Mining 2026

Challenges for the Mining Industry in the Face of New Demands

As the world moves from a place of adjustment to one of consolidation in response to new demands, challenges for the mining industry continue to evolve. Mining companies around the world are seeking new opportunities and trying to adapt. Newcomers remain active, and established players have incorporated higher standards as part of their core strategies, increasingly focused on establishing and enhancing trust with stakeholders, including governments and communities.

Recent changes over the past years have fostered the implementation of new technologies to reduce costs, increase production efficiency, and reprocess and extract minerals from tailings and stockpiles. What was once driven by experimentation is now driven by economic viability, as mining companies have adopted innovative, sustainable and more efficient production methods.

From a macroeconomic standpoint, economies and mining companies that have traditionally relied on conventional minerals such as iron ore and gold are observing an ever-increasing appetite of investors for green minerals projects. Traditional base metals players are keen for diversification towards green minerals, which may be perceived as a reaction to society’s and the market’s call for the adaptation of the mineral industry to ESG principles. Other stakeholders with new technologies such as reprocessing tailings and bio-mining are arriving.

New practices are no longer perceived as transitional responses but as permanent features of the sector. The transition of the global energy matrix towards more renewable sources, the rising claims for low-carbon, sustainability goals, supply-chain traceability requirements and new technologies will also require improvements in standards for mining companies. The mining industry plays a major role in the energy transition and this role is now broadly recognised and closely scrutinised, a trend that will persist in the years to come.

These trends illustrate very well that the mining industry currently faces several questions, in particular those arising from increased environmental, social and community-related concerns, and the new technologies flourishing in the mineral production chains. The scenario is more challenging than ever for the mineral sector. Consequently, the role of the mining lawyer is likewise more demanding, expanding beyond technical compliance to include strategic, regulatory and risk-management considerations.

Legislative and Regulatory Changes

Many countries around the world introduce, from time to time, significant legislative or regulatory changes to their mineral, royalty and tax legislation.

From an economic viewpoint, commodity and mineral price changes can affect the mineral sector in many ways. The availability of funds for exploration projects, investment decisions for the development of new operations or the expansion of existing ones, job creation, or new technologies for processing and extracting minerals can all be influenced by the fluctuation of commodity and mineral prices in different ways. Over the years, the influence that prices have had in different markets and how they can affect countries and companies is clear to see.

Dealing with new technologies, climate concerns, decarbonisation, environmental requirements, community relations, human rights matters, health and safety, and regulatory, tax, financing, social issues and geopolitics, among many other subjects, makes this high-risk, long-term industry a more daring prospect than ever before.

Therefore, mining lawyers need to keep on top of the evolutions and features of a fast-changing environment and global order, the better to assist their clients as they navigate through a constantly changing world.

Established Mining Law

A deep understanding of the more traditional mining law matters – such as the different legal systems, sources of law, ownership of mineral resources, role of the state, legal nature of mineral rights, granting of mineral rights and security of tenure, just to name a few – remains a fundamental requirement for lawyers who wish to provide their clients with premium, top-notch services.

Additionally, lawyers must be fully updated and in control of the impact of health and safety requirements, taxes, duties, royalties, transfer tax and capital gains around the globe, as these are key factors in successful mining investments and operations.

New technologies being implemented in mineral production chains, such as workflow automation, reprocessing of tailings, bio-mining, and blockchain platforms for trading and tracking commercial operations, will demand equivalent legal skills among mining lawyers, as new legal issues may arise from the regulation of such matters by governments and from the dynamics of the new reality. A fast-changing world order, with complex geopolitics, also plays a very important role. This demands constant improvement by mining lawyers, who will need to conduct cross-disciplinary analysis and counselling to assess increasingly complex mining operations from all angles.

Mining Investments and Finance

Mining investment and finance legal matters play a dominant role in the work of a mining lawyer. It is crucial for the mineral law practitioner to be fully informed about the legal aspects of investment attraction, special rules on foreign investment approval, and restrictions on foreign investment in the exploration and mining sectors. Multilateral and bilateral treaties that favour and protect investments in exploration and mining, sanctions and restrictions to international trade are also of the utmost importance.

