Recent resources experience includes:
Maules Creek Coal project
Advised Coal & Allied on the sale of its undeveloped Maules Creek Coal project
in the Gunnedah Basin, New South Wales.
Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project
Advised Rio Tinto in the negotiation of its investment agreement and associated
shareholders agreement with the Mongolian Government, which means the Oyu Tolgoi
copper and gold project can now proceed, with an approximate value of A$6.7
billion.
Rio Tinto takeover defence
Advised Rio Tinto on its successful defence of BHP Billiton's £107 billion
takeover offer, which would have been the second biggest takeover in global
corporate history. Allens advised Rio Tinto on a broad range of complex
regulatory and strategic matters for the duration of the bid.
Monash Energy Project
Advising the Monash Energy Project participants (Shell and Anglo American)
in relation to the establishment and development of the project, a proposed
coal-to-gas-to-liquids project in the Latrobe Valley Region of Victoria. Our
work includes advising on proposed regulatory arrangements for carbon capture
and storage (geosequestration) in offshore geological structures.
Zinifex/Oxiana merger
Acting for Zinifex in its merger, by scheme of arrangement, with Oxiana,
creating a new major diversified base and precious metals mining company, which
will be the world's second-largest zinc producer.
Hunan nonferrous base metals joint venture
Advising Hunan on its joint venture with Compass Resources in the Northern
Territory, including advising on a legal and regulatory jurisdictional matter
that was new to the Chinese company and taking a lead role in the complex
negotiations on structuring issues.
Hamersley iron ore joint venture
Acting for Hamersley in establishing a 20-year joint venture with China's
largest steel producer, Shanghai Baosteel Group, involving the construction and
operation of a new iron ore mine in the Pilbara, WA, and long-term sales
arrangements worth over A$7.2 billion.
Nautilus subsea mining project
Advising Nautilus Minerals on its Solwara 1 subsea mining project in offshore
PNG to mine large amounts of ore rich in gold, copper and silver from seafloor
massive sulphide deposits. This includes advising on unique PNG and
international law issues.
Wandoan coal mine project
Advising Xstrata Coal on all aspects of its planned development of a large
open-cut thermal coal mine in the Surat Basin area of Queensland. If it
proceeds, it will be the largest coal mine in Queensland.
Sepon project
Advising Rio Tinto on the sale of an 80 per cent interest in the Sepon
high-grade copper and gold project in South Eastern Laos to Oxiana, which
involved complex sale, joint venture and financing documentation, and has
culminated in the first major minerals development in Laos.
Kainantu gold mine acquisition
Advising Barrick, the world's largest gold miner, on its US$141.5 million
acquisition from Highlands Pacific of the Kainantu gold mine and of more than
2900 square kilometres of highly prospective exploration licences in PNG.
Mozambique coal project
Advising Riversdale Mining on this hard-coking and thermal coal project at two
coal exploration tenements in Mozambique. This includes preparing the
documentation for the special purpose joint venture vehicle with Tata Steel and
for the advancement of the project.
Pilbara Rail Company
Advised Rio Tinto Iron Ore on the establishment of the Pilbara Rail Company, a
50:50 joint venture between Rio Tinto Iron Ore and Robe River Iron Associates
for the operation and maintenance of the rail assets of Rio Tinto Iron Ore and
Robe River Iron Associates in the Pilbara.
Rolleston coal mine
Advised Xstrata on the financing and development of a A$380 million greenfields
coal project at Rolleston, the company's first greenfields coal project
development in Queensland for 20 years. In addition to general resource issues,
the project involved construction of almost 100 kilometres of rail
infrastructure.
