40 Temperance St, Suite 3200, Bay Adelaide Centre – North Tower, Toronto, ON
Year called to bar: 1995 (ON)
Mark Bennett is a partner practising corporate and securities law in the natural resources sector. He acts for Canadian and international mining companies involved in negotiated business combinations, contested takeover bids, domestic and cross-border public equity and debt offerings, private placements, and stock exchange listings. Mark advises exploration, development, and producing natural resource companies on property acquisitions and disposition, joint ventures, metal streams, and royalties involving resource properties in the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Australia. Mark advises boards of directors and special committees on related-party transactions, corporate governance, and securities law compliance including mineral project disclosure and ESG matters. He has also been recognized as a leading lawyer in the Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada, Chambers Canada, and The Best Lawyers in Canada. Mark is an adjunct faculty member at the Faculty of Law at Western University where he teaches Mining Law and Sustainability. He is a member of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1995.
Monarch Mining Corporation ("New Monarch") announced the successful completion of a plan of arrangement under s. 192 of the Canada Business Corporations Act (the “Arrangement”) pursuant to which Monarques Gold Corporation ("Monarques") completed a spin-out to its shareholders, through the issuance of shares in the newly formed New Monarch entity, of the Beaufor, Croinor Gold, McKenzie Break and Swanson mineral properties and other assets and liabilities, and Yamana Gold Inc
On July 25, 2018, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (Wheaton), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Wheaton Precious Metals International Ltd. (Wheaton International), closed a gold and palladium streaming agreement with Sibanye Gold Limited (Sibanye).
On May 10, 2018, First Majestic acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Primero Mining Corp. (Primero) and shareholders of Primero received 0.03325 First Majestic shares for each share of Primero held pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia).
On August 16, 2016, Vale S.A. (“Vale”) completed the sale to Silver Wheaton Corp (“Silver Wheaton”) of an additional 25 per cent of the gold by-product stream from Vale’s Brazilian Salobo copper mine for US$800 million and approximately US$23 million in option value arising from re-pricing of certain Silver Wheaton warrants.
On April 7, 2016, Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSX: SLW) completed a marketed offering of 33,135,000 common shares at a price of US$16.60 per common share, for gross proceeds of US$550,041,000.
On May 3, 2016, Altius Minerals Corporation (Altius) completed its acquisition of a copper stream from a subsidiary of Yamana Gold Inc. (Yamana) in respect of Yamana’s Chapada copper-gold mine in central Brazil.
On November 3, 2015, Silver Wheaton Corp. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Silver Wheaton (Caymans) Ltd. had agreed to acquire from Anani Investments Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore plc, an amount of silver calculated by reference to silver produced at the Antamina mine located in Peru.
On March 17, 2015, Silver Wheaton Corp. completed a bought deal common share offering pursuant to the multijurisdictional disclosure system (MJDS). An aggregate of 38,930,000 common shares were sold for aggregate gross proceeds of US$800 million. Silver Wheaton used the net proceeds to fund its acquisition of an additional 25 per cent gold stream from Vale S.A.’s Salobo Mine, located in Brazil.
Antofagasta plc, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Antofagasta Investment Company Limited, acquired Duluth Metals Limited by way of a plan of arrangement at a price of $0.45 per share, for total cash consideration of approximately $52.8 million. Immediately following the acquisition, Antofagasta funded the purchase of $30-million aggregate principal amount convertible debentures, being all of Duluth’s outstanding convertible debentures.
Lundin Mining Corporation completed the acquisition of an 80 per cent ownership stake in the Candelaria/Ojos del Salado copper mining operations and supporting infrastructure from Freeport-McMoRan Inc., for approximately US$1.8 billion.
Vancouver-based Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. completed a public offering of 38.1 million units for gross proceeds of $120.015 million, on October 14, 2003.
