Why London's mining oligarchs mustn't any longer be ignored

Nostromo Research

5 July 2013

It may be simplistic to describe the activities of some major eastern European investors as evidence of a "mining mafia" having invaded the English capital.

Nonetheless, in a superbly-researched six-page examination of what's dubbed the "ghost" activities of numerous firms listed on the official register of UK companies, Private Eye  come closes to using this term [Private Eye, 17-30 May 2013].

The most dubious of these outfits are managed by Ukrainians, Latvians, and Russians, with a sprinkling of others who originate elsewhere in the former USSR, including Kyrgyzstan.

"Where there's muck there's brass plates", wittily observes Britain's leading satirical magazine, adding that Britain is now "the capital of corporate crime".

Not all these aliens from the east are involved in mining, of course.

And Private Eye omits to mention  is that, by far the largest amount of dubious funding passed through London isn't  laundered through one or other of the 49,000 (sic) limited liabilty partnerships (LLPs) currently registered in Britain.

In fact, it's brought into the UK by ostensibly respectable, relatively high-profile and certainly more powerful, so-called "oligarchs". Some of these have been exposed by the mainstream press in recent months (notably those behind ENRC).

Far less in the public eye (in fact right out of it)  is a newer breed of those we  might term  "lesser oligarchs", whose potential to influence the activities of UK-listed mining companies should be of equal, if not more, concern.

Following Roman's road

In recent updates posted on the From Money to Metal website, you can assess for yourself just how threatening Roman Abramovich has become to the pursuit of "acceptable" mining practices.

He's certainly the best known of  his breed.

But, ironically,  Mr Abramovich no longer appears to hold the bulk of his assets in London; instead  shifting them (back) to Moscow, and into offshore tax retreats, such as Cyprus.

(That, of course, shouldn't place him out of British public purview; indeed, it ought to put him firmly within it, now  the UK government has pledged to curb the tax avoidance tactics, currently adopted by such as Google and Amazon).

Meanwhile, three other Russian investors are creeping towards control Polyus Gold, one of the world's  largest gold firms,  while aiming to achieve a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange.

If successful, Zelimkhan Mutsoev, Gavril Yushvaev, and Suleyman Kerimov, would then merge this with another FTSE 100 outfi - POlymetal - which also happens to be Russia's biggest silver-mining enterprise.

For more information, see entries for "Roman Abramovich" and "Onexim Group" on the FM2M website.