Alexey Mordashev’s Severstal steel group has bought 22 per cent of Celtic Resources for an estimated £25 million.

Severstal, a Russian group with assets of some £7 billion, has acquired its holding in central Asia-focused gold, copper and molybdenum group Celtic from Acon International, another Russian concern, whose relations with AIM-quoted Celtic and its chief executive Kevin Foo have not been warm. It is suggested that Severstal, where Mordashev controls around 70 per cent, has paid a modest premium to Celtic’s present market price of 197p.

Celtic, a former AIM darling now well down from earlier highs, operates the Suzdal and Zherek gold mines and the Shorskoye molybdenum mine in Kazakhstan and has 74 per cent of the Tominskoye copper project in southern Russia. Foo has made it clear he wants to expand further in Russia and, as long as he and Severstal agree on strategy, backing from this quarter could significantly facilitate progress — adding spice to the shares’ speculative recovery potential.