The head of Russia’s precious metals and gems repository, Gokhran, is trying, so far without success, to resign, raising uncertainty about the leadership of the secretive agency that once caused ructions on the world palladium market.
Vladimir Rybkin tendered his resignation in February, but his letter remains unanswered, three sources familiar with the situation said.
“The government simply can’t find a replacement for him — nobody wants to take on such a huge list of responsibilities,” one of the sources said.
A new head of Gokhran may be found in the early summer, another source said.
Rybkin, who is 66, declined to comment.
Founded in 1920, Gokhran is under the control of the Russian Finance Ministry. Its total reserves are a state secret, which the Kremlin has dipped into to plug budget holes.
Its holdings are not part of Russia’s more than half a trillion dollars in gold and foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank.
In 2009, Gokhran sold 30 tonnes of gold to the central bank, in a deal valued at US$1 billion that covered part of a budget deficit resulting from the 2008 global financial crash and subsequent recession.
The repository also bought US$1 billion in gems from state diamond monopoly Alrosa that year, when rough diamond prices fell sharply. It has not finished sorting these gems yet due to a lack of sorting operators, one of the sources said.
Gokhran was extremely influential on global platinum group metals (PGMs) markets in the 1990s and 2000s, when its palladium stocks, accumulated during the 1970s and 1980s, came on the market, depressing prices.
While its palladium reserves are a state secret and analysts like GFMS and refiner Johnson Matthey try to guess the level each year, most in the industry believe stocks have already been depleted.
“The stock is negligible now,” the source said.
However, Gokhran’s new management is likely to continue to attract market attention as it continues to play a key role in implementing regulations governing the sale of PGMs in Russia.
Russia’s Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest palladium producer, can only sell its refined PGMs to its customers if it has obtained a waiver from Gokhran, and from the regional government on whose territory the relevant precious metals have been extracted.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS