Rick Howes Of Dundee Precious Metals on the Challenges and Rewards of Mining in Eastern Europe
Dig Deep – The Mining Podcast Podcast
Shownotes Transcript
In this week’s show, Rob talks to Rick Howes, President & CEO of Dundee Precious Metals, a Canadian based international gold mining company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development, mining and processing of precious metals.
Dundee own and operate a gold, copper and silver mine in Bulgaria and have a processing facility in Namibia. Listen as Rob and Rick talk about how Dundee Precious Metals has developed over time, and of the challenges they had to overcome in order to establish a successful mining operation in East Europe.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Dundee Precious Metals are heavily invested in gold production, and are looking to expand their gold production facilities in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe within the next five to ten years. This was born out of an investment opportunity in Bulgaria that Dundee took advantage of, and which has paid off handsome dividends.
- Political stability, and joining the EU in the 2000’s suddenly made Bulgaria and Romania viable sites for mining production. Rick stresses the importance of political stability in planning achievable mining goals.
- Bulgaria has a highly-educated populace, and presents many attractive opportunities in terms of taxation and royalty benefits due to the governments determination to attract foreign investment.
- Joining the EU seems to be a huge benefit to mining operations looking for viable sites in Europe. Countries have to adhere to EU standards on democracy and infrastructure, meaning that much time and money is being spent by government on making their countries attractive to foreign investors.
- Learning about potential cultures and areas is key to mining companies and businesses in general, in order to ingratiate themselves in foreign markets. Community, social and government relations are the key to success in this.
- Development of people and technology are the future of mining. Rick believes his legacy lies in exploring the benefits that exponential technological advancements can bring to the job, as well as improving the public image of mining as a whole.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Once the country joined the EU, we got the benefit of some pro-democracy, and pro-business status’
‘It took a while to build a level of trust and understanding’
‘You have to take the time to figure out how things work around the world in order to form those relationships’
‘Patience is one of our core strengths’
‘I like mining because of the international nature of the business’
‘The community of mining is quite tight. There are many adventurous people in the business who like taking risks’
‘We need the world to stop seeing mining as a “dirty industry"’
‘Don’t accept the status quo’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Dig Deep – The Mining Podcast on iTunes)
ABOUT THE HOSTRob Tyson
Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight to peoples experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.
Rob is the Founder and Director of Mining International Ltd, a leading global recruitment and headhunting consultancy based in the UK specialising in all areas of mining across the globe from first world to third world countries from Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia. We source, headhunt and discover new and top talent through a targeted approach and search methodology and have a proven track record in sourcing and positioning exceptional candidates into our clients organisation in any mining discipline or level. Mining International provides a transparent, informative and trusted consultancy service to our candidates and clients to help them develop their careers and business goals and objectives in this ever-changing marketplace.
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