Rick Howe - Kapan Concerns Unwarranted Yesterday, Rick Howes, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Dundee Precious Metals, the Canadian-based parent company of Deno Gold Mining, met with representatives of the Armenian environmental groups Ecolur and the Ecological Safety and Democratic Development Organization (ESDD). The meeting was organized by Dundee Precious Metals and discussions centered on the concerns of Armenia’s environmental community regarding the open pit mine at Shahoumyan. According to ESDD legal advisor Artur Ghazaryan, the Armenian environmental reps expressed their opposition to any open pit mining in the Kapan area, regardless of assurances that there would be no harm inflicted on the local ecology due to the utilization of modern technologies. Howes assured the activists that reforms would be implemented at the trouble-plagued Deno Gold company to make sure that safety and environmental standards are met at Kapan.