Advisory Council

Rafael is a partner of Carey and co-head of the firm’s Natural Resources and Environment Group. He is also the current Chair of WAOML. His practice focuses on natural resources, mining, water rights, energy, environment, surface lands, project financing, and corporate and commercial law.Since 1996, Mr. Vergara has been professor of Mining Law at the Universidad de Chile, and from 2003 at the Universidad de Los Andes.He has been recognised as leading lawyer in Mining and Environment by several international publications such as Chambers and Partners, Who’s Who Legal, Legal 500, Latin Lawyer, among others. Rafael graduated from Universidad de Chile.

Al Gourley is Co-Head of the Mining practice group in London. He has been involved in many complex corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions in the resources sector, particularly cross-border transactions involving Europe, Africa, Australia and Canada.
During 2013, Al led deal teams for a merger between an AIM and TSX-V-listed company, a prospectus financing for a US$2 billion acquisition-based financing, and a US$100 million acquisition involving a French and TSX-listed company.
Al is a key resource within the firm for “pure” mining transactions, including royalty, streaming, carried interest, joint development, joint venture, option, offtake, marketing and other mining transactions. He also has experience working in-house with one of the world’s largest mining companies, as well as more recent experience as CEO of a UK mining company producing industrial minerals for sale to the world’s leading chemical companies.

Jeffery Snow currently acts as a Consultant to IAMGOLD after retiring from his position there as Senior Vice President Business Development and General Counsel.

Jeff’s academic credentials include a business degree from Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario) and a law degree from Western University, in London Ontario.

In his 39 years in the mining industry, Jeff has also been Senior Vice-President & General Counsel for Noranda/Falconbridge, President and CEO of a mid-tier gold company, General Manager of a world class metallurgical facility, and Managing Director of a Mining Group at a Canadian national law firm. Jeff has also served on the Board of a number of public mining companies and has done extensive work in the area of Corporate Governance. Jeff has led legal teams at a number of international mining companies and has worked on major acquisitions/dispositions, financings, class action litigation and international joint ventures in over 40 countries.

Peter Wright is legal counsel to the Copper and Zinc business units of Glencore Canada Corporation. Prior to joining Glencore, Peter worked at law firms in New York, and later Toronto, advising clients in the extractive resource sector. Peter holds common and civil law degrees from McGill University Faculty of Law (2004).

Yves is a French qualified lawyer and a partner in Simmons & Simmons’ Paris office Energy and Infrastructure team. He specialises in advising international corporate clients on complex mining, power, water and infrastructure projects in France and internationally, with a particular focus on mining in Africa.

For more than 12 years Yves has been advising sponsors and financial institutions on all stages of the development of mining projects and related infrastructure (power, rail, port) with particular focus on Francophone Africa. He also regularly works on the drafting of mining and oil regulations. He has for example advised First Quantum Minerals, listed on the London Stock Exchange and on the Toronto Stock Exchange, on their mining projects in the DRC and Mauritania, and the sponsor of a major bauxite mine/alumina refinery project in Guinea on all aspects of the project including rail and port infrastructure.

Yves is one of the co-heads of Simmons & Simmons’ African initiative. He regularly speaks at energy and natural resources conferences in France and internationally and lectures international contract law at University of Poitiers.

Julie practises in the areas of public affairs, OHADA law & mining law. She joined La Mancha / Endeavour Mining in 2014. Over the last 5 years, she has developed legal expertise on mining issues. Julie is based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire since 2016. She advices and brings support to all departments of the Endeavour Mining Group, from exploration to operations, including projects, finance, tax, CSR and public affairs throughout the West Africa Region, covering 6 mining operations spanning 3 countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali). She specializes in negotiations with the West African States (mining conventions, commercial agreements, tax and customs negotiations) as well as M&A and Corporate work.
Julie holds the French bar exam.

Jay Kellerman is a partner and Head of the Mining Group at Stikeman Elliott. He is also a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Markets Groups, and served as the Managing Partner of the firm’s Toronto office from 2012 to 2018. With more than 30 years of experience, Jay is widely recognised by market sources as a leading practitioner in his field. He is consistently sought out by senior management of companies, boards and investors for not only transactional assistance, but to advise on strategic direction and growth.

