The International Who’s Who of Mining Lawyers has brought together two of the leading practitioners in the world to discuss key issues facing lawyers today.

Tanneke Heersche of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in South Africa considers the legal and practical pan-African developments in the mining sector in 2011.

We gather four leading mining lawyers from France, Brazil, Colombia and South Africa to discuss areas of activity, regulatory changes and law firm strategies in their respective jurisdictions.

The recovery of the worldwide economy from the crisis of 2008 was especially rapid in the case of the prices of base metals and commodity minerals. Accordingly, senior and mid-sized mining companies also recovered their stock market value and the junior companies are beginning to again obtain resources from the public. Latin America has also benefited from these facts and continues to be a very important target of many of such mining companies.

Mining has been the focus of legislative developments worldwide in the past year. With several governments enacting legislation limiting development, the UK focused on new anti-bribery legislation, affecting all industry sectors, including mining and the US enacted legislation with respect to conflict minerals and transparency.

Our research utilises the feedback received from corporate counsel and private practitioners across the globe to pick out 287 lawyers in 47 countries who should be considered the leading experts in the world for the full range of mining related work.

With the benefit of over 14 years of research and tens of thousands of votes from clients and private practitioners, Who’s Who Legal takes a closer look at developing trends in the mining legal marketplace worldwide.

Months of independent and rigorous research have revealed the world's best mining lawyers in 42 jurisdictions. Who's Who Legal includes 267 expert practitioners and this article highlights the best of the best in the mining hotspots Canada, the United States, Australia and Latin America.

Little has changed over the last 12 months in the mining marketplace. The mining industry is witnessing a lack of worthwhile financial investments, a cessation of greenfield exploration and a flurry of consolidations, as investors opt for the safety of the precious metals market over risky mining ventures.

Mining is a key industry in the CIS region and our research uncovers 25 lawyers in four countries who are considered leaders in this competitive marketplace.

Our research allows us to highlight the firms and individuals who are leaders of this practice area.

Tom Barnes identifies the issues currently faced by leading mining lawyers.

With the continuing turmoil in the financial markets and the relative weakness of the US dollar, the price of precious metals continues to reach record high levels, with gold prices increasing by 30 per cent in 2007 and platinum, palladium and silver also rising sharply. With such potential rewards on offer, this continues to prompt similarly elevated levels of activity in the mining sector across the world. Our research has identified 235 individuals in 37 countries who have demonstrated the highest levels of expertise in this vibrant area.