Mining and Metals
Allen & Overy's global Mining group has acted for some of the world's major international mining and metals companies, offering a team of internationally renowned legal experts.
Their market leading experience includes advising on a number of industry 'firsts' and major innovative transactions. Our global team's expertise extends to advising clients in a range of businesses from mining (non-ferrous and precious metals, coal and other minerals) to smelting, refining, trading and semi-manufacturing.
The combination of our experience across the full life cycle of a mine – from acquisition and financing to expansion and disposal – means we can provide a comprehensive understanding of the mining sector and the likely issues and solutions that arise in a wide variety of transactions.
Our aim is to find commercial solutions for investors in complex legal and regulatory regimes. In addition to M&A and financing expertise, this also requires a solid understanding of the tax and regulatory rules across many jurisdictions.
We are ideally placed to help our clients, advising from our own offices in Europe, the U.S., Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.
In late July 2011, we were the first global elite law firm to establish a presence in Africa, with the opening of an office in Casablanca, Morocco.
Meet our lawyers
News & insights
Publications: 04 OCTOBER 2019
Outstanding performance by A&O in global M&A league tables
A&O has marked the end of Q3 2019 with an outstanding performance in the M&A league tables; the result of advising on a number of complex, high-value transactions in a wide range of sectors and markets, around our global network in 2019.
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Publications: 26 JULY 2019
China removes more barriers to market entry
The pledge by President Xi at the G20 Summit in Osaka that China would continue to liberalise market access has seen immediate progress in the form of a new update to the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment (the Industries Catalogue) and the publication of two revised negative lists governing foreign investment.
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Publications: 26 JULY 2019
Investing in China: opportunities and challenges coexist
At a time when U.S.-China trade tensions are being reported as having a dramatic impact on the global economy, China’s Ministry of Commerce has announced that the actual use of foreign capital in China is still increasing steadily, indicating that foreign investment into China’s economy is not yet being significantly affected by the trade war. In the first half of 2019, a total of 20,131 foreign invested enterprises were newly established in China, with the actual deployment of foreign capital reaching RMB478.33 billion, an increase of 7.2% year on year (equivalent to USD70.74bn, up 3.5% year on year) (excluding the data in the banking, securities and insurance sectors).
Read morePublications: 07 MARCH 2019
Mining company not liable for acts of police
This case deals with several key tortious principles relating to acts of third parties and will be of particular interest to companies in the extractive industries monitoring their exposure to human-rights-related risks. Here, an iron ore mining company, African Minerals Ltd (AML), created the infrastructure to mine and transport iron ore in Sierra Leone, leading to significant local unrest. The court held AML was not liable to the claimant local residents for the acts of brutality towards them by the Sierra Leone police (SLP) who were attempting to restore law and order: Kadie Kalma v African Minerals Ltd & ors [2018] EWHC 3506.
Read moreRecognition
Energy & Resources Deal of the Year: Roy Hill Iron Ore Project
Australasian Law Awards 2015
Band 1, Energy & Natural Resources (Latin America)
Chambers 2016
Compact team with global reach and a talent for finding innovative solutions to complex transactional questions. Regularly engaged by blue-chip multinationals in the energy and resources and other industries, and leading financial services providers
Chambers 2016
They are highly responsive and are clearly a bright firm made up of very capable lawyers
Chambers (Energy & Natural Resources) 2016
Ranked Tier 1 Mining
IFLR1000 Australia 2016