Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) received three Certificates of Award for contributing to Urals’ industrial heritage and large-scale educational activity. The ceremony took place in the course of the final annual meeting of the directors of Ural Federal District Museums. Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Culture expressed its gratitude to the company’s management for the continuous support of the factory museum and exhibition center as well as for participating in the development of the unique museum located on the premises of Demidovskiy Ironworks (this is

The ‘fantastic drop in prices’ announced by the General Director of Ural Airlines Sergey Skuratov has arrived. The carrier reduced its fares by 50% and, according to their spokesperson, this is not a seasonal or time-limited offer. ‘This offer was made possible due to the fact that the Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region finally intervened in the long dispute between Koltsovo Airport and Ural Airlines. The Service laid a claim against the airport as it was allegedly violating the Competition Protection Act,’ says the spokesperson for Ural Airlines. ‘Thanks to its efforts, we

Some violations of delivery frequency norms were revealed in the post offices of Russian Post in Yekaterinburg in July 2006. This November, RosSvyazNadzor in Sverdlovsk Region (the monitoring body) conducted an unscheduled inspection of the offices aimed at eliminating these violations. The inspection again made it clear that the delivery of written mail in Yekaterinburg takes place less often than 7 days a week, which is a violation of the Russian Federation Government Provision 160 of March 24, 2006 that reads that the mail should be delivered on a daily basis. The record and other papers

Mechanical Works of Sukhoi Log will be sold by auction on December 25, 2006. The property put up to auction is the non-residential building at 1 Gogol St., Sukhoi Log, Sverdlovsk Region. The opening bid is 500,000 RUR, with the minimal addition to each next bid being 50,000 RUR. In order to take part in the auction, one has to apply in advance and pay the deposit of 200,000 RUR based on the signed deposit agreement as well as produce the documents filled in compliance with the Russian Federation Civil Code. The bidder who outbids everybody else will win the auction and will then be able to

Yekaterinburg Electrical Network Company has been busy taking measures that will enhance the reliability and absence of breakdowns at the 220-235 kilowatt substations, transformers and distribution points, and transmission facilities despite cold temperatures, says the company’s spokesperson. The operating team of the company normally switches to special regime when it is 20 to 25 degrees centigrade below zero; should the temperature drop below 25 degrees centigrade, the staff switch to emergency regime, which means that all scheduled repair (except for work mentioned above) gets postponed.

The conference of Union of Sverdlovsk Region Builders will take place in the World Trade Center (44 Kuibyshev St.) on November 29, 2006. The conference will last from 11 AM to 6 PM, with reports presented by Sverdlovsk Region Minister of Construction and Housing Facilities Alexander Karlov, Sverdlovsk Region Minister of Economy and Labour Galina Kovaleva, Chairman of SKB-Bank Vladimir Pukhov, Deputy Chairman of SKB-Bank Yuri Moiseenko, and Chairman of Ural Bank of Sberbank of Russia Vladimir Cherkashin. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel is going to greet the audience with his

Evrazruda JSC (Russian ore maker and part of Evraz Group) decided to develop cooperation among the mechanical services of its subsidiaries as well as to introduce a schedule for providing the enterprise with materials; this schedule is expected to make the corporate planning and internal cooperation more organized. The papers covering the schedule procedures contain a detailed algorithm of joint performance of mechanical services and logistics departments of the subsidiaries (the latter deal with centralized supply system and internal order distribution). Abagurskiy subsidiary of Evrazruda

A general shareholder meeting of Uralsevergaz (affiliated company of ITERA Oil and Gas Company) was held in Yekaterinburg. It resulted in electing the new Board of Directors, with Chairman of ITERA Vladimir Makeev becoming the Chairman of the new Board of Uralsevergaz, reports the company’s spokesperson. The former Chairman Valeriy Otcherpov (Chairman of ITERA as well) was elected as recently as June 23, 2006, which is when the annual shareholder meeting was held in Uralsevergaz. Yet in July, Mr Otcherpov resigned from his position in ITERA and became Deputy Chairman of ITERA. Vladimir Makeev

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration officially confirmed the bankruptcy of VIK Ltd., Vysokogoriye Trade House and Ural Gold Platinum Association Ltd. These companies were found insolvent, so now they have to undergo bankruptcy proceedings. Mr E. B. Rokhlin was appointed trustee in bankruptcy. The debtees may place their demands within two months of the official report of bankruptcy, thus the deadline for applications is December 28, 2006.

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration officially confirmed the bankruptcy of VIK Ltd., Vysokogoriye Trade House and Ural Gold Platinum Association Ltd. These companies were found insolvent, so now they have to undergo bankruptcy proceedings. Mr E. B. Rokhlin was appointed trustee in bankruptcy. The debtees may place their demands within two months of the official report of bankruptcy, thus the deadline for applications is December 28, 2006.

