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Russian miner Polyus' profit in the first half of its financial year jumps by 20% due to high gold prices
Polyus, Russia's biggest gold producer, posted a 20% increase in profit for the first half of this year compared to last. This was due to high global prices which offset lower sales. The board of directors, who has said previously that it would strike a balance in terms of investment and dividend payments to shareholders, has recommended 70.85 roubles per share for the first half 2025. The total amount of money paid out is 67.25 milliards roubles. The company reported that revenue increased by 35%, to $3.7 billion, and EBITDA by 32%, to $2.7 billion. The company stated that the growth was due to an increase in average gold selling prices in the period under review, which countered the negative impact from lower sales volumes. Gold production also fell 11%, to 1.3million ounces. The company confirmed that it expected a decline in production this year as a result of a planned reduction on its Olimpiada Mine. Gold prices have risen by around 30% since the start of 2025. This follows a 27% rise in 2024. At 1340 GMT, spot gold prices were down by almost 0.5% to $3,380 an ounce. Russia will be the second-largest gold producer in the world after China. It will account for 9% global mine production by 2024. According to Metals Focus, Polyus is the world's fifth-largest gold mining company. The United States, Britain, and the European Union have banned the import of Russian gold by 2022.
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TechMet launches critical mineral trading unit after Mercuria increases investment
TechMet, a U.S.-government-backed investment vehicle, is launching an arm to trade critical minerals following further investment by commodity trading house Mercuria. This was announced on Wednesday. TechMet, a private company, owns stakes in 10 different companies including Brazilian Nickel, Cornish Lithium, and Rainbow Rare Earths. According to a press release, TechMet SCM will be a new trading unit that will concentrate on specialty metals from its portfolio companies as well as third parties. Mercuria has increased its investment to make possible the launch the trading arm. It did not specify how much Mercuria had invested. TechMet stated that "it will... expand its global foot print with teams in South Korea and Western Europe, and Washington D.C. for the purpose of strengthening partnerships and securing new offtake agreements." Quentin Lamarche will lead the new trading arm that is owned entirely by TechMet. He was previously a co-managing Director of a joint Venture between Mercuria & TechMet focused on trading batteries metals. LinkedIn says that Lamarche is based in Belgium and previously worked in Hong Kong for Specialty Metals Resources, as well as in Belgium for Umicore. TechMet has a number of major investors, including the U.S. Government's International Development Finance Corp. Qatar Investment Authority is another major shareholder, as are S2G Investments, Lansdowne Partners and Lansdowne Partners. Reporting by Eric Onstad, Editing by Mark Potter
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Kyrgyzstan begins mining gold at Kumtor deposit after nationalisation
Kyrgyzstan began underground gold mining in Kumtor on Wednesday. The government estimated that the deposit could contain up to 147 metric tonnes of gold. Sadyr Japarov is a nationalist and populist president of Kyrgyzstan. He nationalised the mine, which was owned by Canada's Centerra Gold, in 2021 after years of legal disputes. Since then, the mine has brought in more than $3.4 billion to the government. Japarov’s press service stated in a statement that approximately 1,600 metres had been dug of tunnels so far in Kumtor. The state's balance sheet now includes 147 tons worth of geological gold reserves. Gold has been trading at record levels above $3,000 per troy ounce. According to the government, Kyrgyzstan plans to process the Kumtor Tailings Pond, which contains over 100 tons of gold. Kumtor, located in eastern Kyrgyzstan, about 50 km from the Chinese border was developed by Centerra Gold. The company began mining in Kumtor in 1997. Kyrgyzstan reduced production at the Kumtor deposits to 12.6 tonnes last year from 13.6 tonnes in 2023.
