Metals & Mining

Australia's metals and mining sector is the engine room of the national economy, accounting for between 9.9 and 12 percent of GDP. But few industries operate under a heavier regulatory load, carry more direct geopolitical exposure, or face closer examination from investors, communities, regulators and activists at every stage from tenement to closure.

The producers and investors who treat these as questions of execution rather than compliance are the ones who capture a competitive edge.

Clayton Utz traces its roots to 1833, and metals and mining are a core part of our DNA. We have partnered with producers and investors through booms and busts, through the rise and fall of commodities, and through successive rewrites of the rules that govern them.

We understand how decisions made throughout the life of a mine impact those that follow and how advice given in isolation can have unintended impact years later.

Our metals and mining team brings capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, project development, environment and approvals, finance, tax, foreign investment, employment, safety and disputes lawyers together in a single national team.

The result is one team across the life of the asset ensuring your legal architecture is built to hold up when conditions turn.

• ASX-listed explorers, developers and producers, across all commodities, from iron ore and coal to lithium, rare earths and battery metals, in Australia and offshore

• Critical minerals and rare earths developers

• International investors, corporates and acquirers investing into Australia

• Investment banks, brokers and underwriters

• Financiers, royalty and streaming providers, and infrastructure investors

• Companies listing or dual listing on the ASX

• VOC Group: on its US$3.2 billion sale of a 25% interest in the Rhodes Ridge Iron Ore Project to Mitsui, one of the largest iron ore transactions in recent years.

• Wyloo: on the formation of a joint venture with Hastings Technology Metals for the Yangibana Rare Earths and Niobium Project, and on Wyloo's acquisition of a 19.99% equity interest in TSX-listed Neo Performance Materials, making Wyloo its largest shareholder.

• LG Energy Solution: on a strategic partnership with Liontown Resources via a US$250 million convertible notes issue.

• Mandalay Resources: on its merger with ASX-listed Alkane Resources, creating a diversified gold and antimony producer valued at over A$1 billion.

• Nippon Steel Corporation: on its US$720 million agreement to acquire a 20% interest in the Blackwater mine in Central Queensland from Whitehaven Coal, including associated offtake arrangements.

• Central Asia Metals: on its proposed scheme of arrangement to acquire ASX-listed New World Resources for approximately A$185 million.

• Ardea Resources: on its joint venture with a Mitsubishi Corporation and Sumitomo consortium to develop Goongarrie.

• Osisko Bermuda: on US$150 million copper and silver stream transactions with Metals Acquisition Limited.

• Exxaro Resources: on its conditional acquisition of a 19.99% interest in ASX-listed Jupiter Mines.