Member Info for Mjd2020

“It is completely irrelevant to EUA, the railways won't be passing any of eua's 'assets' lol”

You have heard of the Northern Sea Route then?

“All these transport corridors make it possible to directly connect the Northern Sea Route with major logistics hubs in the south of our continent, on the coast of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.”

https://souzveche.ru/news/77108/

ACG need to complete a new acquisition by 25/01 after their $1b deal with Appian fell through.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/ACG/extension-egm-notice/16171010

They focus on mines outside of Russia (despite the CEO being Russian!).

Won’t help EUA but if there are less targets available outside of Russia, then those who can invest in Russia might have less alternatives to chose from.

Also Appian have themselves opened a new large fund to invest in new economy metals projects.

https://appiancapitaladvisory.com/appian-raises-us2-06-billion-for-fund-iii-more-than-doubling-aum/

Again, not likely to invest in Russia but shows that investors are interested in this sector.

Hopefully EUA are in discussions with similar parties from Russia / China / India / UAE etc that are able to operate in Russia.

Found this co when looking at some of the speakers at Russia Energy week. Seems to be similarities with what EUA were looking at regarding hydrogen. Not suggesting a link with EUA but shows that foreign partners are still discussing such projects with Russian companies although the war has obviously severely affected the process.

https://h2ce.ru/en/projects/detail/hydrogen-production-on-sakhalin-its-transportation-sales-and-storage-in-the-republic-of-korea

Recent Q&A with their director:

“Who is considered as investors?

- At the moment, these are more Chinese and Korean companies. The project is aimed at the Asia-Pacific countries. I think there will be a consortium of different companies. Someone will be a technology partner, someone will be a financial partner. Someone - we already know who - will give an off-take contract, because it makes no sense to start without it.

And we determined the essential terms of the contract for the supply of 500 thousand tons of hydrogen starting from 2030.

- But you won't have time to build a PES by this point...

- It will be hydrogen from other projects. From Sakhalin, where we have a joint project with Rosatom on the production of hydrogen by steam conversion of methane with carbon dioxide capture and utilization, there will be 36 thousand tons.”

https://expert.ru/expert/2023/40/tekhnologicheskikh-prepyatstviy-net/

Possibly good news for companies that supply materials needed for the production of hydrogen?

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/925483

“is there anything to count” - very funny! This role reports to a chief accountant so they better be counting something!

CJSC "Kosvinsky Stone" Production Company. Geological exploration, geophysical and geochemical works in the field of subsoil study and reproduction of the mineral resource base.

Duties:

-Checking the correctness of accounting data in 1C;

-Calculation and analysis of financial indicators;

- Reflection of transactions in the accounting program:

- Receipt of goods and services from suppliers;

- Write-off of goods and materials, fuel and lubricants on waybills;

- Participation in inventories;

- Acts of reconciliation with suppliers, customers;

- Control of the availability of primary documents from suppliers;

- Reflection on accounting accounts and verification of the correctness of advance reports;

-Preparation of the base for reporting.

- Execution of orders of the chief accountant.

Requirements:

- Secondary special or higher education;

- Knowledge of the basics of legislation (RAS, Tax Code);

- Experience with 1C (7.7, 8.3), experience with EDI (Contour, SBIS), SPC ConsultantPlus;

- Experience with basic office programs (Word, Excel)

- Have a high level of self-organization and responsibility.

The terms:

Official employment according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation;

Salary from 50,000 rubles,;

Work schedule 5/2 from 9:00 to 18:00. Friday is a shortened day;

The office is located at Engels, 36;

Possibility of advanced training;

Prospects for career and professional growth.

These two job adverts appear to be active at KK:

Accountant (primary documentation)

from 50,000 ₽

ZAO Kosvinsky Stone

Yekaterinburg

Experience from 1 to 3 years

Respond among the first

Reply

Engineer-adcour

from 140,000 ₽

ZAO Kosvinsky Stone

Yekaterinburg

Experience from 1 to 3 years

Respond among the first

https://ekaterinburg.hh.ru/search/vacancy?from=employerPage&employer_id=8964792&hhtmFrom=employer

I remember they advertised for an accountant last time I checked a while back so I’m not 100% sure as to how reliable these adverts are but they appear to be active from the page. Maybe someone should apply and see!

Recent recording from a YouTuber who seems to cover the wider area. Bit insensitive using “Road to Hell” as the soundtrack!

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/lbeHDUYeBIw

She also did a clip of the Severonickel plant.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq-DNc9oBkA&pp=ygUW0JzQvtC90YfQtdGC0YPQvdC00YDQsA==

Not of any relevance but at least shows Monchetundra is still there - could do with a bigger for sale sign though!