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Report highlights tensions within the Mali military regarding Wagner mercenaries
A new report found that Russian private mercenary activities in Mali caused resentment among the West African nation’s army and military leadership, led to security lapses and did not yield any mining concessions. The Wagner group started operating in Mali in the wake of two military coups that took place in 2020 and 21. These coups ejected French forces and United Nations troops who had been fighting Islamist insurgents since a decade. Africa Corps, the Kremlin's paramilitary organization, announced that it would remain in place after Wagner announced its departure. According to Telegram chats by Russian mercenaries that we have seen, 70-80% the Africa Corps are former Wagner mercenaries. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights group, has repeatedly accused Wagner of atrocities committed against civilians while fighting alongside Mali’s army. The Sentry, an investigative research organization, published a report on Wednesday based on interviews conducted with Mali's officials in the finance, mines, intelligence, and military ministries. The report found that Wagner also caused problems for the government and military it was hired to assist. According to interviews with Malian soldiers it was revealed that Wagner fighters "often operated outside of the chain-of-command", using army gear and even carrying out operations without prior permission or notice. The report stated that these missions often resulted in the loss of vehicles, equipment or personnel. The report said that sometimes they left Malian soldiers without the equipment needed to fight insurgents when attacks occurred. According to the report Malian soldiers are resentful of Russian mercenaries, who get "preferential treatments", including medical evacuations which would otherwise be limited due to fuel shortages. Requests for comment from the Russian Defence Ministry or Wagner were not immediately responded to. DESTABILISATION ATTTEMPT Mali has arrested over 30 soldiers and officers in the last month. They were accused of attempting to destabilize the military government. Investigators from Sentry told us that the arrests were made after a meeting of two generals and a few colonels, where they discussed grievances. One was that it appeared that "Russians", who had commanded the military bases in which the suspects operated, still held command. The Sentry's investigators stated that any destabilisation attempts would be at least partially related to the way in which Wagner and Africa Corps treated Malian troops. Officials in the United States believe that Defence Minister Sadio Camara secured the agreement to allow Wagner to operate in Mali. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him in 2023 for this. The Sentry reported that President Assimi goita had blocked Wagner's ability to obtain mining licenses and concessions in Mali as payment. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him for this action in 2023. It found instead that "no viable business was established; relations with military... only deteriorated over time; and Wagner’s fearsome reputation had been undermined by a number of military setbacks". Reporting by Portia Crowe; Editing by Mark Heinrich
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The dollar's strength and China's concerns has caused copper to lose its four-session winning streak.
The copper price fell on Wednesday after four consecutive sessions of gains. A stronger dollar, increasing inventories, and concerns about the demand from China, which is the world's largest metals consumer, all contributed to this decline. The benchmark contract for three months on the London Metal Exchange dropped 0.7% in open-outcry official trading to $9,772 per metric ton, after hitting a two-week high of $9,862 Tuesday. LME copper is up 11% in this year. It has recovered from a low of $8.105, which was more than 16 months old, at the beginning of April. Ewa Mnthey, a commodities analyst at ING, said that "Chinese Demand is Slowing Down". Other factors affecting the economy include tariffs and a weakened property sector. The data from China were mixed. Industrial profits in China declined for the third consecutive month in July, against a backdrop that was weak demand and continued factory gate deflation. Profits in the manufacturing sector grew by 6.8%. Alastair Munro is a senior base metals analyst at Marex. He believes that the improvement in metals could be due to a campaign waged by the Chinese government over the last two months, which aims to reduce excess production capacity, including metals. Munro stated that metals are doing well, given the weak macro-economic climate and the dollar's rally. The metals market was also affected by the stronger dollar following Donald Trump's decision to dismiss Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. This move rekindled investor concerns about the independence of the central bank. The dollar price of metals increases when purchased with other currencies. The LME and U.S. COMEX also reported a rise in the number of warehouses. This impacted sentiment. LME copper inventories COMEX stocks, which have risen by 72% to 156,100 tonnes since late June, added another 1,100 metric tons. COMEX stock So far, this year, the number of shipments has nearly tripled. Other metals include LME aluminium, which fell 0.8% to $2.616 per ton in official trading, zinc, which dropped 1% to 2,785, and nickel, which lost 1.1% at $15,120. Lead, however, rose 0.2% to 1,992.50, and tin, with a 0.8% increase, was the highest. Click here to see the latest news in metals.
