Ben joined Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr as a Candidate Attorney in 2014. He was appointed as an Associate in 2016. Ben was promoted to Senior Associate in 2019.

• Drafting and reviewing company secretarial documents and various commercial agreements, inter alia, memoranda of incorporation, shareholders agreements, sale of business agreements, and sale of shares agreements.
• Conducting numerous corporate and mining due diligence investigations and drafting due diligence reports.
• Advising local and international clients with regard to compliance issues in terms of South African prospecting and mining law and general company law.
• Researching and drafting opinions on various aspects of commercial law and mining law.
• Formed part of the teams which –
  • Advised Atlatsa Resources Corporation on transactions with Anglo American Platinum relating to mineral asset sale; group, share and debt restructuring, black economic empowerment.
  • Advised Stibium Mining, a special purpose vehicle of the Breakaway Group, Australia on the acquisition of shares and claims in and against Cons Murch Mine (Pty) Ltd by from Village Main Reef Limited, including advising on a mine management arrangement pending fulfilment of conditions precedent, interim operational funding provisions and tailings processing.
  • Acted for Lonmin Plc, a platinum mining company listed on the London Stock Exchange with a secondary listing on the JSE in respect of its capital raising by way of a rights offer to shareholders, including the sub-division and subsequent consolidation of its share capital.
  • Advised De Beers on mining law aspects of its disposal of its processing and related business as a going concern at Kimberley Mines to Ekapa Minerals Proprietary Limited, a consortium comprising Ekapa Mining Proprietary Limited and Petra Diamonds Limited.
  • Advised Sun International on the R9.5 billion acquisition by Sun International of the Peermont Group.
  • Acting for Platinum Group Metals in regard to its vending of rights into a new operating entity, unbundling of the Western Bushveld Joint Venture, including regulatory, funding and mining right issues.

• The Legal 500 EMEA 2021 recommended Ben for Mining.

Education

• Admitted Attorney and Notary
• LLB, University of Johannesburg (cum laude)
• LLM Corporate Law, University of Witwatersrand (in progress)
• Enrolled with the Legal Practice Council