As an indication, below are analyzed some of the services that Elite Law Firm’s lawyers and consultants can provide to their clients in relation to mining law:

Acquisition and validity maintenance of the mining rights and titles

 During the acquisition phase and validity maintenance of the mining rights and titles Elite Law Firm’s lawyers and consultants advise and assist in the granting, cession, renewal and waiver procedures of mining rights and/or titles, the extension of mining rights and/or titles to other related or unrelated substances and their transformation in other mining rights and/or titles.

Elite Law Firm ensures the monitoring of the execution, by mining assets titleholders, of legal and/or conventional obligations for the validity maintenance of the mining rights and titles, administrative, environmental, social, tax, customs and exchange obligations related to the mining rights and/or titles.

Legal assistance for the construction of mining infrastructures

 The discovery of an economically exploitable deposit, the transformation of exploration mining rights into exploitation mining rights and the conception of a mining project disrupt the work approaches and create new obligations for the holder mining right or purchaser of a mining project.

During this phase, Elite Law Firm advises, assists and represents clients to obtain required administrative authorizations for the construction of direct infrastructures in the mining site and related infrastructures to the mining project (road, rail, port and airport infrastructures), for concessions and building permits for electricity and water production and transport infrastructures (negotiation of concession contracts, rehabilitation of power plants and supply of electricity).

Elite Law Firm also advises and assists in the approval or authorization of the mining registers under preferential customs regime.

Elite Law Firm advises and represents its clients during the phase of mining exploration, development and construction of the infrastructures of the mine, during the phase of production and commercialization of the market product as well as during the phase of closing the mine.

Dialogue with the local communities affected by a mining project

Elite Law Firm advises, assists and represents its clients in the presentation of the mining project to local communities affected by mining projects and in identifying their needs. If the mining project requires the relocation of communities, Elite Law Firm advises, assists and represents its clients in the procedures for the delineation of the necessary prohibited zones in order to protect both the client’s activities and the local communities, and throughout the process of relocation, indemnification, compensation, displacement and resettlement of communities affected by the mining project.

Protection of the environment

The environment is the common heritage of past, present and future generations. With this in mind, Elite Law Firm advises, assists and represents its clients in the drafting of environmental and social impact studies, more specifically the mitigation and rehabilitation plan for mining exploration rights and the environmental and social management study, for exploitation mining rights,  to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Elite Law Firm ensures the monitoring of adherence to environmental obligations by its clients in order to reduce or mitigate as much as possible the impacts of their activities on the environment, and in case of impacts, to proceed with the rehabilitation of the environment.

Production and Marketing

During this critical phase of the mining activity, Elite Law Firm advises, assists and represents its clients in securing authorizations required for setting up and running metallurgical and mineralogical processing plants, as well as authorizations for the commercialization and exportation of minerals.

Elite Law Firm advises and assists its clients in the procedures for establishing the interdiction zones necessary for the safety of both their mining activities and the local communities.

Closure and abandonment of the mine

Closing a mine is both a challenge and a responsibility for the holder. Elite Law Firm advises, assists and represents its clients in all the steps of the decision leading to the closure and abandonment of the mine for the settlement of the legal issues raised on this occasion (notification of the administration, termination of the employment contracts and allowance compensation, management of mining and related infrastructure, rehabilitation of the site according to environmental standards and as per the approved environmental plans).

Transactions on the mining assets projects

Mining rights or titles are often the subject of various types of transactions such as lease contracts, mining assets transfer agreements, option contracts in mining exploration, joint venture contracts for the exploitation of mining projects, mining mortgage contracts, mining project financing contracts, mergers and acquisitions contracts, contracts for pledging of mineral marketable products, etc.

To this end, Elite Law Firm advises, assists and represents its clients in the analysis, development, negotiation and/or renegotiation of these contracts.

Legal and Tax due diligence and legal opinion

Elite Law Firm performs legal and tax due diligence on behalf of clients wishing to acquire mining projects or participate in the financing of such projects or mining assets of operating companies or shares in companies holding mining rights.

Elite Law Firm drafts due diligence reports by specifying the problems encountered with respect to compliance with the legislation, the activities of the mining companies and the validity of their mining titles and / or rights and proposes solutions to the legal problems identified. As part of the implementation of the due diligence results, Elite Law Firm prepares, for the benefit of its clients, draft contracts and legal documents related to the purchase and sale of mining assets or mining companies including documents required for financial transactions.

Elite Law Firm’s experts have provided their clients with a multitude of legal opinions on various issues related to mining law, allowing them to resolve various issues related to their mining activities.

