When it comes to growth in the mining and metals sector, consistent focus on the industry, teamwork and adaptability have been the secret of our success.

This has been the strategy since we established the Mining and Metals Industry Group back in 2012.

REBECCA CAMPBELL, GLOBAL HEAD, MINING AND METALS AND LONDON-BASED PARTNER

The growth we’ve seen in recent years has been driven by the collective effort of the global industry team and, in recent months, London-based Partner Rebecca Campbell rotating in as Global Head, Mining and Metals, following Melbourne-based Partner John Tivey.

Together they bring decades of experience working in the industry, including years spent in-house at major, mid-cap and junior mining companies.

Rebecca explains: “There are many people across the Firm who bring significant experience, contacts and insights of the mining and metals industry. Working together as a global team, we can very effectively identify opportunities, win mandates and deliver ongoing value to clients.”

One example is our role representing the senior lenders to Sirius Minerals on the second-phase financing of its North Yorkshire Polyhalite Project, which is recognized as the largest UK mining project in 50 years.

Rebecca explains: “We were chosen ahead of magic and silver circle firms on this major UK project, which will likely be backed by a UK Government Guarantee, due to our deep industry knowledge across mining and infrastructure, and excellent understanding of the bankability risks in the project.

“The fact that we were appointed is indicative of how powerful the combination of both our mining expertise and practice excellence is, in this case across Project Finance, Capital Markets, Mining Project Development, Infrastructure, Offtake, Hedging, Real Estate, Construction and Environmental.

“Our team of partners actively chased down many different leads as the lender group evolved in order to win the mandate.”

Our Mining and Metals value proposition is about bringing an industry-focused approach to each transaction, fielding the right team every time and being completely comfortable advising at all points in the cycle.

John Tivey explains: “That’s been a real benefit because from 2015 to 2017 there was a global commodities downturn, so we needed to quickly gear up for distress situations, working closely with the FRI and M&A practices on some major corporate and balance sheet restructurings and the divestment of non-core mining assets.

“Commodity prices have made a recovery since then though, so our ‘matrix approach’ of pairing industry expertise with excellence in practice areas related to growth transactions – strategic acquisitions, project upgrades, greenfield project developments and financings – has enabled us to continue to support clients on an increasing number of mandates as the market shifts.”

A truly global and cross-practice team

As with our other industry groups, Mining and Metals includes a dedicated core team.

JOHN TIVEY, MELBOURNE-BASED PARTNER

In addition to John and Rebecca, it includes Gary Felthun (Johannesburg Corporate), Damien Nyer (New York Disputes), Christian Pilkington (London FRI), Joel Rennie (Sydney EIPAF), Allan Taylor (London M&A) and Carlos Viana and Fernando de la Hoz (Miami EIPAF), and is backed by a much broader team of partners, which changes slightly over time to match the current needs of the industry.

John says: “When we got together at the recent Global Partners’ Meeting I was struck by the broad spread of partners who came to our main session, covering Trade, Regulatory, White Collar, Human Rights, Disputes, M&A/Corporate, EIPAF, Capital Markets and more.

“Having such a diverse team is a major advantage because the industry is also global, but we also have to be able to translate that into a seamless service.”

One example is the advice we provided for MMG and the consortium on its $7 billion acquisition and financing of the Las Bambas copper mine.

It involved a mine in Peru with an American EPC contractor and power line and port construction agreements with Peruvian and Spanish groups, a Swiss-based seller with a London listing, a Hong Kong listed purchaser with an Australian management team, a parent company in Beijing and Chinese banks as lenders. The matter included White & Case teams in Mexico, the United States, UK, China and Belgium.

Since this original high-profile transaction, there have been multiple follow-on matters related to Las Bambas that we’ve worked on, including tax indemnity claims and white collar litigation.

MMG has also engaged us to represent them on major acquisitions on which they were unsuccessful bidders, including other mines in Peru and mines in Mongolia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) owned by major mining houses.

