Peter Hambro Mining still embroiled in Moscow licensing war

Peter Hambro Mining still embroiled in Moscow licensing war

Open war was declared in Moscow this week, as one official at the Ministry of Natural Resources came out publicly in favour of Peter Hambro Mining (PHM), and other officials, including the official spokesman for his superior, repudiated the statement, and warned that no decision on PHM’s licensing troubles is due in Moscow until mid-January at the earliest.

In a statement reported by Bloomberg, deputy head of Rosnedr, the licensing branch of the Ministry, Vladimir Bavlov, claimed his agency has no complaints against two gold mining licenses held by Peter Hambro Mining unit Yamal Zoloto (“Yamal Gold”). The agency will not look at revoking the licenses, Bavlov reportedly said.

Rospriradnadzor, the licence inspection and compliance agency which has reported multiple violations in licences PHM holds through YamalZoloto, also told Mineweb no decision has been made on the recommendation to revoke the licences. It added that no decision will be reached until a ministry committee convenes to consider the inspection results, and Rospriradnadzor’s recommendations.

Yevgeny Snegirev, spokesman for Rospriradnadzor, told Mineweb: ”I am not aware of such a statement by Bavlov. We have our conclusions [towards PHM], and they remain the same. We sent the request to Rosnedr to withdraw the licences with our report. Now it is for them to decide.”

Inside Rosnedr, Bavlov is deputy to Rosnedr chief, A.A. Ledovskih, When he was asked to clarify how Bavlov could speak for the agency, before it had met officially on the PHM licences, Ledovskih’s spokesman Yelena Koverga repudiated Bavlov’s remarks. ”What Bavlov stated,” she told Mineweb, “is his personal opinion, and if I were in your position, I wouldn’t put much value in it. He simply cannot speak for the Rosnedr agency on this question, because the PHM case was not reviewed in committee, as it should be before any conclusions can be drawn.” Koverga emphasized that government action on the licence violations report is still pending. ” We have the report from Rosprirodnadzor with the identified violations. I am not sure whether we will be able to review it this year or not.”

Bavlov’s remark to a western media outlet is the second time he has intervened publicly in support of PHM. A fortnight ago, Bavlov was quoted by Reuters as attacking the Rospriradnadzor criticism of PHM as “without foundation and premature”. Mineweb published Bavlov’s comment, at Peter Hambro’s request, on December 8.

A source in the ministry who knows Bavlov told Mineweb today: “in subsoil work there are no companies which work without violations. Maybe Bavlov didn’t see the report, as it arrived only recently.”

Bavlov was not available to confirm or clarify his remarks when Mineweb contacted his office.

Sources close to the Ministry of Natural Resources have told Mineweb that favouritism towards licence-holders has been rife in the Ministry since Yury Trutnev became minister in 2004. In comments to Mineweb, Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Rospriradnadzor, explicitly accused his superior, Sergei Sai, as well as Vladimir Rylkov, the regional subordinate responsible for the YamalZoloto licence check.

That inspection, Mitvol told Mineweb after he met recently with Hambro, led to Mitvol’s recommendation, repeated to Mineweb, that Rosnedr should “withdraw the [PHM] licenses on two 2 deposits from the report ”“ Novogodnee-Monto and Taunogo-Khanterey, as 21 violations are too much to keep the license with the company.”

Mitvol has said he has called for Rylkov to be fired. Sai has called for Mitvol to be sanctioned.

According to ministry sources, the clash between Rospriradnadzor and Rosnedr, the licence inspectors and the licence issuers, affects dozens of licences in hard-rock mining and the oil and gas sector. “The PHM case is not unique,” said one source, whose account is corroborated by a miner. “Rospriradnadzor is sending Rosnedr dozens of requests to revoke the licenses, but in fact revocations turn out to be zero.” The source went on: “It is hard to guess why it is happening,” adding a hunch that is unprintable.

Hambro told Mineweb in Moscow that the licence problems at YamalZoloto had been caused by “mistaken reporting” and “inaccurate accounting which led to the problems.” He said he had fired the chief executive of the company, Vasily Kruchinsky.

Source: www.mineweb.net

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