Who we are

Peter Leon

Position:	Partner, Head of Africa Mining & Energy Projects

Telephone:	+27 11 530 5248

Fax:	+27 11 530 6248

Department:	Mining Energy and Natural Resources, Africa

Office:	Johannesburg

Peter Leon is a partner and head of the firm’s Africa Mining and Energy Projects Practice. His areas of expertise include mining, energy, black economic empowerment and international investment law as well as financial services regulation.

Areas of expertise

Mining law

Oil and gas law

Regulatory law

International investment law

Broad-based black economic empowerment

Financial services regulation

Top matters

Advising mining companies on the regulatory implications of key policy proposals in the African National Congress's research report on State Intervention in the Minerals Sector (SIMS).

Advising a multinational mining company on a mine development agreement and related issues with the government of Ghana.

Advising on the regulatory requirements for a change of control of a company holding mineral rights in Tanzania.

Co-counsel for Italian and Luxembourg investors in a EUR266 million bilateral investment treaty arbitration against the South African government, instituted under the auspices of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) (Piero Foresti and Others v Republic of South Africa, case no. ARB(AF)/07/1).

Advising the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Nigeria, on the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007.

Advising investors on the recently licensed Bisha mining project in Eritrea.

Advising on the Western Cluster iron ore project in Liberia.

Advising on the Zimbabwean Mines and Minerals Act, 2007.

Advising the International Petroleum Exchange and the London Metal Exchange.

Advising on the terms and various interpretations of the Bilateral Investment Treaty between South Africa and Zimbabwe with regard to the possible expropriation of protected investments.

Advising on the terms and impact of the European Union (EU) sanctions against Zimbabwe (Council Regulation (EC) No 314/2004) on investments in Zimbabwe by EU nationals.

Providing strategic and regulatory advice on Mozambican tantalum projects.

Advising investors in the Madagascan oil industry.

Advising multinational oil and resource companies, including Impact Africa, Forest Oil Corporation, Anadarko Oil Corporation and Afren plc, on regulatory issues with the Petroleum Agency South Africa and the Department of Mineral Resources.

Advising the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, the Banking Association and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) on the draft Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes of Good Practice and advising AmCham on the Information and Communications Technology Charter.

Accolades

Nominated to appear in Expert Guides' Guide to the World’s Leading Energy Attorneys (9th Edition) 2012 as one of the outstanding practitioners in this field.

Recognised as an outstanding practitioner in The Expert Guides to the World's Leading Energy and Natural Resource Lawyers 2010.

Included in all five editions (2008 - 2012) of Rain Makers and Pot Stirrers – the guide to the 100 most influential people in South Africa's mining industry.

Named as a legal expert in mining by Legal Experts: Europe, Middle East and Africa (a legal business report for Legal 500) in 2011 and 2012.

Named as one of the world's leading mining lawyers in The International Who's Who of Mining Lawyers 2006-2013.

Named as one of the world's leading business lawyers in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers 2006-2012.

Presented with a certificate from the chair of the International Bar Association's (IBA's) Legal Practice Division in recognition of his "remarkable work" in relation to the Mining Law Committee's Model Mine Development Agreement project for developing countries.

Ranked as a mining law expert in Chambers and Partners' Global Guide 2012.

In August, 2012, Peter was appointed as an honorary lecturer at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee, Scotland with effect from 2013.

Named as one of the world's leading energy and natural resources (mining) lawyers in Practical Law Company's Which Lawyer 2012

Marikana, Mangaung and the South African Mining Industry

Resource Nationalism by Taxation: A Look at Key African Countries

The rise of resource nationalism and what it means for foreign investors

Mining rights auctions ‘could lead to legal challenge’

Court blocks class-action mineral rights suits

Education:

Diploma in Comparative Legal Studies, University of Cambridge, England (judicial review of administrative action)

LLM (First Class Honours) (University of Cambridge, England)

Senior Scholar, Christ's College, Cambridge

LLB (cum laude) (University of Cape Town)

BA (with distinction in Roman Law) (University of Cape Town)

Languages:

English

Membership in professional societies

Member of the Council of the University of Cape Town, elected by convocation (1999-2008); deputy chair of the Council Appointments Committee (2004-2008).
Chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Local Government Transformation in South Africa (2000-2002): investigated and reported to the Minister of Provincial and Local Government on the financial viability and capacity of South Africa's 284 newly-established municipalities.
Member of the Law Society of South Africa's Constitutional Committee (1994-1998); led the Law Society's legal team in the Constitutional Court certification process.
Leader of the official opposition, Gauteng legislature (1999-2000); Leader of the Democratic Party, Gauteng legislature (1995-2000); member of Gauteng legislature (1994-2000).
Chief representative of the Law Society of South Africa on the Milne Commission of Inquiry (1993-1994) into rights of audience for attorneys in the High Court.
National Council member of the South African Institute of Race Relations (1991- ).
Council member of the International Bar Association's Legal Practice Division Council (2013 - )

Contributions to the Profession

Peter is an accomplished international speaker on resource nationalism, mineral regulation and broad-based black economic empowerment.

