Abramovich and other investors holding 40.06% of the Russia-focused gold miner have agreed to sell their shares to Fortiana Holdings Limited in a deal that values Highland at about $1.4 billion.

Fortiana, a Cyprus-registered company of Russian businessman Vladislav Sviblov, will make an offer to the rest of Highland’s shareholders at the same price of 3-pounds-per-share ($3.94), a 3.8% premium to Thursday’s closing price.

Highland Gold is one of Russia’s top 10 gold producers, operating several mines in the country’s Far East.

The agreement follows Fortiana’s sale last month of about 5% in another Russian gold miner, Petropavlovsk. Selling that interest gave the company cash to pursue other investment opportunities, it said at the time.

Spot gold has climbed about 29% this year on the back mixed factors, including safe-haven demand, a weakening US dollar, negative real yields and a flood of monetary and fiscal stimulus.

Even with the likelihood of gold price volatility in the near term, investment demand should hold up over a longer time period, the World Gold Council said Thursday.

Abramovich sold last year a stake in Nornickel, Russia’s biggest mining company. The deal was the largest share sale by a Russian company since Magnit PJSC’s accelerated bookbuild offering in November 2017.

Fortiana’s acquisition of a stake in Highland Gold is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.

(With files from Reuters and Bloomberg)

The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI)rose to 51.1 in July from June’s 50.9, official data showed on Friday, marking the highest reading since March. Analysts had expected it to slow to 50.7.

The 50-point mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

Gauges ranging from trade to producer prices have all reflected signs of a further pick-up in manufacturing, but analysts say factories could have a tough time maintaining momentum as pent-up demand wanes and heavy flooding across large swathes of China disrupts economic activity.

“We believe Beijing will likely maintain its easing stance through the remainder of this year as the economy is still far from a full recovery and faces heightened uncertainty,” Nomura analysts wrote Tuesday.

Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Shri Navaratnam

The arbitration panel declared that UI violated its obligations to Denison under the related agreements, and ordered UI to pay the company $10-million, plus interest at a rate of 5% a year from November 16, 2016, as well as certain legal and arbitration costs.

The arbitration panel also dismissed all other claims and counterclaims.

In November 2015, Denison completed the sale of its mining assets and operations located in Mongolia to UI pursuant to an amended and restated share purchase. The primary assets, at that time, were the exploration licences for the Hairhan, Haraat, Gurvan Saihan and Ulzit projects.

In September 2016, the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia formally issued mining licence certificates for all four projects, triggering Denison's right to receive additional post-closing contingent consideration of $10-million.

Denison has extended the payment due date of the mining licence receivable from November 16, 2016 to July 16, 2017, and agreed to a 5% a year interest rate.

The uranium exploration company turned to arbitration after the required payments were not made.

The Chinese vendor shipped 55.8 million devices, down five percent year on year. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Samsung (which is second in China sales) shipped 53.7 million smartphones, a 30 percent plunge versus the same period last year.

Overall, smartphone shipments in international markets plunged 27 percent year-on-year in the April to June quarter.

Statistics showed that Huawei sold over 70 percent of its smartphones in mainland China in the second quarter. In Europe (a key region for Huawei) the company’s smartphone market share dropped sharply to 16 percent in the second quarter versus 22 percent in the same period in 2019. According to Counterpoint Research, Huawei is the third-largest smartphone maker in Europe behind Samsung and Apple.

Analysts say that given the massive population of China, success there often spurs companies to a large “global” market share.

“It will be hard for Huawei to maintain its lead in the long term,” said analyst at Canalys Mo Jia. “Its major channel partners in key regions, such as Europe, are increasingly wary of ranging Huawei devices, taking on fewer models, and bringing in new brands to reduce risk.”

The analyst added that “Strength in China alone will not be enough to sustain Huawei at the top once the global economy starts to recover.”

The growth in shipments comes as Huawei struggles to do international business amid pressure from the United States. In 2019, the Chinese tech company was placed on the US Entity List, which restricted its access to American technology.

Thus, Huawei could not use licensed Google Android on its latest flagship devices. The company was forced to release its own operating system called HarmonyOS last year.

China imported 6.26 million tonnes of coking coal in June, up by 31 percent from 4.78 million tonnes in May but down by 4 percent from a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data. Total imports during the first half of this year increased by 5 percent to 38 million tonnes.

China’s coal imports from Mongolia reached 2.09 million tonnes in June, down by 22 percent from a year earlier but up by 23 percent from 1.71 million tonnes in May. Mongolian imports rebounded from their lowest level of 49,780 tonnes in March and surpassed the 2 million tonnes mark for the first time in three months, after the country reopened its border in late March and increased the daily number of coal trucks moving through its highway border crossings.