Disputes with the administration and claims

Elite Law Firm assists its clients with disputes with the mining administration on the validity of mining rights and/or titles, especially with regard to the denial, renewal, withdrawal, expropriation or cancellation of rights and/or titles or forfeiture of their holders’ rights. Elite Law Firm also works in other disputes related to the mining activities, in particular, litigation related to the environment and tax litigations related to mining activities.

Elite Law Firm’s experts  have offered Legal advice and assistance to:

• A Chilean company and an investment fund of Oman for the acquisition of shares for an Australian company, the principal shareholder of two potash mining companies in the Republic of Congo;
• A Russian bank for the conclusion and facilitation of a US loan of about $3 billion to a Dutch company with shares in a copper and cobalt mining company in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC);
• A Mauritius company in the financing of a company holder of an exploitation permit of the tin mine in the North East of the DRC representing a value of US $120 million and in the settlement of several disputes with the tax administration in the DRC;
• A South African financial institution in various transactions for the acquisition of shares in a tin exploration and exploitation mining company in the DRC bearing on an investment in the amount of US $10 million;
• A South African bank in the framework of a loan of US $30 million to a Congolese (DRC) mining company whose shares were pledged;
• A Canadian company for the transformation of exploration permits into exploitation permits located in the South East of the DRC of its Congolese affiliate for an exploitation project of copper for the Kamoa/Kakula project in the DRC, representing an investment of US $1,2 billion;
• A group of Canadian and American companies in the negotiation and drafting of agreements for the transfer of shares in a mining company for the exploitation of copper/cobalt deposits in the DRC;
• A Canadian company for the acquisition of a zinc mine in the province of Haut-Katanga in the DRC in the amount of US $275 million;
• A DRC state-owned company in the re-negotiation of 20 joint venture agreements concluded with its private partners;
• A US mining company in the acquisition of a US $ 1 billion copper mining project in the DRC;
• A Canadian company in the acquisition of mining rights, a transaction estimated at US $168 million;
• A company for the financing of the Oyabi project having links with its registration in the official list of the Toronto Stock-Exchange, namely on the validity of the incorporation process of the exploitation company and its mining permits for a value of US $12 million in the Republic of Congo.
• (to) Australian and Congolese companies for the mining operations with OKIMO (SOKIMO) and for the management of the Borgakim mining projects and its affiliates (Amani Gold, Blue-Rosse, Gorumbwa and Rambi Gold), now owned by Kibali Gold;
• A Canadian mining company for the exploitation of gold in the framework of constituting securities for the financing of a gold project in the amount of US $ 175 million and the relocation of local communities in Maniema and South Kivu in the DRC;
• An Australian mining company in the acquisition of gold and silver projects in the Moku mine in the DRC: preparation of the prospectus for its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange and preparation of a legal opinion on the dividend tax regime under Congolese law;
• A British Virgin Island mining company in the acquisition of 17 exploration permits in Katanga and Kasai Oriental, DRC;
• A Canadian mining company in the acquisition of research permits located in the province of Lualaba in the DRC, involving the constitution of the Congolese company that will acquire the research permits, the elaboration of the contract for the transfer of the research permits, the preparation and the filing of the application for the transformation of the research permits into exploitation permits;
• A Chinese company for the acquisition of several copper projects in the former Katanga province in the DRC;
• A US Financial institution in the framework of a loan in the amount of US $5 million granted to a foreign investor for the purchase of manganese mines in Burkina Faso and Mali;
• A Jersey company in the negotiation with the Minister of Mines to obtain authorization to export raw minerals;
• A Cayman Islands company in the acquisition of exploration and mining projects in the DRC;
• An American investor in a dispute related to their investment in a mining company in Guinea;
• An Angolan company in the acquisition of mining exploration permits in Angola and the drafting of contracts for the transfer of mining permits;
• Legal due diligence on behalf of Eastern China Engineering Science and Technology, on the validity and regular incorporation of two mining companies, the audit on the validity of their mining titles, the enforcement of arbitral awards of Hong Kong and Canada in the Republic of Congo;
• Legal due diligence on behalf of a Chinese bank on the validity and proper incorporation of a cement company, as well as on the validity of the authorizations held by the company and compliance of its operations in the Republic of Congo for an investment of about €12 million;
• A Canadian company for a legal due diligence on a mining company of the Republic of Congo with regard to its listing on the Toronto stocks exchange for a value of US $12 million;
• Advice, assistance and representation of client companies holding mining rights and / or titles, in different phases of their mining activities (granting, acquisition of mining rights, maintenance of validity of mining rights, renewal, waiver, transformation, preparation of environmental plans, monitoring of compliance with obligations of continued validity, administrative obligations, administrative or judicial litigation, etc.