Exploring the Deal Landscape in Critical Minerals with Guy Winter

In this episode, we chat with Guy Winter, who is an Energy and Natural Resources Partner at Fasken, who are a leading international law firm providing practical and innovative legal services to solve the most complex business and litigation challenges faced by organisations in various industries including in the mining and resources industry. Guy’s background is in M&A, Equity Capital Markets, Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Restructures, and advises clients across the entire battery minerals value chain. Today he talks about why the Mining Majors haven’t done more deals in the critical minerals sector and what the deal landscape currently looks like in terms of asset classes and transacting parties. KEY TAKEAWAYS Mining majors have been hesitant to invest in critical minerals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt due to market volatility and lack of transparency in the battery minerals market. Non-traditional players such as Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, government-backed entities, and automotive manufacturers are increasingly investing in critical mineral projects. Governments are starting to understand the complexity of the mining industry, especially in critical minerals, and are developing strategies to support access to these materials. Differential pricing for ESG-compliant minerals is on the horizon, potentially creating a new funding market for projects that meet environmental, social, and governance standards. While stability is being reached in certain critical minerals like lithium and nickel, the future outlook for the remainder of 2024 remains uncertain, with bullish sentiments for copper and potential deficits in nickel by 2028. BEST MOMENTS "The collapse of the LME nickel market in 2022 caused seismic shocks throughout the market, undermining confidence and reducing majors' appetite for critical minerals investments." "The US Inflation Reduction Act has pumped liquidity into the energy transition, creating a funding gap between the US and other Western countries in the critical mineral space." "The US has surged ahead in critical minerals investment, while the EU is lagging behind. The UK is focusing on refining, processing, and recycling to play a role in the critical minerals supply chain." "Will the two-tier pricing for green and regular minerals create a new funding market for ESG-compliant mining projects?" VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/ X:              https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast  Web:        http://www.mining-international.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guy-winter-86376112/ Website: https://www.fasken.com/ ABOUT THE HOST Rob Tyson is the Founder and Director of Mining International Ltd, a leading global recruitment and headhunting consultancy based in the UK specialising in all areas of mining across the globe from first-world to third-world countries from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. We source, headhunt, and discover new and top talent through a targeted approach and search methodology and have a proven track record in sourcing and positioning exceptional candidates into our clients' organisations in any mining discipline or level. Mining International provides a transparent, informative, and trusted consultancy service to our candidates and clients to help them develop their careers and business goals and objectives in this ever-changing marketplace. CONTACT METHOD [email protected] https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/ Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.