centerra Gold’s full year results last month, its CEO, Ian Atkinson, said he was studying the proposal. This non-commitment may be the source of the frustration felt by Kyrgyz lawmakers.
Now, the issue of Kumtor’s ownership will once again move to the foreground, potentially destabilising the country and damaging for its reputation further.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
FEB. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its annual report, the Toronto-based Centerra Gold said that its Kumtor mine in eastern Kyrgyzstan produced 10% less gold in 2014 than it did in 2013.
Kumtor is not only important to Centerra Gold, which also has other assets, but is also vital to the economic health of Kyrgyzstan. It is the country’s largest single asset and contributes around 10% of its total GDP.
Already reeling from the fallout from Russia’s sanction-hit economic slowdown, the news from Centerra Gold that, although expected, gold production at Kumtor had fallen will be a another big blow to Kyrgyzstan.
Centerra Gold said gold production in 2014 was around 620,000 ounces, down from 690,000 ounces.
Kumtor has been a headache over the past few years. Kyrgyzstan wants to assume more control over the gold mine, while Centerra Gold has been fighting to retain its share.
Strikes and protests caused part of the drop in production at Kumtor.
Centerra Gold CEO, Ian Atkinson said of negotiations with the Kyrgyz government over Kumtor ownership: “We are in the process of negotiating the definitive agreements to implement the restructuring as described in the Heads of Agreement signed on January 18, 2014 and are continuing discussions with the Kyrgyz Government in this regard.”
Kyrgyzstan wants to swap its 32.7% stake in Centerra Gold for a 50:50 joint venture in Kumtor directly.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz government said it was once again putting its second largest gold mine, Jerooy, up for sale by tender despite a failed attempt to sell it in 2013 for $300m. The Jerooy mine is also the subject of a $549m arbitration suit filed by its former owners, the Kazakh investment fund Visor Holdings.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan increased gold production in 2014 by 4.1% to 102 tonnes, media reported quoting the US Geological Survey. Gold is an important source of foreign cash for the Uzbek government. Uzbekistan is now the seventh largest gold producer in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015
FEB. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s president Emomali Rakhmon sacked the managing-director at TALCO, the company that runs its aluminium smelter, media reported. No official reason was given for sacking Sadriddin Sharipov from TALCO which generates around 70% of Tajikistan’s foreign earnings.
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)
FEB. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — ArcelorMittal, the Luxembourg-based steel manufacturer, said it had temporarily cut salaries for workers at its plant in Temirtau near Karaganda, central Kazakhstan, by 25. ArcelorMittal has struggled to make the plant profitable over the last few years. It has cut its workforce at the plant to 17,000 from over 20,000.
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(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)
FEB. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhmys, one of the biggest employers in Kazakhstan, said it was stopping work on a handful of side projects and making 2,000 people redundant. Kazakhmys’ main product is copper although it employs thousands more people in support businesses such as coal mining. The news piles more pressure on Kazakhstan’s economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)
JAN. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Centerra Gold, the Toronto-based mining company, said it will produce around 10% less gold from its Kumtor gold mine in eastern Kyrgyzstan this year. The company didn’t specify why gold production at Kumtor would drop this year. This is significant, though, as Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s single biggest industrial asset.
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(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)