Peter Kondos
Dr. Kondos is an accomplished professional and holds a PhD on Pressure Leaching in Hydrometallurgical Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Dr. Kondos’ career has been devoted in transforming organizations through innovation and delivering highly effective technology solutions within Barrick Gold, Inco (Vale), and Noranda (Glencore). The ability to adjust to working environments and work in teams, while creating long term roadmaps foster value creation in a sustainable way. He is the co-founder of YaKum Innovative Mining Consultants.
Passionate about breaking conventional industry paradigms through value creation and transformational change driven by intelligence and creativity. Dr. Kondos combines technology and innovation with talented people to generate tangible solutions for the industry’s most pressing challenges. Respect of the environment and the engagement of communities as partners is paramount to the success of this philosophy. Value creation is at the forefront.
Richard Howes
Mr. Howes is a Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario and holds a Honours Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Mining Engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He has over 40 years’ experience in the mining industry in Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa in base and precious metals, and in various capacities including Engineering and Design, Operations and Maintenance supervision, Site and Plant management, Business Unit Management and Executive Global Management. Mr. Howes was Dundee Precious Metals’ General Manager and Executive Director of Chelopech Mining EAD from 2009 to 2010, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer from 2010 to 2013 and President and Chief Executive Officer from 2013 to 2020. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Hudbay Minerals and Torex Gold Resources.
Throughout his career, Mr. Howes has been closely associated with the practices that make for world-class mining operations including Inco’s North mine which won the 2006 Ryan Award as the safest mine in Canada. A key theme of Mr. Howes’ career is pushing to innovate in the mining business. He was recognized with the 2016 Outstanding Innovator Award, presented by the International Mining Technology Hall of Fame for his work with DPM at their Chelopech mine. He introduced an operational performance project called Taking the Lid Off that combined communication and location technologies, providing real-time production management and tracking to better monitor production and control. Mr. Howes’ visionary and practical implementation fundamentally changed their mining operational management.