here - Sterling Partnership

REGIONAL ROUND-UP:
The Mining Industry 2014
The Mining
Industry 2014
Chigozie Anyanwu is a solicitor and managing associate
at Sterling Partnership. With over five years’ experience
in legal practice, Chigozie has provided practical and
effective legal solutions to clients on a variety of
subject matters including; international commercial
transactions, energy and natural resources and
corporate governance. She has considerable insight
and experience in the mining industry.
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However, there is a proactive effort on the part of the
Nigerian government through the Ministry of Mines
and Steel Development to revamp the solid mining
industry and make it the vibrant and commercially
viable sector of the Nigerian economy it once was.
The strategy adopted so far is to put in place a
legislative framework that encourages both local and
foreign private sector investment as well as establish
specialized agencies to administer the industry.
Nigeria is richly endowed with an array of solid mineral
resources including coal, lignite, coke, gold, columbite,
bitumen, iron ore and uranium. Many of these
resources exist in commercial quantities in Nigeria
and formed a very lucrative part of Nigeria’s economy
until the 1950’s when crude oil was discovered. The
Nigerian economy is currently focused on oil and gas
which is reported to account for about 14% of the
nation’s GDP as against solid minerals at about 0.5%.
Companies or enterprises engaged in mining
operations are eligible to apply for a mining licence
in Nigeria based on a competitive bid process. Mining
companies are entitled to a capital allowance of 95%
of their qualifying capital expenditure incurred in
the year in which the investment is incurred. Other
incentives such as exemption from certain custom
duties and personal tax-free remittance quota for
expatriate personnel for the transfer of external
currency out of Nigeria also apply.
In view of the efforts in place to rejuvenate the
mining industry, my projection is that the Nigerian
mining industry holds a lot of promise for successful
investment in 2014 and beyond.
Company: Sterling Partnership, Legal Practitioners
Name: Chigozie Anyanwu
Email: canyanwu@spnglegal.com
Web Address: www.spnglegal.com
Address: 17A Wumego Crescent off Christ Avenue
Off Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos
Telephone: +234 (01) 874 4576
+234 (01) 874 4577
Mexico’s Mining Industry:
Challenges and Promising Future
With a steady growth clearly outpacing the general
economy, Mexico’s mining industry has seen an expansion
in terms of projects and frontiers: discoveries in new
mining regions, the arrival of new players in the market,
mainly from Asia, Canada and South America, and the
production of a wider variety of metallic and high grade
non-metallic minerals. At the same time, Mexico starts 2014
with a new tax regime, introducing royalties. Mexico has
historically relied solely on an income-tax based model for
the mining industry, but has now enacted a 7.5% royalty
on production, which one can foresee will have an impact
and reshape business models and industry behavior. Even
with such royalty, Mexico will continue to have one of the
most investor-beneficial regimes worldwide. By the same
token, the State Governments and local constituencies
will increasingly align their interests to those of the mining
projects, inasmuch as a portion of the royalties will be
earmarked to benefit their specific communities.
As a law firm ranked as the leader in the natural resources
sector in Mexico by the most reputable services, LVHS
provides added value to mining companies in all matters
related to the successful development, sale or acquisition
of a mining project, starting from the regulatory side of
securing or obtaining mining concessions, to issues related
to negotiating surface rights, production agreements, joint
ventures, corporate structures, labor issues, to development
financing by banking institutions or equity funds. Our
leadership is supplemented with extensive experience in
representing foreign investors doing business in Mexico,
and addressing the specific issues that typically arise for a
company of that type.
Company: LVHS
Name: Jorge Jiménez
Email: jjimenez@lvhs.com.mx
Web Address: www.lvhs.com.mx
Address: Guillermo Gonzales Camarena No. 1600,
Piso 6 - B, Col Santa Fe, Centro de Ciudad,
C.P. 01210 Mexico, D.F
Telephone: +5255-3685-3302
Acquisition International | January 2014 | 51