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Mining projects
Fognani & Faught has worked extensively in all phases of project siting and development in the mining industry. We have developed substantive knowledge of facilities and operations in the industry, including mining, milling, smelting and refining of ores and minerals (including primary and secondary processing). The Firm has worked with clients in obtaining permits and approvals at the federal, state and local levels, and in all other aspects of project development domestically and internationally, including environmental compliance, ingress and egress, press and community relations, administrative rulemaking, state and federal legislative monitoring and testimony and litigation. We have worked closely with officers and boards of directors of clients to develop strategies for resolving complex mining, environmental, land use, public lands and corporate matters related to those projects.
We have experience with and expertise in both the General Federal Mining Law and the related federal and state statutes and regulations concerning the location and discovery of mining and millsite claims and the overlay of federal and state environmental laws affecting mining. We have carefully monitored the various proposals over the years to amend some of these laws and regulations and have actively participated in both preparing and also presenting legislative and regulatory testimony concerning these proposals. We are also very familiar with the sometimes complex and complicated title issues involving both unpatented and patented mining claims and other forms of mining ownership.
Our experience has spanned a number of activities in the mining industry including the following:
- Project licensing, permitting and access
- Environmental regulation, compliance, assessments and feasibility studies
- Project financing
- Negotiating and preparing contracts
- Tax and royalty issues
- Securities regulation and compliance
- Government affairs and community relations
Construction Contracts
In representing its clients in domestic and international mining and energy projects, the Firm has prepared and negotiated numerous construction contracts, including engineering, procurement, construction and management contracts, both onshore and offshore, as well as appropriate coordination agreements and guarantees. We also have prepared and negotiated stability and investment agreements and purchase order contracts for long-lead time major equipment purchases, as well as service and manpower agreements for client projects.
Mining Litigation
We also have extensive experience in litigating mining and mining-related issues domestically and internationally. We have been successfully involved in a number of seminal cases of national significance, such as the cases filed on behalf of the American Mining Congress (National Mining Association) and member companies in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging various governmental regulations and environmental programs. For example, John Fognani was lead counsel in a suit filed by the American Mining Congress against the United States Environmental Protection Agency, AMC v. EPA, 824 F.2d 1177 (D.C. Cir. 1987), in which EPA's regulatory definition of solid waste and its application to the mining industry were successfully challenged.
Similarly, since establishing its relationships with various clients in China and Mongolia, Fognani & Faught has been called upon several occasions for different mining clients and projects in Mongolia to evaluate circumstances involving possible government expropriation and creeping forms of nationlaization. In those instances, international arbitration pleadings have been prepared and used in effecting a prompt resolution of the matters at issue with the government. In other circumstances, the Firm has used its knowledge of Mongolian and international laws to advise mining clients and in developing strategies to interface with the government to achieve a favorable and mutually acceptable outcome.
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