October 4, 2012. About 40% of salaried employees based in Ural Federal District work in the conditions that fail to meet the sanitary and hygienic requirements, which means the number of industrial accidents and breakdowns remains high, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Andrei Kolyadin said at a recent meeting. ‘The State Labor Inspection must put its foot down. Given the circumstances, our trade unions and organizations could be more active. The trade unions would contribute significantly to improving the situation around

October 4, 2012. Sverdlovsk Region Government signed a memorandum on selling Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha-based subsidiary of OOO NIGMAS (Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha Metallurgical Plant, VSMZ) and Alapayevsk Metallurgical Plant, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service Administration reports. ‘We have reached a preliminary agreement on selling two plants: Alapayevsk Metallurgical Plant and Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha Metallurgical Plant. At the moment, the potential buyer is working on the legal details with OOO Volga-Sar, Bank Petrokommerz, and OAO Novaem,’ says the region’s Vice Premier Alexander

October 4, 2012. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s BO-1 Series bonds (total value 2bn RUR) hit the stock market yesterday, October 2. The bonds were quoted at 100% of their face value. The issuer promised to pay 12.5% a year during the first and second coupon periods (per-bond profit being 62.33 RUR); after the second coupon period expires, an offer can be made by the bank, the UBRD’s press service reports. The bids for the bonds could be submitted on October 24-28, 2012 in the book-building mode. The issue was under-written by Uralsib Finance Company and Rosselkhozbank.

October 4, 2012. An official delegation from Byelorussia’s Polotsk visited the town of Polevskoy, Sverdlovsk Region; as a result, a cooperation agreement was signed, Russian Copper Company’s press service reports. One of the main points on the Byelorussian delegation’s agenda was visiting Uralgidromed (a part of Russian Copper Company). The visitors also had a look at Gumeshevskoye deposit that was first mentioned in writing as early as in Pavel Bazhov’s tales and at the mineral collection (the Copper Mountain Treasures); they also paid a visit to Russia’s only production facility that

October 4, 2012. Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) Scientific & Production Corporation and Bombardier presented their innovative technologies at the 2nd Eurasian Exhibition/Congress ExpoCityTrans-2012 that opened in Moscow on October 2. The UVZ Corporation and the world’s largest machine-building corporation’s joint stand, dubbed ‘City Transport of the Future’, featured a sample of a full-size driver’s pit of a low-floor tram Bombardier Flexity as well as small copies of underground carriages and other tram types. Experts and visitors to the fair could also enjoy a presentation of UVZ-designed

October 3, 2012. Ten workers of OOO Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, who are now retired, were awarded the titles of Honorary Long-Service Employees; this decision was made by the plant’s Director-General and Trade Union Committee, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. This was done on the company’s Long-Service Employees’ Day. This year’s award was given in the special anniversary year: the plant’s Long-Service Employees’ Council turned 35. The Council is headed by Honorary Citizen of Chelyabinsk, the USSR State Prize laureate, and the plant’s former head Nikolai Lozhchenko. The

October 3, 2012. The parent enterprise of UVZ Scientific & Production Corporation, Uralvagonzavod won in the annual regional Best Taxpayer of 2011 contest. The winner’s diploma, signed by Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Prime Minister Denis Pasler, says that Uralvagonzavod was given the award ‘for its great contribution to the development and retention of Sverdlovsk Region’s wealth and for great production performance in 2011’, UVZ Corporation’s press service reports. The annual Best Taxpayer of the Year contest is held in order to build on the social weight of the region’s best taxpayers

October 3, 2012. Starting from 2013, Sverdlovsk Region is going to subsidize its industrial and agricultural SMEs in order to compensate for the expenses occasioned by investing in energy efficiency and production upgrades, Sverdlovsk Region’s Press Service Administration reports. The mechanisms that could support the SMEs in local industry and agriculture were discussed at Sverdlovsk Region Government’s meeting today. The main report was given by the region’s Economics Minister Dmitri Nozhenko. He said that nearly 202,000 small and medium enterprises were operating in Sverdlovsk Region at

October 3, 2012. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), one of the world’s largest OCTG producers, reports it has launched an R&D center in Houston, Texas, U.S.A., the company’s press service reports. The opening ceremony was attended by TMK management and the American division of TMK IPSCO as well as the representatives of the State of Texas and Houston town council, the Russian Consul-General in Houston, TMK goods consumers from the energy sector, and the American local and national media representatives. The attendees looked at the new center’s main divisions, including the SEM lab with its

October 3, 2012. Sberbank increased its car loan rates for both ruble and foreign currency loans by 0.5% recently, Banki.ru reports. ‘The changes also affected the parameters that influence the loan cost: whereas earlier the rate used to depend on the vehicle type, now it only depends on the down payment and the loan period,’ says Banki.ru’s loan products expert Yelena Sudarikova. The ruble loans are now offered at 15.5% to 17% a year rather than 15% to 16.5% a year. The interest rates for the dollar and euro loans range between 12.5% and 14% a year rather than 12% to 13.5% a year.