I think your bang on the money LB. The basis of the appeal being that the existing tax rate makes PRODUCTION unprofitable explains the move to strip and not sell until the case is resolved.

Anything can happen covgaz but as shared by Jarv earlier this week, as of now the authorities seem to be quite supportive in improving the conditions for EUA’s sub at WK:

https://www.interfax.ru/amp/922075

ECONOMICS

01:43, september 22, 2023

The Ministry of Finance agreed to eliminate the tax leap that threatens platinum mining in the Russian Federation

Moscow. September 22. INTERFAX.RU - The Ministry of Finance of Russia has developed a draft amendments to the Tax Code, which should eliminate a sharp jump in the taxation of mineral extraction tax (MET) on concentrates containing platinum group metals, according to the response of the Ministry of Finance to Boris Titov, Commissioner under the President of Russia for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs.

"As reported in the response, the Ministry is ready to initiate appropriate amendments to the Tax Code. The draft amendments developed by the Ministry of Finance provides for a direct indication of the fact that the rental coefficient 1 is applied to the extraction of concentrates containing platinum group metals to the production of concentrates containing platinum group metals. The bill is aimed at coordination with the interested federal executive authorities," Titov's press service told Interfax.

Earlier, the business ombudsman appealed to Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov on a complaint from the management of Kosvin Stone CJSC, which is engaged in the extraction of gold-platinum concentrate. The appeal noted that in 2021 the Tax Code of the Russian Federation was supplemented by Article 342.8, describing the procedure for applying the so-called "rent coefficient". For a certain list of fossils, it was set at 3.5, that is, the tax rate increased by 3.5 times. For concentrates containing gold, the coefficient remained at 1, but the tax authorities interpreted the simultaneous presence of platinum in the concentrate as a reason to apply an increasing coefficient.

"The tax burden for subsoil users who extract platinum and platinum seed concentrate was several times greater than for their colleagues who mine concentrate with a predominant gold content. And if when introducing the rental coefficient, the task was to bring the mining rent for individual ores to the world average level of 2-3%, then among platinum miners it exceeded 6% before, and with the use of the increasing coefficient it reached almost 22% of the revenue," Titov notes.

The general director of the enterprise in an appeal to the authorized representative noted that since 2021 the tax burden on platinum production has increased several times, which led to the unprofitability of production and its stoppage.

Morning all. I’m not suggesting EUA are involved since we’re exiting Russia. However, replacement of Western investors with Chinese investors and supply contracts with Korean partners as well as targeting the wider APAC market could be promising as this shows the way investors and customers were found to move these particular projects forward.

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/922850

BoD informed us about the appeal in the notes of the 2022 accounts Tygra. I think this news on the decision is very new. Hopefully we’ll get an update from the BoD to confirm this news as my view is avoiding the need to pay the higher tax rate is material news.

This is potentially excellent news.

Totally agree Truthfactory. I posted this in Aug around the protection for investors that the Deputy PM is proposing / negotiating to try and aid further mutual investment between Russia and China as an example.

“Chernyshenko in his greeting to the participants of the forum "Expo China - Northeast Asia" on August 23 said that the work on updating the plan of Russian-Chinese investment cooperation had reached the final stage. It is expected that this will make the working conditions for investors even more comfortable. "Cooperation between Russia and China is reaching a qualitatively new level. We also agreed to launch negotiations to update the agreement between the governments of our countries on the promotion and mutual protection of investments," said the Deputy Prime Minister.” 



https://amp.ura.news/news/1052678664

Export tax is one of many factors that EUA and a buyer will be modelling when valuing the assets. Others being the exchange rate, infrastructure and equipment costs, labour costs, Mineral Extraction Tax rates and of course PGM prices, all over the life of the mine. It’s obvious that these costs will be modelled to include different scenarios and compared against projects in other parts of the world.

The other side is the state support and benefits given to the party that develops the Kola assets. Terskaya was (and still is) listed as a “resident” of the Arctic and amongst other things was to benefit from reduced Mineral Extraction Tax in an agreement running to 2031. I don’t know whether that agreement is still valid but I don’t see a buyer not getting the same sort of benefits as has been the case with other projects such as Russian Platinum’s project and FT. They want cargo for the Northern Sea Route after all.

Below likely with reference to the Lithium JV but good to see nonetheless.

https://invest.nashsever51.ru/list_item/news/prezident-nornikelia-vladimir-potanin-vysoko-otsenil-investitsionnyy-klimat-murmanskoy-Vladimir

Potanin highly appreciated the investment climate of the region.
 

"Friendly, effective in terms of attracting investments: the Murmansk region has one of the best investment climates in our country. It is much easier to achieve results in such interaction. We plan to place new projects that we have in the Murmansk region. Everything that is suitable for the region we do with great pleasure, and will continue to do. We intend to develop, design the production of materials necessary for the production of batteries together with Rosatom. And most likely we will do it at the Monchegorsk industrial site due to its production preparedness and the readiness of the region to support us in every possible way," said the head of Norilsk Nickel.
 

