Cracking Down on Corrupt Mining Industry Deals

For a business that routinely makes multibillion-dollar deals with governments and controversial leaders in the developing world, the mining industry has been remarkably free of regulatory scrutiny. No longer. World leaders gathering in Northern Ireland for the Group of Eight summit in mid-June called for tighter oversight by requiring companies to disclose all payments made to foreign governments. The new rules, aimed at exposing corruption, come as U.S. and British regulators probe companies including BHP Billiton and Eurasian Natural Resources. “Mining has been caught in the headlights in the past few months,” says Raj Karia, a partner in London at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. “The environment has changed. There is more need now to be very sure of what you’re buying and aware of the history of an asset.”

Britain and the European Union are pushing for new laws that require disclosure by petroleum and mining companies of all payments including taxes and licensing fees to governments and officials—and for developing countries to disclose payments they receive in connection with natural resources deals. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted similar disclosure rules last year as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The measures are being challenged in federal court by the American Petroleum Institute and others on the grounds that they put U.S. companies at a disadvantage. Canada, home to the world’s highest number of publicly traded mining companies, will require them to report payments, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in mid-June.