Metals & Mining Industry in Russia

Severstal posts strong Q3, outlook improved
MOSCOW, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Severstal, Russia's largest steelmaker, posted a surprise third-quarter net profit thanks to a strong performance at its domestic mills and said it was increasingly optimistic about the future.

"Greater stability in our primary markets has made us more optimistic on the prospects for the remainder of 2009 and 2010," Chief Executive Alexei Mordashov said in a statement on Thursday.

"While a Q4 seasonal correction cannot be ruled out, we believe further measured recovery in 2010 is now more likely."

Severstal made a third-quarter net profit of $66 million, versus the $131 million net loss forecast in a Reuters poll and after a $1.31 billion profit a year ago.

A construction-led upturn in Russia, where recession hit late last year, was offset by continued losses in the United States, where they narrowed sharply from the previous quarter, and in Italy.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0917/Russia-reveals-shiny-state-secret-It-s-awash-in-diamonds

Can't be bad for the economy right ?

How was this kept a secret during the 90's?

it was discovered in the 70s . but it cant be used for jewels ,, but still a good boomer for economy

Actually I remember reading about a speculation that the Russians had rather more diamonds than they had let on in the late 1980s.

There was talk of their being large amounts available but not being exploited to avoid making the market price (which is very strictly controlled) of diamonds to collapse.

There was no mention of craters however... this is a very exciting find... just from a research point of view... was the object that impacted made of diamond material... I find it hard to believe they were created in the impact as from my limited knowledge about diamonds they are created from carbon over very long periods under great pressure.

Good news for industry.

Diamonds (natural or man made) are hardest materials you can find, so they have important application in industry but as well as jewelry.

If I understand this correctly the ones found in syberia where 10 times hardness than others. Russia will probably make big money of it.

Next Bond Movie... "Diamonds are forever 2"



BTW you are quite right FlammingPython... There would be plenty of energy in an asteroid impact... perhaps if the asteroid had not hit there there would be oil and coal, but a large asteroid impact turned it to diamond...

Imagine in 200 years where unscrupulous corporations start dragging asteroids out of the asteroid belt to ram them into planets to create mineral fields this way...

DeBeers shares perhaps dropped a little recently???

Why cant they use this diamond for jewelery ?

Coming close this discovery is the Shale Oil found at Bazhenov pretty big taking Russian reserves close to Saudi cant be bad for the economy.

Well guess what else the asteriod impact did in Siberia ..dig deeper and you will find Alien civilisation , UFO , Wizard

An interesting idea but only if the asteroids were already in orbit or on a very close fly-by and only need a little nudge. Otherwise you'd probably just spend more energy dragging them into position than it would take to create such a quantity of minerals completely artificially.

Sorry... I was too subtle... the emphasis was on unscrupulous, because the payoff wouldn't be a crater filled with industrial grade diamonds, it would be a crater where your biggest rival company used to be...

Why cant they use this diamond for jewelery ?

Different quality diamonds are used for different things... the flawless diamonds... which are actually chunks of diamond with significant distances between the flaws that allow a skilled jeweller to cut the diamond so that the flawed area is removed and you end up with an optically perfect diamond for jewellery.

Industrial diamonds are full of flaws, but flaws only matter for people who want pretty diamonds. For industrial use if you are making something out of a hard material like tungsten then obviously steel tools will make no impression on them. Using diamond based abrasive material means you can shape and create sharp edges on very hard materials. This is important when making machine tools that will be cutting steel or whatever... if they are made out of steel themselves they wont last very long or do a good job. Make them out of Tungsten carbide and they will last much longer and also do a much better job. You need diamond coated tools to make tungsten carbide tools... the diamond is usually in powdered form so the flaws in it don't matter.

Well guess what else the asteriod impact did in Siberia ..dig deeper and you will find Alien civilisation , UFO , Wizard

The 1908 Tunguska event is believed to have cause extensive damage, but no crater was found, so it was believed to exploded in the atmosphere. If it had hit the ground the damage would have been devastating, but the crater would have been fascinating too.