Vladimir Potanin also noted that cooperation between the Murmansk region and Norilsk Nickel can be considered an excellent example of public-private partnership.
 

"We are developing cooperation both in the field of training and in the field of sports events, we are ready to support the initiatives of the region and in terms of improving Murmansk as a successfully developing capital of the Arctic, necessary for the whole country. And in the spiritual sphere, education. You, Andrey Vladimirovich, can always count on us as a company in the support of all your initiatives," said the president of the company.


I’m sticking with the Mineral Extraction Tax appeal guess as to why the concentrate hasn’t been sold. That’s purely conjecture on my part.

In relation to selling WK, a buyer can’t know what his return will be without knowing how MET will be calculated so any offer would likely need to be based on the existing rate being applied unless some kind of additional payment was due in the event of an appeal being successful.

In my opinion it may be cleaner to get the appeal completed before selling WK depending on the timescales.

Hi B1ll, the concentrate needs to be sold. It’s part of the going concern assumptions. The auditor comments from the accounts as part of their sign off include :

“Making inquiries about management’s plans and available written communication with commercial partners for the processing and sale of raw platinum concentrate from the 2022 mining season to generate significant revenue for the Company and the Group and obtained an understanding on how the future expenditure at the West Kytlim mine and other assets will be funded.”

Personally, I think that the appeal against how Mineral Extraction Tax is now calculated is something that the BoD may want to be concluded before they sell it. I could be wrong.

“** Mineral extraction tax contains a provision of £1,652,122 reflecting a recent change to mineral tax legislation and its application to the product of the West Kytlim mine. This is made as a conservative measure as the Group is taking the necessary steps to have the decision reconsidered”

That is unless the process takes so long that the need for cash means they have to sell it before the appeal is concluded.

Either way, the BoD know what the cash flow requirements are, timelines for concluding the appeals process and the fact they are spending time on the appeal process in itself suggests they have a valid route to sell the concentrate in addition to the auditor being satisfied with the enquiries that they made when signing off the accounts.

I’ve got to say, Toffers is talking a lot more sense these days. Repetitive, but the green font makes up for that. Much better than reading the previous posts.

There’s work going to increase investment which they recognise has slowed. Below is from 23/08 and outlines how Russia wants investment from China not primarily for the money but the technology.

EUA’s Kola assets could in theory be a good example and would have the additional benefit of feeding cargo into the Northern Sea Route.

“Chernyshenko in his greeting to the participants of the forum "Expo China - Northeast Asia" on August 23 said that the work on updating the plan of Russian-Chinese investment cooperation had reached the final stage. It is expected that this will make the working conditions for investors even more comfortable. "Cooperation between Russia and China is reaching a qualitatively new level. We also agreed to launch negotiations to update the agreement between the governments of our countries on the promotion and mutual protection of investments," said the Deputy Prime Minister.”

https://amp.ura.news/news/1052678664

Chinese investors could finance Murmansk LNG

Leader of natural gas company Novatek pushes for tax benefits for Chinese companies investing in the Russian Arctic.

June 07, 2023

According to Leonid Mikhelson, the companies CNPC and Silk Road Fund should be exempted dividend tax in project Yamal LNG. In return, the Chinese will re-invest the money in new LNG projects in the Arctic.

According to newspaper Kommersant, Leonid Mikhelson has already sent a request to the federal government about the issue.

The Chinese companies CNPC and Silk Road Fund own 20 percent and 9,9 percent respectively of the Yamal LNG. In the Arctic LNG 2 project, the CNPC and CNOOC both own 10 percent stakes.

They all pay a 10 percent tax on dividends.

Reportedly, the Chinese companies have long called for a reduction of the tax, and Mikhelson now calls on government to follow up.

The Novatek leader argues that the tax be fully exempted, alternatively reduced to five percent. French partner Total, which own 20 percent of the Yamal project, only pay 5 percent dividend tax.

In return, the Chinese companies will re-invest the money in new LNG projects, Mikhelson explains.

The request comes at the same time as Novatek announces plans for a new LNG project in the Kola Peninsula. The Murmansk LNG is to have a capacity of 20,4 million tons per year, and launch the first of three projected development trains already in 2027. The project will apply floating gravity-based structures built at Novatek’s Kola Yard in Belokamenka.

The project also includes a pipeline connection from Murmansk to Volkhov, the gas distribution hub located near St.Petersburg, and it will take advantage of cheap electric power from the Kola Nuclear Power Station, Kommersant reported.

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic-lng/2023/06/chinese-investors-could-finance-murmansk-lng