Crowley Fleck’s long history and national reputation for representing mining clients supports a foundational industry in our region. We have extensive experience in all types of mining from coal to uranium, precious metals to industrial minerals, and open pit to underground to in-situ. We provide a full range of services to the industry, including asset acquisition, due diligence review, financing and divestiture, title examinations, royalty matters, permitting, reclamation and mine closure/cleanup, litigation assistance, and advice on employment and corporate issues. Our lawyers are adept at navigating the maze of laws affecting the industry and at developing strategies for successfully dealing with the legal challenges encountered in mine development and operation.
Land and mineral ownership and control are the foundation of every mining project. We have wide-ranging experience assisting clients with surface and minerals leasing and purchase transactions on federal, state, Indian, and private lands, and locating mining claims on Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and split estate lands.
Mine development and operations require numerous federal, state and local permits and approval. We have assisted clients with permitting and environmental compliance and evaluation, and associated litigation, for a wide variety of mines, including world class mining projects.
A myriad of legal issues arise in every major mining project, including corporate matters, employment and labor law, governmental affairs, commercial transactions, zoning and land use, permitting and environmental, mine safety/MSHA, federal, state and local taxation and impact fees, royalties, financing and access rights. End of mine life can also involve reclamation, mine closure, and environmental clean-up issues. Crowley Fleck is a full service law firm and has experienced lawyers in virtually every area of the law that impacts mining from project development and start-up to mine closure.
An appropriate level of title review, reporting and curative is required for each step in a project or transaction. Crowley Fleck has a national reputation for thorough and accurate title examinations involving federal, state, Indian and private lands and we provide title opinions for acquisitions, mergers, financing, leasing and project development. Whether patented or unpatented mining claims, millsites, tunnel sites, or royalties, we have the experience to address the complex and unique title issues associated with mining.
From all aspects of legal due diligence to transaction negotiation, drafting, financing and closing, we have represented clients in numerous mining M & A transactions, including up to ten-figure values.
Every significant mine encounters litigation, including administrative contested cases, whether it be in the title/royalty, commercial, permitting, environmental, condemnation or tort liability arena. Our litigation attorneys have a wealth of experience and tremendous success representing our mining clients in such matters.