Mining & Minerals

Mining and mineral law in South Africa is both legally and administratively complex. Our team is solution-driven, dynamic and able to offer a full range of comprehensive commercial services support clients that work in this sector. 

Mining & Minerals Sector Services

Our team is multi-disciplinary and includes a number of leading legal experts across a broad range of areas of specialty. Our immersive and longstanding association with the resources sector means we have sound, practical knowledge and are capable of offering a full range of services in a comprehensive and commercial way.

Our lawyers are highly skilled and have extensive experience. We are a solution driven and dynamic team and are well placed to offer relevant advice at a strategic level as well as on day-to-day legal issues.

Our Services include:

  • Transactional.
  • Commercial.
  • Black Economic Empowerment.
  • Regulatory.
  • Commercial Disputes.
  • Health and Safety.
  • Employment.
  • Environmental.
  • Business Rescue, Restructuring and Insolvency.
  • Property.
  • Tax.
  • Financing.
  • Projects and Infrastructure.
  • Competition.
  • Insurance.

Transactional

  • Mergers, acquisitions and disposals, including cross-border transactions
  • Joint ventures and partnerships
  • Private equity
  • Foreign direct investment
  • Listings, IPOs, capital raises
  • Corporate structuring and restructuring
  • Due diligence investigations and risk identification
  • Share incentive schemes

Black Economic Empowerment

  • Mining Charter
  • BEE structuring and transactions
  • Broad-based schemes and employee share ownership schemes
  • BEE strategies
  • Registration of empowerment trusts
  • Community projects

Health & Safety

  • Legal compliance reviews
  • Reporting safety incidents
  • Statutory appointments
  • Mine health and safety investigations, inquiries, compliance audits and legal proceedings
  • Reviews and appeals in respect of closures
  • Staff training and employee education

Commercial

  • Exploration and prospecting agreements
  • Development agreements
  • Royalty agreements
  • Contractor agreements
  • Off-take and supply agreements
  • Services and management agreements

 

Regulatory

  • Mining title opinions
  • Regulatory applications
  • Advice on all aspects of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and compliance therewith
  • Section 11 applications for the transfer of mineral rights and/or shareholdings
  • Section 102 applications for the amendment of mineral rights
  • Notarial executions and registration of rights

Employment Law

  • All employment aspects of restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, redundancies and business transfers
  • Litigation and dispute resolution, including private conciliation and arbitration
  • Employee relations and strategic planning
  • Training and development
  • Restraint of trade

Environmental Law

  • All aspects of environmental compliance
  • Planning issues and environmental impact assessments
  • Programme development
  • Environmental litigation, appeals and objections
  • Land use and heritage law
  • Advising on financial provisions for rehabilitation

Financing

  • Acquisition finance
  • Preference share funding
  • Commodity and leveraged finance
  • Listings, IPOs and capital raises

Business Rescue, Restructuring & Insolvency

  • Care and maintenance
  • Financial corporate overexposure and managing restructuring debt
  • Business rescue
  • Liquidation proceedings and sequestration

Projects & Energy

  • Public Private Partnerships
  • Joint ventures, pool and share agreements and PPPs
  • Section 53 applications for approval to use the surface of land for projects

Property

  • Lease and land use agreements
  • Liaising with communities and Department of Rural Development and Land Reform regarding community land

Competition Law

  • Preparing merger notification documents
  • Merger investigation proceedings and representation at merger hearings
  • Advice on all aspects of competition law

Insurance

  • Policy
  • Risk management issues

Tax & Exchange Control

  • Corporate and mining taxation
  • Structuring
  • Exchange control
  • Customs and excise

Services

Mining & Minerals Sector Services

Our team is multi-disciplinary and includes a number of leading legal experts across a broad range of areas of specialty. Our immersive and longstanding association with the resources sector means we have sound, practical knowledge and are capable of offering a full range of services in a comprehensive and commercial way.

Our lawyers are highly skilled and have extensive experience. We are a solution driven and dynamic team and are well placed to offer relevant advice at a strategic level as well as on day-to-day legal issues.

Our Services include:

  • Transactional.
  • Commercial.
  • Black Economic Empowerment.
  • Regulatory.
  • Commercial Disputes.
  • Health and Safety.
  • Employment.
  • Environmental.
  • Business Rescue, Restructuring and Insolvency.
  • Property.
  • Tax.
  • Financing.
  • Projects and Infrastructure.
  • Competition.
  • Insurance.

