Somewhat related article
http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2004/05/04_406.htmlThe Russians Are Coming
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The source of this prospective fortune is the Montana-based Stillwater Mining Co., which is the only domestic producer of two platinum group metals (PGM) -- platinum and palladium. Last year Vladimir Potanin, a Russian billionaire whose empire already includes vast PGM reserves in Siberia, took control of Stillwater. Regulators from the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) quickly approved the deal even though it gave Potanin greater power over metals that could be critical to the nation's future.
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In November 2002, when the Russian company bid $100 million in cash and $241 million in palladium to buy a majority stake in Stillwater, the offer should have set off alarm bells for federal regulators. For starters, the Russian mining giant has ravaged the environment: Its excavations and smelters belch more than 5,000 tons of sulfur oxides into the air in Siberia every day, according to a report in the Guardian. Norilsk Nickel's soot, smoke, and wastewater have turned the local air sour and the snow black, and are destroying the surrounding tundra for hundreds of miles. What's more, the city of Norilsk was founded as a gulag, and the company's workers remain poorly treated, with their life expectancy below the Russian average.
Little is known about Norilsk Nickel: The company and Potanin operate in secrecy. Norilsk does not disclose such basic information as how many ounces of metal it has stockpiled or how much it pays its executives. The firm is one piece of Potanin's larger empire, controlled by his Interros investment company, which he established after expropriating huge swaths of Russia's wealth following the collapse of Communism. Interros also controls Uneximbank, launched in 1993 and now Russia's second-largest retail bank. It was through the bank's role as auctioneer for the Russian government that Potanin was able to buy Norilsk Nickel in 1997, even though his bid was several hundred million dollars less than the top offer.
So how did Norilsk Nickel win such easy approval for its acquisition of Stillwater, taking eight months for a process that critics say should have lasted longer? A look behind the scenes reveals that influential people, with clout at the White House, had much to gain by pushing it forward.
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http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2004/05/04_406.html