Giada Masina

Giada Masina

Director

Giada is a Director in our Corporate and Commercial practice. She is a merger & acquisition lawyer and Notary Public specialising in mining law and mining transactions and has over a decade of experience in this industry, having advised on numerous high-profile transactions for both local and foreign clients. She has advised extensively on all mining regulatory aspects of commercial transactions from inception to implementation.

 

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Career

Giada began her career in 2007 as a Candidate Attorney at Cliffe Dekker (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr) and was appointed as an Associate in 2009. She was promoted to Senior Associate in January 2011. In 2014 she was appointed as a Director.

Mining Experience

  • Conducted and headed numerous mining due diligence investigations covering all regulatory compliance aspects including social and labour plan compliance.
  • Provided numerous opinions regarding the applicability of section 11 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, No 29 of 2008 to transactions.
  • Advised on complex regulatory aspects for purposes of structuring asset acquisition and disposal transactions.
  • Vast experience in dealing with section 11 transfer applications and section 102 amendment applications, including compiling such applications and attending to the preparation, notarial execution and registration of the documents required to implement transfers and amendments.
  • Advised local and international clients with regard to regulatory compliance issues in terms of South African prospecting and mining law.
  • Advised on land use aspects, including relating to surface right permits and the transferability thereof, sub-division of land, restrictive conditions and servitudes, zoning and section 53 consent for surface use.
  • Drafted and advised on various lease/land use agreements regarding access to prospecting and mining areas.
  • Attended to stakeholder engagement, including attending stakeholder meetings, liaising with communities and communal property associations and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform regarding community land.
  • Drafted and negotiated numerous mining related commercial agreements, including off-take and supply agreements, contractor agreements and mine management agreements.
  • Advised on BEE and Mining Charter.

Recent Transactions

  • Advised Northam Platinum on its acquisition of the Everest Platinum Mine from Aquarius Platinum, its acquisition of the Eland Mine from Glencore South Africa Proprietary Limited and its joint venture partner and its acquisition of a portion of the Amandelbult mineral resource and immovable property from Rustenburg Platinum Mines and the disposal of a portion of the Zondereinde mineral resource to Rustenburg Platinum Mines.
  • Advised Investec Equity Partners, the restructured private equity investments business of Investec Bank, in its multi-billion rand acquisition of Idwala Industrial Holdings, a leading South African miner and producer of industrial minerals and lime.
  • Acted for Brait S.E., an investment holding company with its primary listing on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) and secondary listing on the JSE in its cross-border (UK) acquisition of the Virgin Group. Deal value: ZAR 12 billion
  • Advised Remgro Limited, an investment holding company listed on the JSE regarding its acquisition of the spreads business in Southern Africa from Unilever plc. Deal value: ZAR 7 billion
  • Advised Stibium Mining, a subsidiary of the Breakaway Group (Australia) on the acquisition of the Cons Murch Mine from Village Main Reef, 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 group restructuring, BEE transaction and capital raising by way of a rights offer to shareholders.
  • 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, a consortium comprising Ekapa Mining and Petra Diamonds.
  • Represented Sishen Iron Ore Company Proprietary Limited, a subsidiary of Kumba Iron Ore Limited, a part of the Anglo American Group with a transaction involving the disposal of the Thabazimbi Mine.
  • Advised EVRAZ Plc, a Russian steel producer listed on the London Stock Exchange in respect of its disposal or various South African mining assets.
  • Acted for Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafela Tribe in respect of the acquisition by Pallinghurst Resources (Guernsey) and the restructuring of their various platinum group metal interests and the acquisition and consolidation of additional mining and beneficiation interests.
  • Advised Atlatsa Resources Corporation on various transactions with Anglo American Platinum relating to mineral and prospecting asset sales; group, share and debt restructuring and black economic empowerment.
  • Advised Sekoko Resources on sale of shares in a listed Australian entity, share acquisition/joint venture participation by a Seychelles company in Sekoko Coal and on funding and group restructuring.
  • Advised China African Precious Metals on the acquisition by Hong Kong subsidiary of SSC Mandarin Group of the assets of Orkney Gold Mine from the liquidators of Pamodzi Gold.
  • The Legal 500 EMEA 2017 - 2019 recommended Giada for mining.
  • Chambers Global 2019 ranked Giada in Energy & Natural Resources: Mining.

Education

  • BCom LLB, University of Johannesburg
  • Certificate of Competence in Prospecting and Mining Law - University of the Witwatersrand
  • Year of admission as an attorney: 2009
  • Enrolled with the Legal Practice Council (Most successful candidate in the Notarial Practice Examination)
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