Knowledge of the main sources of finance for exploration, development and mining in different jurisdictions will certainly be a great advantage for a lawyer in this field, equipping these professionals to work on a variety of transnational deals.

The intricacies of domestic and international securities markets in the financing of exploration, development and mining in different parts of the world – as well as the legal features relating to security over mining tenements and related assets in the context of exploration, development and mining finance – are essential to a mining lawyer’s performance.

In the past years, private investors have signalled a great appetite for green minerals projects aimed at energy transition, which has heated the markets for financing and M&A. In the years to come, considering the ambitious goals set for decarbonisation and the utmost relevance of certain minerals in this scenario, the industry may expect further increases in the capital availability for this type of investment, without prejudice to other minerals that may come into fashion, and for new technologies to reprocess tailings and waste to exploit green minerals.

Environment, Health and Safety

Environmental, health and safety legal matters have been at the top of the list for mining lawyers for some time now. Mining companies are mostly very conscious of their environmental responsibilities. Most of the significant players have very high standards and are prepared to adopt all necessary measures to deal with the environmental impacts arising from their mining operations.

Mining industry players in different jurisdictions want clarity of the rules and consistency in the application of these regulations at all stages, including environmental permitting and health and safety throughout the course of the operation. In addition to this, stronger, better equipped and resourceful permitting authorities would add to the desired legal security in the mining industry.

These elements – clear and stable rules, consistent application of the law and trustworthy permitting authorities – would certainly be beneficial not only for the mining industry, but also the different mining jurisdictions in the world, particularly the less-developed ones.

Recent Issues

Issues such as health and safety, climate change, decarbonisation, human rights concerns, supply-chain standards, sustainable development policies, environmental protection and community relations, prior and informed consultation of affected people, the ability of countries to exploit their mineral wealth, and new mining and reprocessing technologies have become essential matters that need to be appraised by mining law practitioners.

These topics have become embedded in regulatory frameworks, financing conditions and operational decision-making, significantly expanding the scope and complexity of mining legal advice.

At the same time, the global energy transition has entered a more mature phase, in which the central role of mining is broadly acknowledged but the constraints on expanding supply have become increasingly evident. The growing demand for critical and transition minerals has highlighted structural challenges related to permitting timelines, land access, environmental and social approvals, and regulatory co-ordination. As a result, the pace of mineral supply expansion is shaped not only by market demand but also by the ability of legal and regulatory systems to provide predictability and continuity for long-term projects.

In parallel, capital allocation to the mining sector reflects a high degree of selectivity and risk sensitivity. While investor interest in minerals essential to the energy transition remains strong, access to financing continues to depend on demonstrable legal robustness, governance structures and effective risk management frameworks. Financing arrangements place sustained emphasis on legal certainty throughout the life cycle of mining projects, reinforcing the central role of legal analysis in assessing bankability and long-term viability.

Against this backdrop, the role of legal advisers in the mining sector goes beyond traditional compliance and transactional support. Mining lawyers are increasingly required to navigate the intersection between strategic mineral demand, regulatory complexity and capital discipline, contributing to the structuring of legally robust, financeable and resilient projects capable of withstanding long development cycles and regulatory stress across multiple jurisdictions.

Conclusion

The countries included in this guide have vast mineral potential, with swathes of territory still to be properly prospected and explored. Hopes around the globe increasingly focus on institutional stability and predictable legal frameworks capable of supporting long-term investment.

Populations, particularly those in less-developed countries, hold high expectations regarding the responsible development of mineral resources and their contribution to economic and social outcomes.

Society and investors’ call for a low-carbon and sustainable economy is directly linked with mineral prospection and exploration, which will inevitably intersect with the improvement of standards by mining companies to cope with such demand.

If the leading mining jurisdictions are able to balance strategic development with legal certainty, effective regulation and responsible governance, there will be great interest from investors in the exploration and mining sectors, which will, in turn, lead to economic and social prosperity.

This guide aims to provide a wealth of experience, and the submissions have been prepared by some of the most reputable and experienced law firms in the field of mining law.