In parallel with the company’s aggressive exploration program currently underway at the ATO Gold Mine, the Company has retained technical and project management advisers and is now working towards the completion of a BFS with a target date of March 2021. The BFS is built on a previously completed Centerra Gold 2012 Internal Feasibility study and on further internal studies undertaken by Steppe Gold from 2017 to present.

The Company is currently working on updating all resources and reserves for the ATO1, ATO2 and ATO4 deposits in addition to a maiden resource and reserve for the Mungu Discovery. Steppe Gold has completed a substantial amount of drilling at the ATO Gold Mine since resources and reserves were last calculated. The Company has drilled 1,840 metres at ATO1, 1,662 metres at ATO2, 14,760 metres at ATO4 and over 26,573 metres have been drilled at the Mungu Discovery.

Financing strategies for the ATO Gold Mine Expansion are advancing in parallel with the BFS process with construction targeted for commencement in mid-2021. The Company has commenced discussions with project finance and lending groups and it expects to fund its equity contribution from operating cash flows and cash on hand. Post the recent placement of shares to Eric Sprott the Company has approximately USD 22M cash on hand with regular gold sales from the ATO Gold Mine continuing.

The Company expects a smooth transition from open cut oxide ores being heap leached to the processing of open cut fresh rock ores through a new flotation and CIL circuit. The Company is targeting first production from the ATO Gold Mine Expansion in mid to late 2022.

Steppe Gold CEO Mr Bataa Tumur-Ochir commented: “With our Phase 1 production now well underway and generating strong cash flows, we are excited to be accelerating the expansion of the ATO Gold Mine into fresh rock ores. Previous studies by Centerra and our own in-house work provide us with a high level of confidence in the economic potential of the fresh rock expansion.”

He continued:

“This larger second phase will clearly demonstrate that the ATO Gold Mine is a robust, long life, low cost operation with considerable exploration growth through aggressive drilling programs.” (Yahoo Finance)

Mr. Pavit Ramachandran emphasized that the agricultural sector is a promising sector to diversify the Mongolian economy and raise employment and income. He continued “ADB has implemented a number of projects in the food, agriculture and light industry sectors of Mongolia. In the coming years, we plan to focus on supporting small local businesses and introducing climate-resistant livestock and scientific advances into herders' lives”.

After noting the Government of Mongolia’s efforts on the production of value-added products in the agricultural sector and agricultural commercialization, Minister Z.Mendsaikhan expressed his intention to intensify cooperation with ADB and support the further development of industrial parks, supply of agricultural raw materials, and establishment of a storage and protection system.

The Mining Minister requested the Ambassador to support the Mongolian side in increasing border crossings and speeding up the inspection process for Mongolian trucks during the implementation of the Green Gateway, a set of temporary regulations the countries agreed on. Undertaking to inform his country of the request, the Ambassador voiced his readiness to put his all efforts into further deepening bilateral mining cooperation.

The same week, Minister G.Yondon met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India to Mongolia Mohinder Pratap Singh.

The sides discussed the current progress of oil refinery construction, issues faced in the implementation of the project to build an oil refinery with an annual capacity of 1.5 million tons in Dornogobi aimag to meet domestic demand for petroleum products and develop petrochemical industry, as well as the opportunities for further cooperation in oil industry.

The Government Action Program will be developed based on Mongolia’s long-term development policy “Vision 2050”, in particular, the main directions of its 10-year medium term program and 5-year course of action.

The Government intends to complete repayment of its debts as well as some large-scale development works, such as construction of oil refinery, railroad, Tavantolgoi power station, a hydropower plant and a processing plant in coming years.

In addition, some issues that have been under discussion for many years, such as providing annual preventive health screening for all citizens, grey water use and refurbishment of engineering pipelines of Ulaanbaatar city, said L.Oyun-Erdene, Head of the Cabinet Secretariat of Government.

Since Government’s structure and composition have been changed following the recent parliamentary election, the new action program will be approved, entailing amendments to the state budget. In connection with the pandemic, budget revenue fell short of forecast by MNT 2.1 trillion as of the first six months of this year. If the situation continues further, budget deficit is expected to reach MNT 3 trillion by the end of 2020. Therefore, the Government has agreed with China to implement “Green Channels” temporary regulation to increase coal exports and also has been collaborating with international banking and financial organizations, Minister of Finance Ch.Khurelbaatar informs.

The draft action program of the government for 2020-2024 and a bill on budget amendment will be submitted to the Parliament on August 10, reports Cabinet Secretariat.