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Mines & Minerals

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Aird & Berlis has decades of experience providing a broad range of advice to clients in the mining sector. Our Mines & Minerals Group is a multidisciplinary team of lawyers and patent agents with substantial industry involvement, especially in junior and mid-market matters. We serve a wide range of clients, such as Canadian and international mining companies across all asset classes, including gold, diamonds, silver, coal, as well as other precious, base and rare earth metals. We also advise industry service providers; Canadian and non-Canadian issuers of equity and debt; underwriters; promoters; financial advisors; investors and other project financiers. Clients value our depth of experience, network of industry connections, responsiveness and overall strategic approach to the delivery of legal services in the mining sector.

Whether your company is at the exploration, development, operational or winding-down stage of a mining project, looking to expand by acquisition or considering an exit, Aird & Berlis can provide the support and guidance needed to further your objectives. Our expertise includes capital markets, corporate/commercial law, domestic and international tax, banking and finance, insolvency and restructuring, environmental law, Indigenous relations, real estate, intellectual property, regulatory compliance, litigation and dispute resolution.

Drawing on the firm’s strength in capital markets and M&A, we act in connection with the acquisition and disposition of mining companies and mining properties. We have extensive knowledge and expertise relating to National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. We assist with the preparation of Technical Reports, in accordance with Form 43-101F1, and reviewing public disclosure and regulatory filings in light of NI 43-101.

Our Mines & Minerals Group provides innovative Canadian tax solutions for our domestic and international mining clients, including effective tax structuring advice for Canadian corporations whose principal assets are located outside of the country. For mining companies with Canadian assets, we also advise on matters relating to flow-through financings.

We have experience in preparing various commercial agreements, such as specialized mining contracts, offtake agreements, royalty agreements, streaming agreements, option agreements and technology licences, as well as due diligence evaluations regarding intellectual property for the mining sector.

Members of our Mines & Minerals Group have provided practical intellectual property advice in geology and mining techniques, including extractive metallurgy, mining chemistries and technologies. We act for diversified resource services clients in North and South America and elsewhere in developing, prosecuting, commercializing and litigating patents. We also advise in the development, protection licensing and enforcement of trade secrets and confidential information.

When disputes arise, our litigators represent mining sector clients in connection with general corporate, commercial and securities litigation matters, class actions and arbitrations.

We also have broad experience and strong ties in the financial sector, enabling us to provide practical and strategic advice on financing, restructuring and insolvency matters in the mining sector. Our professionals are able to recognize opportunities and negotiate solutions that maximize recoveries and minimize risk.

In Canada, mining development must not only comply with the regulatory framework, but must also include adequate consultation with impacted stakeholders. Together with lawyers from our Indigenous Group, we advise on stakeholder issues, consultation matters and negotiations and partnerships with Indigenous Nations.

Several members of our multidisciplinary group are recognized as leaders in their fields by Chambers and PartnersThe Legal 500Best Lawyers, Who’s Who LegalExpert GuidesLexpert and IAM. Our lawyers and patent agents are also active in the mining sector, regularly participating in the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention and other PDAC-related events.