Profile: Michael J Bourassa

Mining

Biography: Mining

Michael Bourassa is a partner at Fasken Martineau and co-ordinator of the global mining group. He has expertise in commercial agreements (joint ventures, royalties, options) related to mineral exploration and mining, as well as extensive experience in Canadian and international mining due diligence issues concerning title, technical matters and environmental risk. He represents various clients listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Michael is a director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, chair of the natural resources and energy law section of the Ontario Bar Association, co-chair of the mining programme for the 2009 international conference of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, a member of the Minister's Mining Act Advisory Committee (Ontario) and the president of the World Mines Ministries Forum.

Michael was named in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 editions of the International Who's Who of Mining Lawyers, which also named Fasken Martineau as the number one firm in the world for mining legal expertise. Michael was featured prominently in the January 2006 issue of Canadian Lawyer along with John Turner and Al Gourley in a cover story about mining. Fasken Martineau is the only law firm globally with leading mining practitioners located in each of the key mining finance centres of Toronto, Vancouver, Quebec, London, Johannesburg and New York.

Michael received his BSc in physical geography in 1976 from the University of Saskatchewan and worked in the uranium exploration industry for several years prior to graduating from law school in 1984. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1986.