In June, ISLP participated in both the Investing in African Mining Indaba and the contemporaneous Alternative Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa. The events provided unparalleled opportunities to meet in person with government, civil society organizations, and other partners and mining experts to discuss salient developments informing and shaping African countries efforts to manage precious natural resources. Over 6,000 government officials, mining experts, investors, and others attended the weeklong Investing in African Mining Indaba. The convening featured addresses from several African heads of state and senior officials, as well as thought leaders from the extractives sector. Sessions covered a range of topics including regional cooperation, creating inclusive opportunities for a just energy transition, the role of battery metals and critical minerals in the energy transition, innovations in mining technology, and ESG investing.
The Indaba also occasioned the launch of an ISLP project produced in partnership with the World Bank and the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF): the Toolkit for State Equity Participation in Mining Companies. ISLP volunteer Scot Anderson of Hogan Lovells served as lead drafter on the project, which complements the Toolkit on Local Development & Community Engagement In Mining Projects that is part of the African Mining Legislative Atlas (AMLA). “The toolkit includes a comprehensive survey of the laws of each country related to state equity participation,” Scot writes in his summary of the Toolkit. “Additionally, the toolkit reviews and discusses the key issues related to equity participation, including the effect of state equity participation on other elements of the fiscal regime, the rights and duties of the state or state-owned mining company as a shareholder or equity holder in a mining venture, and how to design and implement a corporate governance structure that reflects the dual role of the state as a regulator and an investor. The toolkit … sets out the advantages and disadvantages of alternative approaches to equity participation.” To read more about the AMLA and the State Equity Toolkit, please see Scot’s full summary on our website.
The parallel Alternative Mining Indaba event brought together civil society organizations from around the world to exchange insights, strategies, and information relating to concerns such as transparency and accountability, human resettlement, environmental protection, and civil society engagement in natural resource management decisions. ISLP executive director Sara Lulo met with a number of our partners at the Alternative Mining Indaba, including the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), Transparency International-Kenya, and Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW).
A recent example of ISLP’s mining-related legal support to civil society is the recent publication of the Zimbabwe Fiscal Regime for Platinum, developed in cooperation with SARW. Drawing upon the legal expertise of ISLP volunteers from Hogan Lovells, the publication evaluates Zimbabwe’s current fiscal regime related to platinum production and benchmarks elements of the regime against international best practices. With one third of the world’s platinum reserves, Zimbabwe’s development of this resource will be critical to its economic growth. This publication highlights the gaps that exist in Zimbabwe’s mining law and provides recommendations for alternative legislations. The research informs key engagement and advocacy points for civil society to engage the government of Zimbabwe in the ongoing process of review of the mining laws in that country.
Through both our Government and Civil Society practices, ISLP is proud to mobilize expert legal support to complement and enhance both government and civil society efforts to manage natural resources in a manner that benefits a country’s people while mitigating environmental and social harms.