Another notable deal in 2017 saw us advise Pallinghurst on its hostile takeover of gem producer Gemfields, which was the first sizable unsolicited takeover to occur in the mining sector for several years.

As Pallinghurst’s Chris Shepherd explains: “We had every confidence in the White & Case team to help us with our most complicated transaction to date. It had everything – complex deal structuring, navigating regulators in various jurisdictions and dealing with a hostile board and a competing offer – and White & Case just took it in their stride. Efficient, on top of the detail and really invested in us; they got the deal done.”

“Efficient, on top of the detail and
really invested in us; they got the deal done.”

Elsewhere, we’ve worked on mandates involving sub-soil use law reform in two very different jurisdictions, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. The latter has involved lawyers from seven White & Case offices working together on a project to comprehensively overhaul Saudi Mining Investment Law.

Recently, in a response to the trend of rising resource nationalism, the Mining and Metals Industry Group has also implemented a strategy to actively pursue mandates in disputes between governments and mining companies in respect of changes in the legal and regulatory framework for mining.

This has resulted in a number of successful mandates – most recently in the DRC where our global arbitration team is representing many of the foreign investors impacted by changes to DRC mining law.

Growing our client base

Our client base in mining and metals is maturing to the point where a core portfolio is starting to emerge, including Arete Capital, Concord, Eurochem, Ivanhoe Mines, Newmont, Ma’aden, MMG/China Minmetals, Mubadala, Pallinghurst, Pala Investments, Rusal/En+, Trafigura, Vale and Zijin.

Relationships with these clients and others helped the group achieve revenues of $96 million in 2017 and we continue to focus on increasing the volume of $1 million matters and $5 million clients as we move towards our 2020 targets.

Looking ahead, the group is taking a proactive approach towards industry opportunities by anticipating market trends.

Rebecca says: “Perhaps the biggest focus in the industry at the moment is around minerals feeding into the battery supply chain.

“Companies of all kinds, including car manufacturers, tech firms, and renewable energy suppliers are increasingly anxious to ensure they have the best, smallest and most high-performing batteries available, so competition for supply of copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium and other materials is fierce.

“Because of this, we’re working together with partners across the Firm in power, technology, automotive and finance to identify opportunities, as well as raise awareness and position ourselves in the market as thought leaders.”

John positioned the Firm as a leader in this space when he initiated the Firm’s membership of the World Economic Forum’s global clean battery alliance.

Together with Global Pro Bono Practice Leader Jacquelyn MacLennan, the Firm has assisted in the early stages of the formation of the alliance as part of our pro bono program – with Jacqui facilitating sessions at meetings in New York and Geneva, and the Firm working with the alliance to establish its governance framework.

Rising to the challenge

Due to the volume of growth (greenfields and brownfield expansion) opportunities in the mining and metals space over the next 12 to 24 months, we’ve developed a global tracker to help us proactively track and pursue potential roles for the Firm in the growth phase of the cycle.

The group is also committed to raising the Firm’s profile and reputation in the mining and metals industry through participation at key conferences, holding bespoke client events, regularly publishing thought leadership pieces, including an annual client survey, and collaborating with other industry experts, such as EY.

“Thought leadership is a priceless opportunity
to set us apart and show we have our finger
on the pulse of the industry.”

Rebecca explains: “Thought leadership is a priceless opportunity to set us apart and show we have our finger on the pulse of the industry. We publish pieces regularly and feedback from our clients has been excellent.

“We also use thought leadership as a complement to industry roundtable events, which are another way in which we’re building meaningful personal interactions with key contacts in the industry.”

“We’ve come a long way in the last five years and we’re extremely proud of what the Firm has accomplished, with a growing number of loyal mining and metals clients, multiple large cross-border, cross-practice mandates and increased awareness of the Firm across the global industry,” John Tivey affirms.