Vanadium Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise of Kachkanar (part of Evraz Group) introduced the rational water resources management scheme that includes, among other things, a monthly report on the amount of water used and effluent produced. This database is going to be run by the experts from the Chief Power Engineer’s Department. Some of the company’s departments have already been equipped with gadgets necessary to gauge the amount of water; each unit of water supply, effluent channel, and circulating water system will have a special log book to be filled by the people appointed by the

Acting envoy Kevin Lynch has finished his mission in Yekaterinburg and is flying home on November 29, 2006. He’s headed the Consulate for six months, and this was a temporary appointment occasioned by the fact that former consul Clive Thompson had asked for an early resignation due to family circumstances. Jenny Lock was appointed the new Consul General, and she is expected to arrive in Yekaterinburg on January 29, 2006.

OMZ Uralmash (a division of United Machine Building Works, aka OMZ) shipped the equipment for the second continuous casting machine for Severskiy Pipe Works (part of Pipe Metallurgical Company). The first such machine was delivered to Metallurgical Works of Taganrog in June 2006. The machine is currently being assembled on the premises of Severskiy Pipe Works. It will undergo hot testing in December 2006, with launching scheduled for the beginning of 2007. The ?10m contract for making equipment for two continuous casting machines was signed in October 2004, and over 3,800 tons of equipment

‘All price offers of Ural Airlines will go down by 5% to 7% in the first quarter of 2007,’ says the Commercial Director of Ural Airlines Kirill Skuratov. ‘The company has some other pleasant surprises in store for New Year. The Christmas ticket sale will begin at the beginning of December; over the period of December 10 to December 30, all tickets for flights to the cities of Russia and the NIS to be performed between January 15 and March 15 will drop in price by 70%. As for the tickets for Yekaterinburg-Moscow flights, they have already become much cheaper. The price comes to 3,450 RUR

The main rope supporting the skip of Magnetitovaya-bis groove was replaced at Magnetitovaya mine of Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (part of Evraz Group). The rope is generally used for transferring ore from the mine onto the surface; such replacements take place every three years and are very labour consuming. The length of the rope comes to over 900 meters, and it is always tested very thoroughly at the rope-testing station of Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise: every wire that is used in the rope is obligatorily examined. The device can actually be used

The extraordinary general meeting of Chelyabinskhleboproduct shareholders resulted in the decision concerning the early termination of powers of the following members of the company’s Board of Directors: Ms K. Strimlina, Mr V. Bruev, Ms K. Makagonova, Mr K. Shamsutdinov, Mr Zh. Lisin, and Mr I. Korolev. Natalia Arsentieva, Sergey Weinstein, Sergey Volodarchuk, Natalia Zakirova, Vyacheslav Karandasov, Natalia Rusina, and Alexei Toporov were elected the new Members of the Board. The shareholders also decided to raise the company’s authorized capital up to 5m RUR through the additional

Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport announced that is was going to introduce the 35% decrease in fuel prices; this decision was arrived at following the negotiations with all the carriers currently using the airport. The Federal Antimonopoly Service laid two claims against the airport on November 22, 2006 regarding the alleged fuel overpricing and price collusion. These cases will be probably considered on December 19 and December 20, respectively. The air carriers have repeatedly complained of the unreasonably high fuel prices; the General Director of Aeroflot - Russian Airlines Valeriy

The Regional Power Engineering Committee of Sverdlovsk Region decided to transfer some Novouralsk consumers to SverdlovEnergoSbyt, the guaranteeing supplier of electricity, says the company’s spokesperson. Following the legislation that prohibits a company to combine electric-power transmission with its production and sale, Ural Electrochemical Complex of Novouralsk decided to stop selling electricity to both its sub-users located in Novouralskiy municipal district (covering the villages of Taraskovo, Pochinok, Yelani, and Palniki) and to its users proper. The company’s representatives

Ural Airlines conducted a presentation of their first Airbus 320 in Yekaterinburg yesterday. The executives from Airbus, the aircraft construction MNC, and representatives of federal and regional authorities as well as reporters checked out the cabin and the flight deck (equipped with the cutting edge facilities) and drank some champagne to the well-being of the Urals’ first Airbus, says the carrier’s press officer. Valeriy Kovalev, the Airbus 320 squadron leader, told everybody about the control system of the aircraft and its technical service and maintenance as well as the high fuel

Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise of Kachkanar (part of Evraz Group) introduced modern dispatch communication. Until quite recently, the departmental dispatchers had to use the obsolete on-off switchboards that are not even produced any longer; now, thanks to the corporate upgrading, the old equipment will be replaced with Coral, the modern digital exchange. These are going to be installed in the agglomeration shop, in the final tailings shop, in the transportation management shop, in the checker and automation department, and at the power dispatcher’s. The assembling of the exchanges was