Sergei Gorkov leaves the post of head of Rosgeologiya

According to Kommersant, the general director of the state holding Rosgeologiya, Sergei Gorkov, may resign of his own free will. Mr. Gorkov’s contract has already expired, but the government has not yet considered a candidate to replace him. Sergei Gorkov sought to strengthen the position of Rosgeologiya through cooperation in geological exploration with large private companies. However, the government has only moderately funded investment in equipment upgrades, and the holding’s financial problems have worsened over the past year.

The current general director of Rosgeologiya, Sergei Gorkov, intends to leave his post, Kommersant’s interlocutors familiar with the situation told Kommersant. According to them, Mr. Gorkov notified the Federal Property Management Agency (owns 100% of Rosgeologiya) and the Ministry of Natural Resources, which supervises the company, of his desire to leave the holding, which he has headed since 2019. However, the resignation of the top manager has not yet been agreed upon. Kommersant’s interlocutors do not explain the reasons for this decision.

Sergei Gorkov himself and the representative of Rosgeologia declined to comment. The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Federal Property Management Agency did not comment on this.

The five-year contract with the head of Rosgeology expired on April 1 (I also wrote about this Interfax), and so far, according to Kommersant, the government has not prepared a directive on the new head of the holding.

This may be due to the expected planned rotation within the government after the presidential elections. But most of Kommersant’s interlocutors assure that Sergei Gorkov will not retain his post.

According to one of Kommersant’s interlocutors, until a new head is appointed, Sergei Radkov, deputy head of Rosgeologiya for solid minerals, will be entrusted with the temporary duties of head of the holding.

Sergey Gorkov headed “Rosgeologiya” instead of Roman Panov in 2019. Before that, since the summer of 2018, he served as deputy head of the Ministry of Economy, and before that he headed VEB for two years. The main function of Rosgeologia is the regional study of subsoil resources; the state company carries out such contracts by winning Rosnedra tenders. With the arrival of Mr. Gorkov at Rosgeologiya, emphasis was placed on expanding participation in exploration projects for solid minerals, including the creation of joint ventures with the largest metallurgical companies for the search and exploration of minerals. Mr. Gorkov also sought additional capitalization of the holding in 2022–2024 at the expense of budget funds in order to update equipment. But the government eventually reduced the amount of subsidies to approximately 6 billion rubles; in 2024, the holding should receive about 500 million rubles from the state.

The financial condition of the holding has deteriorated in the last year. Based on the results of the first half of 2023 (latest available reporting), the loss of Rosgeologia according to IFRS made up about 3 billion rubles. with revenue of 11 billion rubles.

In its report for this period, the company reported a violation of financial restrictive conditions on a VTB loan worth RUB 416 million. Net debt at the end of the first half of the year amounted to 12.8 billion rubles, doubling compared to the end of 2022. In addition, in February, Rosgeology, which tried to expand its activities abroad, was included in the sanctions list of the US Treasury. “If you look into the future pessimistically, then you need to immediately run to buy a coffin and nails,” said Sergei Gorkov in interview with Kommersant two years ago.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of TopContact Artur Shamilov believes that Sergey Gorkov “gave a powerful impetus to the development” of Rosgeologia with the help of new projects in the field of solid minerals, and with him the company was able to obtain government support for upgrading equipment. In his opinion, Sergei Gorkov has fulfilled the goals set for him and will concentrate on other promising projects. He links the absence of a directive on the head of the holding with the upcoming change of personnel in the government.

Dmitry Kozlov