October 2, 2012. A reading of Efim Nisenbaum’s book called It’s All Over the Hill Now took place at Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s company museum. The book was published by the company to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the locally famous Nizhniy Tagil-based propaganda theater Torch and the 80th birthday of the theater founder and the book’s author, the corporation’s press service reports. Efim Nisenbaum was the theater’s heart, its founder, its script writer, its director, and its actor, while Torch was a visible cultural event in the life of the enterprise and

October 2, 2012. 54 former employees of Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha subsidiary of OOO NIGMAS resumed their hunger strike on Monday, a representative of their initiative team Andrei Zhukov told Interfax-Ural. ‘The hunger-strikers’ main requirement is to get their compensations for August and September 2012 for being made redundant. The debt currently amounts to 5.5m RUR,’ Zhukov said. It was reported earlier that on June 22, eighteen former workers went on hunger strike because of arrears of wages. On June 28, the hunger strike stopped, since the employees were paid 584,000 RUR (nearly the entire

October 2, 2012. Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company (UMMC) feels it is only expedient to develop Yelkinskoye and Yelanskoye, the copper and nickel deposits in Voronezh Region, if the survey results indicate they contain at least 500,000 tons of S1-S2 category nickel, Prime refers to UMMC Holding Director-General Andrei Kozytsin as saying to reporters. At the end of May 2012, Rosnedra’s tender committee declared UMMC the winner of the tender entitling the company to the development of the said deposits. The Russian Federation Government confirmed the tender results in July, allowing OOO

October 2, 2012. The tractor manufacturers from Chelyabinsk assembled a new make of the wheeled bulldozer BKK-2 that is more multi-purpose than the earlier version, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. ‘This is a multifunctional vehicle. When BKK-2 is fitted with spiked drums that look a bit like asphalt rollers, it works as a compactor and is meant for flattening solid consumption waste at the city’s waste landfills. It is several times more effective than its bulldozer counterpart,’ says Deputy Chief Designer of Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Vladimir Kokoryukin. The new vehicle

October 2, 2012. Yekaterinburg was given the right to hold the world football championship 2018: the final list of participant cities was announced on Saturday, September 29. Among these cities also are: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhniy Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Samara, Saransk, and Volgograd. Russia was granted the right to hold the World Cup 2018 in December 2010.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 1, 2012. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s daughter enterprise ZAO Ural Heavy-Duty Vehicles celebrated its 10th anniversary recently. Heads of the corporations, fellow workers, and business partners arrived on the premises to congratulate the company staff,’ Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. ‘Thanks to your great professionalism, enthusiasm, and caring attitude to our business Ural Heavy-Duty Vehicles is developing dynamically these days and is Russia and the CIS’ largest supplier of railway and road-building vehicles in Russia,’ said Deputy

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 1, 2012. Sputnik hockey team held its first home match of the Senior Hockey League’s Season of 2012/2013. The Nizhniy Tagil team had the Senior Hockey League first-timers from Kazakhstan, Karaganda-based Saryarka Hockey Club, over on the re-polished ice, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s HR Director Sergey Saranchuk congratulated the team and the supporters on the start of the season on behalf of the club’s primary sponsor, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation. He wished many victories to the hockey

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 1, 2012. Deposit Insurance Agency State Corporation is starting to sell the assets of OAO Uralfinprombank. Put to auction are some lots, including OOO Best Bottling ($1,335,000); OOO TPK Uralobuv (119,191,771.15 RUR); OOO Vetta-Invest ($1,028,240); OOO Vetta-Invest ($95m); and Universitetsky Building & Housing Co-operative, the state corporation’s website reports. The bank was declared insolvent in accordance with the ruling of Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court on February 7, 2011. Deposit Insurance Agency State Corporation acts as the trustee in bankruptcy

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 1, 2012. Another auction aimed at selling the right to sign a rental contract for the land allotment in Sysert District that belongs to the Federal Housing Construction Facilitation Fund fell through: the fund did not receive a single application from bidders. The fund put up to auction a land allotment in Sysert District near the settlement of Kolos. The land allotment was meant for multi-faceted area development and (later) housing construction. The area of the allotment comes to 433,792 sq m.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 1, 2012. OOO EC The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals upgraded the turbochargers at the heat-and-power station in the village of Kharp. To get the job done, the company signed an agreement with GE Jenbacher, while the contractor called OOO Baltic Turbo performed the work. According to GE Jenbacher, the upgrades of turbochargers PBS NR 17 and NR 20 will ensure more reliable performance of the station’s basic equipment and will improve its maintenance characteristics. ‘This means cutting costs during the production of heat and electric power, and, in the end, lower