05Building Value
Mining
Unlocking Africa's Mineral Wealth Responsibly
Africa holds some of the world's richest deposits of gold, copper, cobalt, lithium, graphite, rare earths, iron ore, uranium, bauxite, manganese and phosphates.
Mineral wealth alone does not guarantee prosperity. What is done with it does.
Platform
5 of 14
Building Value — Mobilising capital and delivering the assets, enterprises and industries on which African economies are built.
Practice engine
FIT
Purpose
Africa possesses some of the world's richest deposits of gold, copper, cobalt, lithium, graphite, rare earth elements, iron ore, uranium, bauxite, manganese, phosphates and industrial minerals. These resources present an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate economic transformation, industrialisation and regional integration.
However, mineral wealth alone does not guarantee prosperity. Sustainable value depends on sound governance, responsible investment, access to capital, effective regulation, environmental stewardship, community participation and downstream value addition.
The Mining Advisory Platform exists to help governments, investors, mining companies and financiers unlock the full value of Africa's mineral resources through integrated strategic advisory across the entire mining lifecycle.
Why this matters
Mining is no longer simply about extracting minerals.
It is about:
The countries that succeed will be those that transform mineral resources into industrial capability and long-term economic resilience.
Ligomarc supports that transformation.
- attracting responsible investment;
- securing access to critical minerals;
- developing national industries;
- strengthening local content;
- building transport and energy infrastructure;
- supporting manufacturing;
- protecting communities and the environment;
- generating long-term public revenue; and
- positioning Africa within global strategic supply chains
What we do
The Mining Advisory Platform provides integrated strategic advisory across the mining value chain.
Mineral Rights & Licensing
- Prospecting licences
- Exploration licences
- Retention licences
- Mining leases
- Large-scale mining projects
- Artisanal and small-scale mining
- Mineral rights due diligence
- Licensing compliance
- Regulatory approvals
Mining Investment
- Investment structuring
- Joint ventures
- Farm-in and farm-out arrangements
- Strategic investors
- Sovereign partnerships
- Development finance
- Foreign direct investment
- Investment protection
Mine Development
- Project structuring
- EPC and EPCM contracts
- Construction support
- Infrastructure development
- Water supply
- Power solutions
- Rail and transport infrastructure
- Logistics planning
Mining Finance
- Project finance
- Reserve-based lending
- Streaming and royalty financing
- Equipment finance
- Export credit support
- Development finance
- Refinancing
- Financial restructuring
Mining Operations
- Operational governance
- Supply chain management
- Procurement
- Local content implementation
- Contractor management
- Regulatory compliance
- Health and safety governance
- Operational optimisation
Mineral Processing & Beneficiation
- Processing facilities
- Smelters
- Refineries
- Value addition
- Industrial linkages
- Downstream industries
- Export competitiveness
ESG & Community Stewardship
- Environmental management
- Social impact
- Community development agreements
- Indigenous and customary rights
- Resettlement
- Biodiversity
- Climate obligations
- Mine closure planning
Mining Disputes & Risk Management
- Contract disputes
- Investor-state disputes
- Regulatory disputes
- Land disputes
- Community disputes
- International arbitration
- Crisis management
Signature solutions
Defined pieces of work that address the needs this platform meets most often. Each can be scoped and commissioned on its own.
Mining Investment Readiness Review
The Ligomarc Advocates Bankability Method, mining application. Tenure, licensing, ESG, community arrangements and fiscal terms assessed and remedied before investors reach the data room — with material defects identified and addressed before they emerge in investor due diligence.
Critical Minerals & Beneficiation Strategy
For governments and investors: a strategy for critical mineral development, supply chain security and downstream value addition — what can realistically be processed on the continent, under what fiscal and infrastructure conditions, with what partners, in what order.
Mine Recovery Programme
For distressed or stalled mining projects: legal, commercial and financial restructuring that preserves the resource, the licence and the workforce where the project can be saved, and secures an orderly, defensible position where it cannot.
How we deliver
- Geological opportunity assessment and investment strategy
- Licensing and regulatory structuring
- Investment and financing
- Mine development and infrastructure
- Construction and operational readiness
- Production, processing and beneficiation
- Marketing and export
- Closure, rehabilitation and legacy stewardship
Representative mandates
- Advising governments on national mining legislation and institutional reforms
- Supporting investors in the acquisition and development of mining assets
- Structuring project financing for large-scale mining developments
- Advising on critical minerals strategies
- Developing beneficiation policies and industrial linkages
- Supporting mining companies with ESG and community governance
- Advising on cross-border mining investments and regional mineral corridors
Illustrative. Client names and commercial details are withheld where confidentiality obligations apply.
Why Ligomarc
Mining today requires far more than legal advice. It demands advisers who understand geology, finance, infrastructure, taxation, environmental stewardship, community engagement, industrial policy and international investment.
Ligomarc brings together expertise across Finance, Infrastructure, Technology & IP, Tax, ESG, Logistics, Disputes and Special Situations to provide integrated strategic advisory throughout the mining lifecycle. Our multidisciplinary approach helps clients transform mineral resources into sustainable economic value while strengthening institutions, protecting investments and supporting Africa's long-term industrialisation.
Strategic Observation
This chapter also positions the next one naturally.
The Manufacturing & Industry Advisory Platform should begin with this premise:
"Africa's long-term prosperity will not be determined solely by what it extracts, but by what it manufactures."
That opening sentence creates a powerful transition from mining to manufacturing and reinforces Ligomarc's commitment to value addition, industrial capability and economic transformation. It also establishes a compelling narrative across the Handbook: from agriculture to minerals, and from raw materials to globally competitive industries.
Institutional Experience Applied. Mining disputes are usually constitutional disputes in commercial clothing — over what the State may reserve, whether a licence decision observed due process, and what a community is owed. Our constitutional office experience is built precisely on processes that must survive judicial review. Where an asset moves into care and maintenance or distress, our stewardship experience applies directly to protecting tenure, workforce and site integrity through the period.
Platform leadership
Regional & continental frameworks
The Africa Mining Vision and the country mining vision approach; the African Minerals Development Centre; AU work on critical and green minerals and value addition; the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism for minerals from the Great Lakes region; the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative; national mining statutes, and the constitutional provisions vesting mineral ownership in the State and requiring compensation and benefit-sharing.
Contribution to the African Purposes
Advances African Continental Integration through regional mineral value chains and beneficiation corridors. Advances African Institutional Stewardship through cadastre integrity, transparent licensing and revenue accountability. Honours African Culture & Heritage through community consent, sacred and heritage site protection and equitable benefit-sharing. Supports African Family Businesses through local supplier and contractor development.
Who we serve with this
Discuss a mining mandate.
Describe the situation in confidence and we will route it to the partner accountable for this platform.