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Euro stocks calm down after French stock selloff; Dollar recovers despite Fed independence concerns
The U.S. Dollar recovered on Wednesday, despite investors' concerns about attacks on the independence of the Federal Reserve. European shares also edged up after a sharp decline the previous day, and now the focus is on earnings from AI leader Nvidia. Concerns about the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve grew after a lawyer representing Fed Governor Lisa Cook announced that she would sue President Donald Trump for his decision to dismiss her on Monday. The dollar recovered from its previous session's drop and was 0.3% higher against a basket currency at 1210 GMT. Justin Onuekwusi is chief investment officer of St. James's Place. He said that Cook was dovish in general, even though he believes inflation can be unanchored with a central bank less independent. Onuekwusi said that the markets seemed complacent regarding the risks associated with policymaking. The yield on the two-year U.S. Treasury, which is usually in line with expectations of interest rates, has fallen to its lowest level since May, at 3.645%. The yield on the 30-year bonds, which took the brunt Tuesday's selling, increased 2 basis points to reach 4.93%. These moves have widened yield curves measured by the difference between the two-year and 30-year yields to 128 basis points, which is the widest it has been since early 2022. Trump has repeatedly criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell, and policymakers, for not cutting rates. Market watchers took Powell's remarks at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium of the Fed last week to mean that interest rates could be coming down. Investors have increased their bets that the Fed will cut rates next month. Traders are pricing in an 84 percent chance of Fed action in September, and expect more than 100 basis points of easing in June 2026. Ben Bennett, APAC Investment Strategist at Legal and General Investment Management said: "I think investors will be more focused on the September rate movement and how that affects the payroll print." The STOXX 600 Index in Europe was trading 0.2% up after a nearly 1.0% drop on Tuesday when Francois Bayrou, the French Prime Minister's gamble to gain support for his unpopular plan to reduce debt backfired. Bayrou's decision to call for a vote of confidence on 8 September has increased the risk that eurozone's second largest economy may soon see another government collapse. After a dramatic selloff on Tuesday and Monday, French bonds have calmed down and stocks are rising. Gilles Moec, chief economist at AXA, said: "The key question is whether we can have a budget before the end of this year." He said that for the moment, the markets are pricing in the same outcome as last year when the French government finally pushed through its budget. However, the market's reaction could change if another snap election is called. Sterling and the euro both fell against a stronger dollar. The euro dropped to $1.1574 - its lowest level since August 6. NVIDIA U.S. Stock futures are trading at around 0.1% higher. Earnings from Nvidia, due later this Wednesday, will be the focus of attention. This will determine how U.S. equity markets, which are heavily tech-focused, and have hit near record highs will trade. Investors continued to place bets on global demand for AI Infrastructure, and the company was at the forefront of the market recovery since April's lows. In July, the company crossed the $4 trillion mark to become the most valuable company in the world. Options traders have priced in a swing of $260 billion in Nvidia’s market value following the company’s earnings report. The firm’s business in China, which will be closely monitored after a profit-sharing agreement with the Trump Administration, will also be carefully watched. The fate of Nvidia’s China business depends on the outcome of tariff negotiations and trade restrictions between the two world’s largest economies. Japan's government bond yields on long-term bonds rose to new all-time records in Asia following a disappointing result from the Bank of Japan’s regular debt-purchase operations. Spot gold fell 0.5% in commodities after hitting a two-week peak the previous session. Oil prices rose, as investors considered the impact of new U.S. duties on India, which is the third largest crude consumer in the world. Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate Crude futures both rose by around 20 cents to $67.43 and 63.347, respectively.
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UN nuclear watchdog returns to Iran but no agreement yet on inspections
Iranian state media reported that UN nuclear inspectors returned to Iran on Wednesday for the first since the country suspended its cooperation with them following Israel's attack on its nuclear sites. The ICANA news agency reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran still had not reached an accord on how to resume full cooperation with UN IAEA monitors. According to the report, he stated that inspectors would oversee the changing of fuel in Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. Araqchi made his comments a day after Iran held a meeting with France, Britain and Germany in an attempt to revive negotiations Over its nuclear program - which Western countries say is aimed at the development of a bomb but which it claims is focused on civil projects. Iran said that it needed a new agreement of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency following the 12-day war with Israel in June, to which the United States joined shortly after. The Iranian Parliament Passed legislation In June, the Supreme National Security Council of Iran ruled that future inspections would require approval from Tehran. According to ICANA, the Council approved the inspection visit. However, "no draft of a new modality for cooperation with the IAEA" has been finalised. He added that "the changing of fuel in Bushehr's nuclear reactor must be done under the inspection of inspectors from the international agency." IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said to Fox News on February 2 that "the first IAEA inspection team is back in Iran," and that the agency had yet to decide how it would resume its inspections. After the June attacks on the Iranian sites, Iran claimed that the sites were not safe for inspection. (Reporting and editing by Toby Chopra; Elwely Elwelly)
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Blackstone to expand Spanish data center project by $5 billion
Blackstone, a U.S. asset management company, is planning to invest an additional 4.3 billion euro ($5.03 billion), in order to expand the planned project of building data centres in Spain’s Aragon. The region is aiming to become a cloud computing hub. The documents filed with the regional authorities show that, in addition to an initial investment of nine billion euros spread over nine years that was announced in 2024 by the world's biggest alternative asset manager, a second phase will be added at the same location, depending on the demand from clients. The company stated that the second phase will take seven years to complete. Blackstone has chosen the same region as tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon, where around 20 data centres are currently being evaluated. Document stated that the first phase will begin in the second quarter 2026. The project would include eight data centres as well as an electricity substation and a photovoltaic plant. The company stated that it has signed contracts to supply renewable electricity for all of its needs. Its cooling systems won't use water, which is a resource in Spain that can be in short supply. $1 = 0.8542 Euros (Reporting and editing by Inti Lauro and Louise Heavens).
