On Wednesday 29, the UK government announced a new wave of sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “inner circle.” Besides the oligarch Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s second richest man and owner of major conglomerate Interros, owner of Rosbank and of shares in Tinkoff Bank, the new sanctions include Sergey Tsivilyov, the governor of the Kemerovo Region, and Anna Tsivilyova, the chairwoman of mining company Kolmar. The core business of Kolmar company is the development of stone coal deposits in South Yakutia in Russia, with further production and processing. The reserves of the Kolmar company amount to more than one billion mt of coal, most of which are premium grades of coking coal. The news in question has rippled across insiders in the Asian coking coal market, though the apparent impact on cooperation with the Russian supplier remains to be seen. “China does not care about any Western sanctions. Conversely, companies outside China do,” an Asian source stated, adding that, following the imposition of sanctions, the contracts signed earlier to the non-China destination were cancelled.
In 2021, Kolmar's coal production totaled 16.7 million mt, according to the company's statement.