Transactional

  • Mergers, acquisitions and disposals, including cross-border transactions
  • Joint ventures and partnerships
  • Private equity
  • Foreign direct investment
  • Listings, IPOs, capital raises
  • Corporate structuring and restructuring
  • Due diligence investigations and risk identification
  • Share incentive schemes

Black Economic Empowerment

  • Mining Charter
  • BEE structuring and transactions
  • Broad-based schemes and employee share ownership schemes
  • BEE strategies
  • Registration of empowerment trusts
  • Community projects

Health & Safety

  • Legal compliance reviews
  • Reporting safety incidents
  • Statutory appointments
  • Mine health and safety investigations, inquiries, compliance audits and legal proceedings
  • Reviews and appeals in respect of closures
  • Staff training and employee education

Commercial

  • Exploration and prospecting agreements
  • Development agreements
  • Royalty agreements
  • Contractor agreements
  • Off-take and supply agreements
  • Services and management agreements

 

Regulatory

  • Mining title opinions
  • Regulatory applications
  • Advice on all aspects of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and compliance therewith
  • Section 11 applications for the transfer of mineral rights and/or shareholdings
  • Section 102 applications for the amendment of mineral rights
  • Notarial executions and registration of rights

Employment Law

  • All employment aspects of restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, redundancies and business transfers
  • Litigation and dispute resolution, including private conciliation and arbitration
  • Employee relations and strategic planning
  • Training and development
  • Restraint of trade

Environmental Law

  • All aspects of environmental compliance
  • Planning issues and environmental impact assessments
  • Programme development
  • Environmental litigation, appeals and objections
  • Land use and heritage law
  • Advising on financial provisions for rehabilitation

Financing

  • Acquisition finance
  • Preference share funding
  • Commodity and leveraged finance
  • Listings, IPOs and capital raises

Business Rescue, Restructuring & Insolvency

  • Care and maintenance
  • Financial corporate overexposure and managing restructuring debt
  • Business rescue
  • Liquidation proceedings and sequestration

Projects & Energy

  • Public Private Partnerships
  • Joint ventures, pool and share agreements and PPPs
  • Section 53 applications for approval to use the surface of land for projects

Property

  • Lease and land use agreements
  • Liaising with communities and Department of Rural Development and Land Reform regarding community land

Competition Law

  • Preparing merger notification documents
  • Merger investigation proceedings and representation at merger hearings
  • Advice on all aspects of competition law

Insurance

  • Policy
  • Risk management issues

Tax & Exchange Control

  • Corporate and mining taxation
  • Structuring
  • Exchange control
  • Customs and excise

Brochures

Mining & Minerals Lawyers

Our Mining & Minerals team has been involved in many of the largest and most prominent and complex resource industry transactions and matters in South, East, and sub-Saharan Africa, including recent headline landmark black economic empowerment (BEE) transactions.

Our Mining & Minerals Lawyers

Our Work

All

Waterberg JV Resources

CDH is representing Waterberg JV Resources, an incorporated joint venture between Impala Platinum, Platinum Group Metals, JOGMEC and Hanwa (Japan) and a local black economic empowerment company.  Our South Africa-based mining team advised Waterberg JV Resources on its successful application for a mining right and environmental authorisation over one of the most important platinum discoveries in South Africa.  

Nkomati Joint Venture

Our team is representing Nkomati Joint Venture, an unincorporated joint venture between African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a leading South Africa-based diversified mining and minerals company with interests in a wide range of mines, including platinum and platinum group metals, iron, coal, copper, and gold; and Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of palladium, one of the largest producers of Nickel, platinum and copper. Our South Africa-based mining team has been advising Nkomati Joint Venture on all aspects of the closure of the Nkomati Mine, previously Africa’s largest nickel-producing mine, placing the operation under care and maintenance.  

ABSA Property Development (ABSA)

CDH is representing ABSA, the leading South Africa-based commercial property finance company.  Our South Africa-based mining team is advising ABSA in relation to its joint establishment of the Klarinet Integrated Housing Development with the Emalahleni Local Municipality and Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlements. 

Bokoni Platinum Mines (Bokoni)

CDH is representing Bokoni, the leading South Africa-based operating mine located on the North-Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex. Our South Africa-based mining team is advising Bokoni on several disputes with the Baroka Ba Nkwana community. In July 2021, Ella Ramathabathe Phashe and 137 others instituted motion proceedings out of the Limpopo Division of the High Court, seeking, among others, to interdict the disposal of Bokoni's mining right.  

