Workers of Magnetitovaya mine located at Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (VGOK, part of Evraz Group) started extracting ore at the level of 850 meters below the ground. This is the deepest level ever achieved at any of the company’s three mines. The spokesperson for Evraz Group reports the preparation for this record-setting procedure took several years. First, the operational exploration and drilling jobs had to be done; then, geological sections and 4,000 meters of roadway were completed. The miners put up a water-removing system for subsurface water that includes three

The claim laid by the Federal Property Management Agency (aka Rosimuschestvo) against Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg will be considered in court on May 20, 2008. CaseА60-1122/08 Rosimuschestvo vs. Koltsovo airport (the regional division of the former being the plaintiff, the latter the defendant) was first heard in court on April 9, 2008. Rosimuschestvo is planning to cancel the rental agreement it has with the airport regarding its premises. The court’s press officer reports this agreement involves the renting of state-run property such as the airport apron, the runways, the aircraft

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to sole traders despite overdraft dropped by 59.39% (from 165,000 RUR to 67,000 RUR) in January-March 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in VUZ Bank valid for up to 30 days plummeted by 100% (from 34.5 million RUR to zero) in January-March 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Perviy Respubliknaskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 88% (from 25 million RUR to 3 million RUR) in January-March 2008.

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation, Yekaterinburg-based Electrotyazhmash, and ELTA (located in Kharkov, Ukraine) signed a tripartite agreement on strategic cooperation in the field of development, production, and market promotion of excavating, drilling, and other kinds of machinery. The spokesperson for Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation reports the three parties are planning to sign contracts that would allow each of the companies to build up their technological and engineering potentials, raise production outputs, use their capacities to the fullest, launch new product types as well

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was able to raise the number of its bank card-handling outlets by 8% in the first quarter of 2008. The figure thus reached over 480 points, including 220 ATMs and 260 cash outlets. Six new ATMs were introduced in Sverdlovsk Region, three in Chelyabinsk Region, three in Perm Territory, and three in the Republic of Bashkortostan. The number of the bank’s cards had reached 437,367,000 by the end of March 2008, which was 9% better than a year earlier. The volume of consumer loans and express loans given by the bank went up as well. The company does

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank Uralfinance to natural persons for over 3 years went down by 11.33% (from 102.902 million RUR to 91.247 million RUR) in January-March 2008.

Ural Airlines started offering its customers e-tickets within the framework of an interline agreement the carrier has with Hagn Air Lines GmbH. Now people can buy Ural Airlines’ e-tickets anywhere on the globe, provided the place has a booking office or an agency that cooperates with Hagn Air. At the moment, this is already possible in Belgium, Germany, China, India, Japan, Australia, the South African Republic, Canada, Brazil, and Chile, the airline’s press officer reports. This interline agreement was signed by the two airlines in the summer of 2007, while the technical testing (supported

Sberbank’s Ural branch had given 90 billion RUR worth of loans to private customers by the end of April 2008. The number of borrowers came to over 765,000 people, with 63,500 loan agreements signed in the first quarter of 2008 alone. This means more than 20,000 people take a loan from Sberbank’s Ural branch each month. ‘This building up of our private individuals’ loan portfolio stems from our experts’ hard work and our customers’ great trust. And we keep on improving on our service and offering new lending schemes as well,’ says Sberbank’s Ural branch’s Private Customer Lending Director

The Federal Antimonopoly Service rejected VSMPO AVISMA’s request, denying the latter the right to buy 18% of Ural Gold’s shares. This ore mining enterprise’s major asset at the moment is the license allowing it to develop Yuzhno-Shameyskoye molybdenum ore deposit in Sverdlovsk Region. The Service explains that, among other things, VSMPO AVISMA failed to provide the antimonopoly watchdog with accurate data on the company’s stockholders.

SKB-Bank’s own funds came to over 5 billion RUR on April 1, 2008, which is Sverdlovsk Region’s best result that exceeds the second best one by more than 1 billion RUR. In addition, SKB-Bank thus became Ural Federal District’s third largest bank in terms of own funds and is now hoping to expand significantly. SKB-Bank’s net assets reached 31.622 billion RUR on April 1, 2008 compared with 30.684 billion RUR on April 1, 2007. The private customers’ deposits rose by 1.35 billion RUR in the first quarter of the year and amounted to over 8.3 billion RUR altogether. Besides, the bank offered some

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to private individuals despite overdraft went down by 27.8% (from 2.628 million RUR to 1.897 million RUR) in January-March 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to natural persons for over 3 years went down by 22.57% (from 25.126 million RUR to 19.456 million RUR) in January-March 2008.

‘Contrary to earlier expectations, last week turned out to be very eventful for the foreign exchange market. The global leaders, that is, the dollar and the euro, reached some new heights and depths,’ says SKB-Bank’s Dealing Director Anton Khavin. ‘The U.S. dollar dropped against the euro on Wednesday, reaching its lowest-ever minimum, which many experts believe signifies the beginning of a gradual downfall. On Thursday, the euro exchange rate plummeted to 1.565 USD/1 EUR, which was the worst result in the last four months. It looks like the dollar was supported by the good news regarding the

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 33.67% (from 469.628 million RUR to 311.487 million RUR) in January-March 2008.

‘Windows Vista is Microsoft’s top selling product in Russia at the moment, while its nearest predecessor Microsoft Windows XP is only the second most popular product whose sales amount to 25% or 30% in the total turnover. Moreover, people increasingly tend to buy Windows Vista even if the computer or laptop they’ve just bought has Windows XP installed on it already,’ Valeria Shverova of Belyi Veter Yekaterinburg said to UrBC. According to RBC daily, the global sales of Microsoft’s operating systems initially dropped by 24%, or down to $4.03bn, but thanks to Vista boosting sales a little bit

ALNAS (RTS: ALNZ), part of ChTPZ Group and Neftserviceholding’s integrated maintenance division, decided to set up a joint venture in Perm Territory meant for full service and maintenance of oil wells, the spokesperson for ChTPZ Group said to UrBC. The new enterprise, known as SPO ALNAS, will be using both Russian and foreign equipment and is to be based in Polazna, Perm Territory. The company is expected to provide repairs and maintenance for 1,500 oil wells altogether. ‘Our maintenance center will offer local oil companies a whole range of maintenance services as well as geophysical work

The net profit of Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) went down by 25.2% in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the last quarter of 2007. The profit dropped from 9,918,000,000 RUR in October-December 2007 to 7,417,200,000 RUR in January-March 2008 due to the new delivery and proprietorship terms of slabs and rolled products.

‘If the government decided to take some strict measures, the annual inflation rate could actually be kept at 10%. A certain degree of reasonable state interference (provided the external conditions are favorable enough) would do our economy good and might be able to slow down the price growth,’ says SKB-Bank’s Deposit Operations Director Denis Belogurov. In the meantime, the Bank of Russia’s First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ylyukaev announced at the State Duma meeting that the inflation was not going to exceed 10% in 2008. At the same time, the federal statistical bodies report prices have