As we have reported, Minister of Nature Protection Vardan Ayvazyan has registered the majority of his mines in the names of his relatives, friends and employees.

In the case of the Hematite and Grade Redmet Companies, Hasmik Harutyunyan plays this role. She is the wife of Yervand Hovhannisyan, the head of the department responsible for assessing and monitoring the environmental impact of mining activities of the State Nature Protection Inspection. Hematite Ltd is registered at Yervand Hovhannisyan's home address. This ministry official who carries out mine inspections is very close to Vardan Ayvazyan.

The two companies have licenses to explore five gold mines.

Organization	Location and license type	Term of license	Registration address	Founders
Hematite Ltd	Syunik Marz, License to explore the Verin Vardanidzor Gold Mine	Dec. 7, 2005 - Dec. 31, 2007	Yerevan, 23 Mashtots Ave.,  # 21  (Yervand Hovhanisyan's home address)	Hasmik Harutyunyan (Yervand Hovhanisyan's wife), Mayak Gasparyan
Hematite Ltd	Syunik Marz, License to explore the Tashtuni Gold Mine	¨¨¨¨¨	¨¨¨¨¨	¨¨¨¨¨
Hematite Ltd	Aragatsotn Marz, License to explore the Sipan Gold Mine	¨¨¨¨¨	¨¨¨¨¨	¨¨¨¨¨
Hematite Ltd	Syunik Marz, License to explore the Mazra Gold Mine	Dec. 23, 2005 -Dec. 20, 2008	¨¨¨¨¨	¨¨¨¨¨
Grade Redmet Ltd	Lori Marz, License to explore the Fioletovo Gold Mine	Feb. 27, 2006 -Dec. 31, 2008	Yerevan, 7 Arinberd Street	Mayren Batoyan (friend and fellow villager of Vardan Ayvazyan's wife who has also acted as Ayvazyan's representative in other organizations), Vardan Margaryan, Hasmik Harutyunyan

Mayren Batoyan, a founder of Grade Redmet Ltd., has a close relationship with the Ayvazyans. She is a friend of Mariam Ginosyan's, Vardan Ayvazyan's wife. They both are natives of thevillage ofKarzakh of the Akhaltsikhe region ofGeorgia. Mayren Batoyan has no relation to mining and works at aYerevan hospital.

Following our publications, a great many people called us wondering what is going to change now that the facts have been made public. As of now, our response is, nothing. We are simply informing the public what one of our ministers is occupied with. According to our sources, the only thing that has happened at the Ministry of Nation Protection is that representatives of the companies mentioned in our publications have been called into the minister's office. What the minister discussed with them is not yet known.

In the meantime, according to other information, the minister has managed to sell one of the Hematite Ltd. mines.