Mining & Projects

At Puga Ortiz, we advise our clients in mining with a comprehensive, practical approach deeply connected to the real needs of the industry. Our team is comprised of lawyers recognized in international publications for their outstanding mining practice, with proven track records in both national and international mining companies, and in large-scale megaprojects and mining operations.
This allows us to offer a strategic, technical, and executive vision based on direct field experience for each stage of the project lifecycle—prefeasibility, feasibility, development, construction, operation, and closure.
This practical experience, in turn, gives us an insider’s understanding of the business and helps us assertively assess risks by proposing effective and efficient control measures (preventive and contingency). This translates into a strategic legal approach aligned with corporate objectives and geared toward proposing concrete, viable, and proven solutions tailored to our clients’ real challenges and needs.

We provide expert support in:

• Mining concessions: processing, maintenance, and defense of mining rights.
• Exploration and extraction: legal structuring of projects from the early stages, including the preparation and negotiation of mining options and promises (MOUs, NDAs, and earn-in and earn-out contracts).
• Land and subsoil use rights: management of easements, leases, maritime concessions, onerous use concessions, permits, water rights, rights of transit, and other territorial rights/enablings.
• Structuring of key projects and contracts: collaboration on the delivery model, contract formation strategy, template development, preparation and negotiation of EPC, EPCM, PMC, BOT, BOOT, PPA, construction, supplies, transportation, leasing, purchase orders, services, and offtake agreements.
• Environmental management and community engagement: ESG consulting, preparation and processing of EIAs, EIAs, environmental relevance, sectoral permits, regulatory compliance, community agreements, community strategy, risk and conflict management, alignment with international standards and industry best practices.
• M&A and mining project financing: due diligence, legal investment structuring, financing contracts, and financial guarantees.
• Regulatory compliance and adaptation to regulatory changes: constant monitoring of legislative and regulatory developments that may impact the mining business, ensuring a swift and strategic response to new legal requirements.

Our services focus on:

• Specialized legal advice, aligned with the technical and regulatory challenges of the mining sector.
• Strategic negotiations with authorities (regional and central with on-site teams), communities, contractors, and investors.
• Design, review, and execution of key contracts for each stage of the project.
• Representation in administrative and arbitration proceedings, with a strategic perspective, considering our technical knowledge of the sector and business experience.
• Comprehensive management of legal, regulatory, and reputational risk, with a strategic, preventive, and business value-creating perspective.