Madneuli JSC

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JSC Madneuli (JSCM)
Type Closed Joint-Stock Company
Founded 1994
Headquarters Tbilisi, Flag of Georgia (country) Georgia
Key people Owner
Guela Akobia, Director General
Industry Mining
Products Gold
Silver
Copper
Molybdenum
Revenue USD$70.70 Million estimated maximum
Website www.madneuli.ge

JSC Madneuli (JSCM) (Georgian: სააქციო საზოგადოება მადნეული, saak'ts'io sazogadoeba "madneuli"; სს მადნეული, ss "madneuli") is a mining company based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Established in 1994, Madneuli is currently involved in ore, copper, and gold mining and smelting. The company is a daughter affiliate and subsidiary of the Moscow-based Prominvest Corporation group[1][2][3] which owns 97% of Madneuli's stock.[4]The President of Prominvest is Sergey Generalov who is a Russian ex-Minister of Fuel and Energy and an ex-State Duma deputy. [5]

Contents

[edit] History

Madneuli was privatized in 2005 for $35 million U.S dollars. The privatization and purchase have been controversial. It has been claimed that the company netted $60 million U.S. dollars in the year of the privatization.

[edit] Financials

Financials for Madneuli are not readily available. Using Georgian export data for the year of 2005, the maximum revenues Madneuli could have generated are $34.7 million for gold and $36.4 million for copper suggesting a maximum total revenue of $70.70 million US dollars. Australian junior Bolnisi Gold, who worked the Bolnisi Mine in a joint venture with Madnueli in 2005 and had a 50% stake in the mine, reported a gross profit of $11.4 million US Dollars and positive cash flow from operating activities in the same period of $6.8 million.

[edit] Operations

[edit] Georgia

Madneuli has the open pit Bolnisi Mine in the Bolnisi district of the Kvemo Kartli region in southern Georgia. Western sources estimate Madneuli's assets in this mine to be 350,435 oz (10,908 kg) of gold. Silver, copper, and other minerals are also mined at that location. This asset has been worked for 30 years.

[edit] Armenia

In 2007 Madneuli purchased the Armenian company Golden Ore which had a 25-year permit to exploit the copper-molybdenum mine at Hankavan.[6] Also, through the purchase of the Ararat Gold Recovery Company (AGRC)[7], on August 15, 2007, Madneuli now owns the Meghradzor mine in the Meghradzor region in the Abovyan province of Armenia, as well as the Ararat processing plant in the Ararat province of Armenia.

[edit] Nagorno-Karabakh

With the purchase of the AGRC, Madneuli now owns the open pit Zod gold mine, a mine that is partly in the Vardenis region in the Gegharkunik province in Armenia and partly in the de facto independent Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. The AGRC is the sole asset of Sterlite Gold Ltd. (TSX: SGD delisted) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) and its chief executive, Anil Agarwal. The purchase price was $80 Million US dollars in cash plus assumption of all debts from Sterlite. The financing was undertaking by the Russian financing company Industrial Investors. This mine is located in an area that is referred to as Kalbajar in Azerbaijan. Arif Iskandarov, Azerbaijan's minister of natural resouces, called this purchase "unlawful". [8] Khazar Ibrahim, the Press-Secretary of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, has stated that the Azerbaijani Embassy in Georgia holds investigations on the issue.[8] The Georgian government officials have stated that Tbilisi approaches negatively to interest shown by "Madneuli" company to the goldfield in the Nagorno-Karabakh, but the company is private enterprise and the government cannot interfere into the activity of the company.[9] The deal has been postponed due to negotiations with the Armenian government about settling of all debts Sterlite had towards the government.[10]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 'Industrial Investors' Russian group got control over Agarak Copper-Molybdenum integrated plant in South of Armenia. Caucasus Environmental NGO Network Weekly Digest. 2007-10-06.
  2. ^ ООО "Проминвест" стал собственником грузинского горно-обогатительного комбината. Regnum. 17.12.2005.
  3. ^ АО "Маднеули" не покупает Агаракский медно-молибденовый комбинат в Армении: Коба Накопиа. Regnum. 09.10.2007
  4. ^ Генералов Сергей Владимирович. Lobbying.ru. Accessed October 19, 2007.
  5. ^ Kommersant:Air Transport 2002-2004
  6. ^ What Issue Does the Government Have with Madneuli? Hetq Online, October 29, 2007, By Edik Baghdasaryan, Accessed Nov 3, 2007
  7. ^ What Issue Does the Government Have with Madneuli? Heqt Online Oct 29, 2007 Edik Baghdasaryan
  8. ^ a b Georgian Company Commences Talks on Gold Production in Occupied Azerbaijani Land
  9. ^ The Georgian government approaches negatively to interest shown by "Madneuli" company to the goldfield in the Nagorno-Karabakh. Avcyia. 18 October 2007.
  10. ^ Madneuli takeover of Zod Gold in doubt Mineweb 16 Oct 2007

[edit] External links