Recent papers and presentations include addresses on some of the most topical issues in the natural resources field:

Investment treaties and dispute settlement, Negotiation of Mineral Contracts: Mozambique Workshop, Maputo, 12 December 2012
Dispute settlement mechanisms: Options for specific provisions, Negotiation of Mineral Contracts: Mozambique Workshop, Maputo, 12 December 2012
Economic and social development obligations in today's mining industry, Negotiation of Mineral Contracts: Mozambique Workshop, Maputo, 11 December 2012
The impact of regulatory change on transformation, Transformation Indaba 2012, Pretoria, 14 November 2012
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: The South African position, The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Outreach Seminar, Lusaka, 22 October 2012
Marikana, Mangaung and the South African Mining Industry, address to the South African Institute of International Affairs, 30 August 2012
Resource nationalism by taxation: a look at key African countries, University of Dundee Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy's annual mining seminar, London, 27 June 2012.
Keynote address: South African mining industry at the crossroads, African Mining Network dinner, Johannesburg, 12 June 2012.
Resource nationalism in Africa: a South African perspective, MineAfrica seminars, Toronto, 4 and 6 March 2012.
The rise of resource nationalism and what it means for foreign investors, Brazilian Mining Association's second international congress on mining law, Salvador, Bahia, 3 May 2012.
Why South Africa has not joined the EITI and why it should, University of the Witwatersrand Mandela Institute workshop, Johannesburg, 29 February 2012.
Resource nationalism, not nationalisation, in South Africa?, FTI Consulting seminar, London, 7 December 2011.
The appeal of Africa: the improving legislative environment, Mines and Money conference, London, 7 December 2011.
The appeal of Africa: the improving legislative environment, MineAfrica seminar, London, 5 December 2011.
Resource nationalism in Africa, IBA annual conference, Dubai, 2 November 2011.
Keynote address: "The future of the South African mining industry", Rand Club 1926 Club Dinner, Johannesburg, 13 September 2011.
The International Bar Association's Model Mine Development Agreement, Africa Legal Aid seminar on Human Rights and Business, Pretoria, 28 July 2011.
Keynote address: "The South African mining industry - where to now?", International Platinum Group Metal Association annual dinner, London, 17 May 2011.
The International Bar Association's Model Mine Development Agreement, Earth Mineral session, World Economic Forum on Africa 2011, Cape Town, 5 May 2011.
The International Bar Association's Model Mine Development Agreement, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation / IBA conference 2011, Rio de Janeiro, 5 April 2011.
The International Bar Association's Model Mine Development Agreement, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference ("PDAC"), Toronto, 8 March 2011.
Keynote address: "The South African mining industry - is a crisis imminent?", MineAfrica seminar at the PDAC conference, Toronto, 6 March 2011.
International mineral regulatory best practice, Mining Cadastre User conference, Cape Town, 10 February 2011.
The International Bar Association's Model Mine Development Agreement, Mining Indaba, African Development Bank mining ministerial panel, Cape Town, 9 February 2011.

Furthermore, Peter has also authored the following publications:

Whither the South African mining industry?, published in Journal on Energy and Natural Resources Law, volume 30(1), 2012, 5 - 27.
International best practice and resource nationalism: the International Bar Association's Model Mining Development Agreement, published in The Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, volume 111, July 2011, 517 - 524.
Compensation for expropriation of old order mineral rights, published in De Rebus, issue no. 510, July 2011, 47 and 54.
Creeping expropriation of mining investments: an African perspective, published in Journal on Energy and Natural Resources Law, volume 27(4), 2009, 597 - 644.
A fork in the investor-state road: South Africa's new mineral regulatory regime four years on, published in The Journal of World Trade, volume 42(4), 2008, 671 - 690.
Resource nationalism or social transformation: an assessment of South Africa's new mineral regulatory regime three years on, published in The International Energy Law Review, issue no. 3, 2008, 87 - 93.