The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, July 16, edition that antipathy between the West and Russia is creating both opportunities and headaches for Canadian firms. The Post's Peter Koven writes that Corsa Coal (13.5 cents) said Tuesday it would purchase American coal producer PBS Coals for $60-million from Russia's OAO Severstal, just a fraction of the $900-million purchase price that Severstal paid for PBS in 2008. The deal provides Corsa a unique growth opportunity at the bottom of the coal market. Meantime, Mercator Minerals (six cents) is facing a dire financial position as a deal with Russian firm Intergeo appears to be on the brink of collapse. Intergeo agreed to buy Mercator last December, before the Ukrainian crisis. The deal would have given Intergeo ownership of Mercator's Mineral Park mine in Arizona. The deal, however, has been held up for unexplained reasons by the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Services. If approval is not given before Aug. 1, Intergeo has said it plans to pull its offer. Mercator chief executive Bruce McLeod says there is no logical reason for this delay other than politics, as Mercator's operations have been performing well.