Biography: Mining

Luis López-Durán obtained his law degree in 1990 from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Venezuela), and in 1996 he completed a financial law specialisation degree from the same school. In 1998, he got his Masters in business administration (MBA), from the William E Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester (US) with concentration in Finance, Business Environment and Public Policy.

Mr López-Durán joined Hoet Peláez Castillo & Duque in 1994 and became a senior partner in 1999. As a senior partner, he is in charge of the mining and environmental law practice areas of the firm. He has provided legal assistance to domestic and international clients for projects involving the iron and steel industry and has been heavily involved in coal, gold, bauxite, diamonds and other metallic and non-metallic mineral mining projects and investments. Among his current clients we can find one of the three-largest mining companies in the world, which is aggresively expanding its operations all over Latin America, as well as one of the 10-largest iron and steel companies worldwide.

Mr López-Durán has been a frequent speaker at mining and environmental law events promoted by international associations like the International Bar Association, Lex Mundi, World Service Group and the Bomchil group.

In addition to mining and environmental law, his practice expertise extends to corporate structure, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, foreign investment, concessions and public-private partnerships.