If it had hit the ground it might have caused a drop in temperatures for a few years like a mini ice age...

Russian geologists have discovered a large gold ore deposit in Yakutia.

According to experts, the deposit’s reserves amount to about 200 tons.

Geologists bumped into gold-rich Mount Rudnaya while they were prospecting for gold in the area.

Mount Rudnaya was last estimated for gold reserves in the early 2000s.

Experts knew that it was worth looking at after they assessed the content of gold and ore parameters.

The deposit will be put up for auction in three years.

Yakutia’s gold output amounted to 21.2 tons last year.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_19/Geologists-discovered-large-gold-ore-deposit-in-Yakutia/

Is this true ?

Russia has secret diamond reserves worth one quadrillion dollars

How much is one quadrillion USD worth ?

Austin wrote:Is this true ?

Russia has secret diamond reserves worth one quadrillion dollars

How much is one quadrillion USD worth ?

The story about the diamonds is true and has been discussed here before.

Anyway 1 quadrilion $ = 1 million billion $     or 1 000 000 000 000 000 $    

Ah Thanks , so now US has to print more USD just about quadrillion  

So Russia have enough of the best quality diamonds to buy the whole World and to pay all debts of the World. They should make their Ruble based on diamonds and will be the strongest currency. Russian central bank say they have more than 1000 tons of gold. I wonder how much diamonds they have, for which they don't tell?

It seems an asteroid made a whole coal location in diamonds.

Not quite that simple guys.

It is a nice reserve, but for immediate and medium term future it means pretty little for Russia's economy.

According to the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, the country has the second largest gold reserves in the world at 12,500 tonnes (over 400 million ounces).   

From Russia With Gold

So Russia ranks no 1 in Oil and Gas reserves , No-2 in Gold , No-3 in Coal .........what other key reserves it hold in huge numbers ?

Austin wrote:So Russia ranks no 1 in Oil and Gas reserves , No-2 in Gold , No-3 in Coal .........what other key reserves it hold in huge numbers ?

Diamonds, but they are not terribly useful at the moment. Just a good "reserve" for the long term.
Timber, huge reserves.

Oh and, land .

Also largest reserves of Diamond

Diamond Mining in Russi

http://rostec.ru/en/news/4513545

Rostec has won the auction for the development of Tomtor
The joint venture of the State Corporation and the EAST Group will be devoted to extract rare earth metals

The joint company of the State Corporation Rostec and the EAST Group, Triarkmining, has won an auction for the right to use the subsoil of the Tomtor mine for exploration and extraction of minerals of niobium, rare earths, scandium and its components associated metals. To 2017, Rostec intends to ensure the need for the Russian industry in rare earth metals.

“In terms of market fluctuations and changes in the political environment, the technological independence and independence of resources of the Russian industry of rare earth metals is one of our top priorities. By 2020, we must not only fully meet our growing needs, but we must also start to export this important strategic raw material,” said the head of Rostec.

...the exploration works are planned to finish within a year and half to five years, and the construction of the infrastructure, within eight years. The mining and processing complex should begin to work at full capacity in ten years. ...Rostec is the main consumer of rare earth metals in Russia, and the holdings, which need them most, are Navigator and Shvabe. This will create a complete cycle of production of rare earth metals in Russia, from the extraction of raw materials to the manufacture of final products, which will allow controlling the entire price.

^This is in Yakutia. Sounds like a good business to get into, both for sovereignty and general business prospects. It's not all about what is dug out of the ground on Russian soil, so interesting to see if Rostec will be involved in developing rare earths in other countries as well.

Of course, in contrast to NATO hysterics about China cornering the market and restricting exports, Russia is actually doing something to be self sufficient and make money exporting the stuff. Which is funny, because NATO hysterics about malevolent Chinese intent aside, the stated Chinese goal of export restrictions was in fact to PROMOTE development of other global rare earth sources, a logical goal if China doesn't want to deplete it's own resources by being the sole supplier for the current time, and then be dependent on foreign sources when it's local reserves have run out.