NOV. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev told the BBC that he might try to nationalise the Kumtor gold mine in the east of the country. Kyrgyzstan is locked in negotiations with Centerra Gold, listed in Toronto, which owns a majority stake in Kumtor, the country’s largest industrial asset.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
OCT. 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Talking to Reuters, Ian Atkinson, CEO of Toronto-listed mining company Centerra Gold, said shareholders would reject a demand from the Kyrgyz government that they reduce their stake in the Kumtor gold mine to 33%. A tentative 50-50 deal had been agreed but Kyrgyzstan wants a bigger stake in the country’s main economic asset.
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
OCT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted against a deal with Toronto-listed Centerra Gold to split ownership of the Kumtor gold mine 50-50. Instead, parliamentarians want a new agreement which gives the country a majority 67% stake in Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan’s single biggest industrial asset.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The three founders of Kazakhstan-based miner ENRC have applied to de-list the company from the London Stock Exchange (LSE), media reported. The so-called ENRC Trio — Alexander Machkevitch, Alijan Ibragimov and Pathokh Chodiev — want to pull ENRC from the LSE after a series of corporate governance scandals.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A mob of 200 people attacked the office of Manas Resources, an Australian mining company, in southern Kyrgyzstan where it is developing a gold mine, Reuters reported. Over the past few years, disgruntled nationalists have targeted foreign-owned mines to win concessions from companies and to destabilise the government.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Switzerland has ruled that the Tajik Aluminium Company (TALCO), Tajikistan’s largest industrial project, breached contracts with RusAl, the Russia-based aluminium company in 2003, media reported. The court ordered TALCO to pay costs of $275m. A spokesman for TALCO said it would appeal the ruling.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 200 people protested in east Kyrgyzstan against a potential deal between the Kyrgyz government and Toronto-listed Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor Gold mine. Media reported that the protesters kidnapped the regional governor briefly. Anti-government groups are likely to have organised the protests.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The IMF has predicted strong economic growth for Kyrgyzstan because of rising output at the Kumtor gold mine, Reuters reported. Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial asset. Problems with the pit at Kumtor slowed production last year. This year, the IMF said, Kyrgyzstan’s GDP would grow by nearly 8%.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
SEPT. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Centerra Gold, which is listed in Toronto, plans to look for another Kyrgyz mine to invest in once it has finalised an ownership deal for the Kumtor mine, its CEO Ian Atkinson told Bloomberg News. The Kyrgyz government and Centerra have been arguing over ownership of Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial project.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A steel plant owned by ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, in Kazakhstan has introduced a shorter working week because of a drop in demand for its products, local media quoted Reuters as reporting. ArcelorMittal’s plant at Temirtau, near Karaganda, has seen demand drop because of Western sanctions against Iran, a major client.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
