Mining
Concession and licensing, equipment partners, joint-venture facilitation, offtake structuring, and ESG advisory across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Capabilities
- Concession and licensing facilitation in qualifying African and Asian jurisdictions
- Mining equipment and service partner introductions
- Joint-venture and consortium facilitation
- Offtake agreement structuring and refinery introductions
- ESG and responsible-sourcing advisory
- Government and community stakeholder engagement
Specific, written deliverables.
Concession and licensing roadmap
A clear written roadmap of the licensing process in your target jurisdiction: the formal steps, the realistic timelines, the documentation standard, and the stakeholders whose decisions move the file.
Equipment and service partner introductions
Warm introductions to credible equipment suppliers, drilling and blasting contractors, processing-plant partners, and ESG-auditing firms operating in the relevant region.
Joint-venture facilitation
Identification, qualification, and negotiation support for JV partners — operational, financial, or strategic — with structured due diligence and contract architecture.
Offtake structuring
Long-form offtake agreement structuring with credible counterparties, including pricing formulas, quality clauses, delivery schedules, and dispute resolution that holds up internationally.
ESG and responsible-sourcing advisory
Practical advisory on the ESG standards your buyers and financiers expect, anchored to recognised frameworks rather than aspirational language. Documentation that survives audit is the deliverable.
Mining is the industry that built much of Loyal Shield’s regional footprint, and it remains one of our deepest practices. Across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East we work with explorers, mid-tier producers, equipment specialists, and offtake counterparties to facilitate the connections, agreements, and operational support that mining ventures depend on.
The work is rarely about glossy strategy decks. It is about the specific, often unglamorous facilitation that determines whether a licence gets renewed, whether a joint venture survives its first dispute, and whether a refinery accepts a shipment without dispute.
Concession and licensing — the operating reality
Every mining jurisdiction has a formal licensing process, and every jurisdiction also has the operating reality of how that process is administered. Both matter. Our role is to provide the written roadmap that captures both: the formal steps, the realistic timelines, the documentation that the relevant authority actually accepts, and the stakeholders whose decisions move the file.
We are direct about what facilitation can and cannot do. We do not move files outside the proper process, and we do not engage in any conduct that would compromise the integrity of the licensing system or our clients. What we do is ensure the file is correct, complete, and presented to the right people, and that any reasonable concerns are addressed promptly.
Equipment and service partner introductions
Mining is a partner-intensive industry. Drilling and blasting contractors, processing-plant suppliers, logistics partners, geological consultancies, and ESG auditors all play roles that determine project economics. Our regional networks include long-standing relationships with credible specialists in each category. Where you need a partner introduction, we make the introduction warm, with a structured information memorandum so both sides engage substantively from the first conversation.
Joint-venture facilitation
JV structuring is one of the most common reasons mid-tier producers and explorers engage us. The variables are familiar — capital contribution, operational responsibility, governance, dispute resolution, exit mechanics — but the answers are jurisdiction-specific and partner-specific. We identify and qualify candidate partners through our networks, run structured due diligence, and sit alongside through term sheet and JV agreement to keep commercial intent and operational reality aligned with the document.
Offtake structuring and gold trading
Offtake is where a mining venture meets the international market, and where the strongest commercial returns or losses are typically realised. We structure offtake agreements with credible counterparties, including pricing formulas, quality clauses, delivery schedules, and dispute-resolution provisions that hold up under international law. For gold and precious-metals offtake specifically, our mandates flow into the dedicated Gold Trading practice — refinery introductions, KYC and AML structuring, doré-bar logistics, and LBMA-route compliance advisory.
ESG and responsible-sourcing advisory
ESG language is often more decorative than operational. Our advisory work is the opposite. We anchor to recognised frameworks — OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains, LBMA Responsible Sourcing Programme where relevant, and the equivalent regional standards — and produce documentation that survives audit by buyers, financiers, and regulators. The discipline matters: in 2026 the buyer base for African mining output increasingly screens on supply-chain integrity, and the firms that document credibly will trade at a premium to those that do not.
Government and community stakeholder engagement
Successful mining operations engage three stakeholder groups continuously: the central government and relevant ministries, the regional or provincial authorities, and the local communities around the operating site. We facilitate the first two and provide structured advisory on the third, drawing on long-running relationships across the regions where we operate. Most mining disputes can be traced to a stakeholder relationship that was assumed rather than built. We treat that prevention work as core, not peripheral.
If you are pursuing a mining concession, structuring a JV, building an offtake relationship, or addressing an existing operational challenge, a discovery conversation is the right next step. The earlier in the cycle we engage, the more leverage we have to shape the outcome.
How we work, not just what we deliver.
Our mining practice is built on time spent on assets, in counterparty meetings, and at the table when terms are agreed. Pictures of the work, not stock photography of an industry.
On-site assessment with the operating team in the field.
From the producer at the pit through to validated bullion on the desk.
Closing on a mandate with a counterparty we have qualified.
Independent technical review of producing assets.
Frequently asked questions.
Do you cover both junior explorers and established producers?
Yes, with a clear-eyed view of which deliverables fit each. Juniors typically need licensing, partner, and capital introductions; established producers more often need offtake structuring, equipment-partner introductions, and ESG documentation. We are direct about where we add value at each stage.
How is this practice connected to your gold-trading work?
Closely. Many of our mining mandates touch the offtake side and connect into our [Gold Trading](/services/gold-trading) practice for refinery introductions, KYC and AML structuring, and chain-of-custody work. The two practices share networks but are operated as distinct mandates with distinct compliance scaffolding.
Do you assist with environmental permitting?
We provide the operating-context advisory around environmental permitting — mapping the agencies, the documentation standard, and the typical timelines — and we connect clients with specialist environmental consultancies for the technical work.
Which African jurisdictions do you cover?
Our deepest networks are in West Africa (Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali), with growing reach into East and Central Africa. We are candid about where our networks are deep versus where we are still building.
Can you support a JV negotiation we have already started?
Yes. A meaningful share of our mandates is sitting alongside an existing JV negotiation that has stalled or where the client wants an independent view on the proposed structure.