Investors are worried that Trump's Intel deal will kick off an era of US Industrial Policy
Investors are worried that the U.S. Government's new stake is Intel heralds a new era of government interference in private industries, especially since the deal was made after President Donald Trump called for the resignation the CEO of the computer chip manufacturer.
The deal announced on Friday converts government grants, including the Chips Act, worth $11.1 billion into a 9.9% stake in Intel. In the press release that announced the deal, the company included statements by the CEOs from Microsoft, Dell and others praising it.
Investors noted that this level of transparency is not typically associated with business-Washington relations. Trump said on Twitter that Intel CEO Lip Bu Tan wanted to stay in his job, and "ended giving us $10 billion dollars for the United States."
James McRitchie is a shareholder activist and private investor in California, who owns Intel stock. He said that the threat to the CEO sets a precedent. He said that the statement effectively sent the message "we love Trump and we don't wish to lose 10% of our company."
Intel shares closed at $24.56 in August 15th, the last trading day prior to Trump's announcement. On August 6, Intel shares closed at 20.41. Intel's Tuesday closing price was $24.35 down 1%. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the deal does not grant the U.S. Commerce Department any board seats. Commerce is required to support the board's nominees and proposals for directors. Commerce, however, can vote on other issues "as they wish".
Fitch Ratings stated that the deal did not improve Intel’s BBB credit score, which is just above junk status. Fitch Ratings said that while the deal provides more liquidity it doesn't fundamentally improve demand for Intel chip, they stated in a research report on Tuesday.
Reduced Voting Rights
Intel's filing states that the deal could also subject the company to new regulations or restrictions outside the United States. Tan also said that Intel didn't need the money. SoftBank invested $2 billion in the chipmaker just three days before Trump's announcement.
The White House's latest intervention was in a private company, after a military deal announced in July for a mining stake and the influence it had over U.S. Steel in connection with its acquisition by Japan's Nippon Steel. U.S. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick stated on Tuesday that the Trump administration could take stakes in defence contractors.
The U.S. move could be seen by some European and Asian governments as business as usual, as they already own large chunks of companies. Lower Saxony, a German state, owns 20% of Volkswagen.
Richard Hardegree is vice chairman of UBS' technology investment banking. He said that the Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Singaporean, and Malaysian governments have been doing this for many years. "In France and Italy, there have been massive industrial policies around the semiconductor industry for the past 40-50 years ever since people realized the importance of the semiconductor."
Washington took temporary equity positions in several vital companies during the financial crisis of 2008-2009, but these arrangements were only temporary. Washington's unprecedented move to pressure otherwise healthy companies into long-term ownership stakes has alarmingly alarmed investors.
BLURRED LINES
Rich Weiss said that future federal investments will need "regulations and guidelines" to limit abuses like insider trading.
He said that if government investments were not checked, the trading of these companies would be more risky for investors.
Investors and representatives have cited similar risks, such as when boards balance competing interests in decisions like where to locate a plant, whether or not to layoff workers, or the degree to which they push into overseas markets.
Robert McCormick said that company and national goals can easily clash on these matters. The Council of Institutional Investors includes state pension funds, among other large shareholders.
He said that a government stake in a private company could create a conflict between the interests of the company and the nation.
Kristin Hull is the chief investment officer at California-based activist Nia Impact Capital. She said that she had "more doubts than confidence" regarding the equity stake. Nia owns stakes in Advanced Micro Devices, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. It also manages Intel shares for its clients.
Hull stated in an interview that "I believe the lines between the government and the private sector are blurred here."
A representative of Intel said that the board of directors approved the deal for the issue of shares. The representative declined to comment further. When asked about concerns over insider trading, the representative quoted a press release that stated the U.S. Government would not have any board representation and "other governance rights or information rights."
Microsoft's representative declined to comment. Dell representatives did not answer any questions.
A large institutional investor who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation said that the deal would protect Intel against pressure from activist investors.
The person warned that the U.S. Government could take a worrying step towards state capitalism if it continues to invest in other companies.
"Seening it once for a firm like this doesn't raise any red flags. It raises an eyebrow. If this tool becomes more common, we will have to examine why it is used and why capital markets don't provide financing", the investor stated. (Reporting from Boston by Ross Kerber and Dawn Kopecki. Dawn Kopecki, David Gregorio and Dawn Kopecki edited the article.
(source: Reuters)