Sibanye Stillwater

CDH is representing Sibanye Stillwater, the leading South Africa-based global mining and metals processing group.  Our South Africa-based mining team provided strategic advice to Sibanye Stillwater in respect of a wage dispute and a threatened sympathy strike with the union, AMCU, at various other platinum producers.  The Labour Court ruled against AMCU and interdicted the sympathy strike.  AMCU took the matter to the Labour Appeal Court.  We succeeded in opposing the appeal in late 2021.

Our Work

Waterberg JV Resources

CDH is representing Waterberg JV Resources, an incorporated joint venture between Impala Platinum, Platinum Group Metals, JOGMEC and Hanwa (Japan) and a local black economic empowerment company.  Our South Africa-based mining team advised Waterberg JV Resources on its successful application for a mining right and environmental authorisation over one of the most important platinum discoveries in South Africa.  

Nkomati Joint Venture

Our team is representing Nkomati Joint Venture, an unincorporated joint venture between African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a leading South Africa-based diversified mining and minerals company with interests in a wide range of mines, including platinum and platinum group metals, iron, coal, copper, and gold; and Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of palladium, one of the largest producers of Nickel, platinum and copper. Our South Africa-based mining team has been advising Nkomati Joint Venture on all aspects of the closure of the Nkomati Mine, previously Africa’s largest nickel-producing mine, placing the operation under care and maintenance.  

ABSA Property Development (ABSA)

CDH is representing ABSA, the leading South Africa-based commercial property finance company.  Our South Africa-based mining team is advising ABSA in relation to its joint establishment of the Klarinet Integrated Housing Development with the Emalahleni Local Municipality and Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlements. 

Bokoni Platinum Mines (Bokoni)

CDH is representing Bokoni, the leading South Africa-based operating mine located on the North-Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex. Our South Africa-based mining team is advising Bokoni on several disputes with the Baroka Ba Nkwana community. In July 2021, Ella Ramathabathe Phashe and 137 others instituted motion proceedings out of the Limpopo Division of the High Court, seeking, among others, to interdict the disposal of Bokoni's mining right.  

Sibanye Stillwater

CDH is representing Sibanye Stillwater, the leading South Africa-based global mining and metals processing group.  Our South Africa-based mining team provided strategic advice to Sibanye Stillwater in respect of a wage dispute and a threatened sympathy strike with the union, AMCU, at various other platinum producers.  The Labour Court ruled against AMCU and interdicted the sympathy strike.  AMCU took the matter to the Labour Appeal Court.  We succeeded in opposing the appeal in late 2021.

Market recognition

Our Mining & Minerals team is externally praised for its depth of resources, capabilities and experience.

 

  • Chambers Global 2017–2024 ranked our Mining & Minerals sector in Band 2 for energy & natural resources: mining.
  • Chambers Global 2012–2016 ranked our Mining & Minerals sector in Band 3 for energy & natural resources: mining.
  • The Legal 500 EMEA 2012–2023 recommended us in Tier 2 for mining.
  • IFLR1000 2016–2023 ranked us in Tier 2 for project development: mining.

Market recognition

Our Mining & Minerals team is externally praised for its depth of resources, capabilities and experience.

 

  • Chambers Global 2017–2024 ranked our Mining & Minerals sector in Band 2 for energy & natural resources: mining.
  • Chambers Global 2012–2016 ranked our Mining & Minerals sector in Band 3 for energy & natural resources: mining.
  • The Legal 500 EMEA 2012–2023 recommended us in Tier 2 for mining.
  • IFLR1000 2016–2023 ranked us in Tier 2 for project development: mining.

Happy Clients

Chambers Global 2024

"The team is very commercially aware. It is in touch with current trends both locally and internationally and always strives to bring these perspectives in their work."

Chambers Global 2024
Chambers Global 2024

"Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is a very good law firm and I am very happy with the service. Its is responsive and gets the work done."

Chambers Global 2024

"The Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr team is experienced and extremely knowledgeable in all things mining. They continuously assist and advise us on complex legal matters with skill."

Chambers Global 2023

"Our partner at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr and the team in general are always very responsive and they work to agreed timelines."

Chambers Global 2023

"All the lawyers we deal with at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr are commercially aware and pragmatic."

Chambers Global 2023