Jay has earned significant praise for his seasoned practice and deep technical knowledge. He is recognised as one of the top mining lawyers in the world by market commentators and directories including Who’s Who Legal, as a Noble Practitioner Capital Markets: Equity and M&A by International Financial Law Review’s IFLR1000: The Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms 2020, and as a leading lawyer in Corporate Finance and Securities, Corporate Commercial, M&A and Mining by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2020, among many others.

Transactions and Compliance, Newmont Mining Corporation

Mark is responsible for M&A, financing and a variety of additional transactional and compliance activities for Newmont Mining Corporation, one of the world’s leading gold producers. Previously, Mark was CFO and General Counsel for Eyeris, Inc., a company that specialized in cost and profitability analysis software and services. Mark started his career at Holland & Hart, LLP, where he became a partner with a diverse corporate and securities practice. Mark attended Duke University where he majored in Mathematics and Political Science, and received his JD from Stanford Law School. He is married and has three children, and resides in Denver, CO.

Elena is currently Head of the Project Office at Navoi Mining and Metals Co. She has a diverse legal background in M&A, corporate, finance, capital markets, and commercial law. Before joining Navoi, Elena held senior legal in-house and board level positions in large Russian industrial groups, including Mechel and En+ Group and previously worked as Senior Counsel at EG Capital Advisors. She has also served as a general counsel for private equity funds managed by Alfa Group and as a general counsel in private European investment firm Sapinda. Elena also worked at international law firms, including Simmons & Simmons, Baker McKenzie and White & Case.
In 2015, Elena was included in the Legal 500’s GC Powerlist as one of the leading Russian general counsels. Elena speaks Russian and English.

Lizelle has extensive experience working in multi-cultural environments throughout the African continent, including South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Namibia, DRC, Guinea, Mali and Gabon. She holds various board positions and was responsible for establishing legal services throughout the Continental Africa Region covering 9 mining operations spanning five countries. She has amassed diversified experience in corporate transactions, government negotiations, international arbitrations and driving legislative changes in various jurisdictions.
Prior to joining AngloGold Ashanti Lizelle worked for Bowmans in Johannesburg and for Herbert Smith in London.

Hiba is an Executive Director for Legal, in charge of Projects at Eurasian Resources Group (ERG). She is an international project (mining, oil & gas) and transaction (M&A, JV, investment in African countries) lawyer.  before joining ERG in 2015, she was an in-house counsel at Glencore and has practiced as a lawyer in Paris, France in the mining & project departments of a number of international law firms.

She holds a law degree from the French section of the Lebanese University, a Master’s Degree and a PhD in Business Law from the Sorbonne University and is admitted to the Paris Bar. She is fluent in English, French and Arabic.

Evgeny was appointed as Chief Legal Officer, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs in 2014 having joined Nordgold as Chief Legal Officer in 2007. Previously Evgeny was a senior lawyer at the mining division of Severstal (LSE: SVST). Before then, Evgeny was a legal consultant at Ernst & Young.
Evgeny is a member of the board of the Russian Union of Gold Producers and the African Business Initiative (Russia).
Evgeny graduated from St. Petersburg State University, Law faculty, and holds an LLM (with honours) from Northwestern University.

Ângela Viana is a Senior Associate at VdA where she has been involved in several transactions in Portugal and Angola, with a particular focus on energy, mining, investment, water and waste management and shipping.

She has been particularly active in providing assistance to several mining projects in Angola, notably in the negotiation/renegotiation of mining investment contracts, structuring/restructuring of joint ventures, farm-ins and farm-outs, assisting some of the world leaders of the mining sector.

Martijn has over 25 years of international experience as a corporate commercial lawyer and governance professional in various industries and jurisdictions. After having practised for 10 years in his country of birth, The Netherlands, in both private practice and senior in-house legal roles, he migrated to Australia in 2004. He has since then held senior in-house legal and company secretarial roles with various mining companies.
Martijn is currently the General Counsel and Company Secretary of ASX and TSX listed African gold explorer, developer and producer Perseus Mining Limited which role he has held since July 2013. At Perseus, he is responsible for the general legal affairs, governance and compliance management of the group.
Martijn holds a Master of Laws from the University of Leyden in the Netherlands and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia. He also completed the Governance Institute’s Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance.