INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Roberta Bilotti Demange and Marina Bertucci Ferreira, Pinheiro Neto Advogados
Additionally, lawyers must be fully updated and in con - trol of the impact of health and safety requirements, taxes, duties, royalties, transfer tax and capital gains around the globe, as these are key factors in success - ful mining investments and operations. New technologies being implemented in mineral pro - duction chains, such as workflow automation, repro - cessing of tailings, bio-mining, and blockchain plat - forms for trading and tracking commercial operations, will demand equivalent legal skills among mining law - yers, as new legal issues may arise from the regulation of such matters by governments and from the dynam - ics of the new reality. A fast-changing world order, with complex geopolitics, also plays a very important role. This demands constant improvement by mining lawyers, who will need to conduct cross-disciplinary analysis and counselling to assess increasingly com - plex mining operations from all angles. Mining Investments and Finance Mining investment and finance legal matters play a dominant role in the work of a mining lawyer. It is crucial for the mineral law practitioner to be fully informed about the legal aspects of investment attrac - tion, special rules on foreign investment approval, and restrictions on foreign investment in the exploration and mining sectors. Multilateral and bilateral treaties that favour and protect investments in exploration and mining, sanctions and restrictions to international trade are also of the utmost importance. Knowledge of the main sources of finance for explora - tion, development and mining in different jurisdictions will certainly be a great advantage for a lawyer in this field, equipping these professionals to work on a vari - ety of transnational deals. The intricacies of domestic and international securities markets in the financing of exploration, development and mining in different parts of the world – as well as the legal features relating to security over mining tene - ments and related assets in the context of exploration, development and mining finance – are essential to a mining lawyer’s performance. In the past years, private investors have signalled a great appetite for green minerals projects aimed at
energy transition, which has heated the markets for financing and M&A. In the years to come, consider - ing the ambitious goals set for decarbonisation and the utmost relevance of certain minerals in this sce - nario, the industry may expect further increases in the capital availability for this type of investment, without prejudice to other minerals that may come into fash - ion, and for new technologies to reprocess tailings and waste to exploit green minerals. Environment, Health and Safety Environmental, health and safety legal matters have been at the top of the list for mining lawyers for some time now. Mining companies are mostly very con - scious of their environmental responsibilities. Most of the significant players have very high standards and are prepared to adopt all necessary measures to deal with the environmental impacts arising from their min - ing operations. Mining industry players in different jurisdictions want clarity of the rules and consistency in the application of these regulations at all stages, including environ - mental permitting and health and safety through - out the course of the operation. In addition to this, stronger, better equipped and resourceful permitting authorities would add to the desired legal security in the mining industry. These elements – clear and stable rules, consistent application of the law and trustworthy permitting authorities – would certainly be beneficial not only for the mining industry, but also the different mining juris - dictions in the world, particularly the less-developed ones. Recent Issues Issues such as health and safety, climate change, decarbonisation, human rights concerns, supply- chain standards, sustainable development policies, environmental protection and community relations, prior and informed consultation of affected people, the ability of countries to exploit their mineral wealth, and new mining and reprocessing technologies have become essential matters that need to be appraised by mining law practitioners.
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