Muhammed, or ‘Mo’ as he is affectionately known, is a legal practitioner in the Mining and Environmental Law Department. Muhammed has more than 11 years post admission experience working as a practicing attorney, as well as an inhouse legal resource in mining and petroleum companies (holding various designations such as legal counsel and head of legal).

His experience includes providing legal advice on the vast regulatory framework applicable to mining and petroleum companies and using such knowledge to provide practical and innovative solutions to complex legal problems.

He believes in using the law as a tool to facilitate and promote mining operations and petroleum production in South Africa. Well-versed in the regulatory framework applicable to mining and petroleum operations, he combines this expertise with extensive experience in negotiating, drafting and reviewing various complex commercial contracts.

Muhammed has extensively engaged with several governmental departments including the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR), the Petroleum Agency of South Africa, and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

Muhammed’s experience includes:

Regulatory:

• Providing legal opinions to clients on various pieces of legislation including the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (“MPRDA”), the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (“NEMA”), the National Water Act, 1998 (“NWA”) and the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (“MHSA”).
• Drafting/compiling applications for prospecting and mining rights in terms of the MPRDA and submission of such applications to the through its online application system.
• Drafting/compiling applications for the transfer and amendment of mining rights/prospecting rights in terms of section 11 and section 102 of the MPRDA and submitting such applications to the DMPR.
• Drafting/compiling and submitting applications for the transfer of environmental liability in terms of section 43 of the MPRDA.
• Providing title opinions on mining rights and prospecting rights to clients wishing to acquire such rights.
• Assisting clients in registering their executed rights in the Mineral and Petroleum Titles Registration Office.
• Drafting and lodging appeals against administrative decisions taken by various regulators in terms of section 96 of the MPRDA, section 43 of the NEMA and section 148 of the NWA.
• Assisting companies to respond to directives received from the DMPR in terms of section 47 and 93 of the MPRDA and/or section 31L of the NEMA.
• Providing advice to clients on their health and safety statutory appointment structure in terms of the MHSA.
• Advising clients on orders and instructions issued by the DMPR in terms of section 54 and 55 of the MHSA.

Transactional:

• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating various mining related transactional contracts such as the sale of mining and prospecting right agreements, contract mining agreements, commodity sale/offtake agreements, land use and access agreements, sale of dump agreements, and service level agreements.
• Advising on regulatory issues arising from various commercial contracts (including drafting and reviewing specific regulatory clauses required for commercial contracts) which contracts include sale of shares and claims agreements, sale of business agreements, loan and security agreements, logistics agreements and asset purchase agreements.