The legal team at McGuireWoods includes a multidisciplinary group of partners who have dedicated and broad-based experience providing counsel to clients throughout the base metal ore, coal and construction aggregates mining industries. We advise clients on the full range of issues that affect this key sector of the economy, including long-term supply contracting, permitting, environmental compliance, surety and bonding, reclamation, labor relations, governmental regulation, royalties, contract compliance, force majeure declarations, reserve acquisition and sale, price redeterminations, merchant trading, corporate matters and joint ventures, securities, tax and tax admiralty, compensation and employee benefits.
We also advise mining clients on legal matters relating to corporate governance, securities law compliance, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, antitrust, mining and mineral leases, mine and plant site development, real estate, zoning and land use, construction, labor and employment, debt financing, and public relations.
In addition to our direct representation of clients, individual lawyers on our team hold positions of responsibility in, and are active members of, professional, legal and industry associations that influence and apply emerging regulatory and legislative developments around the world. For example, one of our Brussels-based partners currently serves as an officer of the Mining Law Committee of the International Bar Association and has published a number of articles on the company and mining law of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The mining industry group draws on resources from across the firm to ensure our counsel encompasses all areas of law affecting the mining industry, not just those specific to mining operations. We remain focused on efficiency-driven service and the establishment of competitive legal fees. Although our main office is located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium, we have an established network of relationships with counsel in other countries that enables us to offer clients coordinated, reliable and effective representation throughout Europe and worldwide.
Our Pittsburgh office regularly provides regulatory representation to operating coal producers, including proceedings before the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Department of Interior Office of Hearings and Appeals, numerous state regulatory agencies, and various U.S. district courts. This involves matters related to accidents, illegal discharges, water, noise and dust pollution, reclamation standards, license and permit suspension and revocation, coal theft, ownership and control permit block issues, designation of areas unsuitable for mining, injunctive relief and reclamation bond forfeitures, coal lease and mineral title issues.
The firm’s Brussels and London offices have been assisting clients in French and English-speaking central and western Africa for more than 20 years. Our services primarily involve legal matters related to mining, as well as issues related to corporate, real estate, tax, project finance, construction, environmental, corporate social responsibility and labor law. We also handle matters under the FCPA Act. To help clients address matters wherever they have operations and interests, we frequently work in conjunction with local counsel and foreign specialized counsel.
As a recent example of our global and broad-ranging services, McGuireWoods represented the world's largest and most diversified producer of high-performance, nickel-based alloys in consummating its plan of reorganization so that it emerged from bankruptcy. As part of the reorganization, this manufacturer ratified six new collective bargaining agreements and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) assumed the manufacturer’s three largest pension plans.
We also have significant experience representing producers of construction aggregates, providers of ready-mix concrete and asphalt, and suppliers of cement as both in-house and outside counsel. In another recent matter, we represented one of the leading U.S. construction aggregates producers generally and with respect to its merger with the leading U.S. construction aggregates producer for a total consideration of U.S. $4.6 billion.