UA digs into mining law with new center

A Global Mining Law Center is being set up at the University of Arizona's law school as "an interdisciplinary unit that will educate lawyers, miners and others involved with the huge and complex global mining industry."

The center at the James E. Rogers College of Law will draw on the college's "expertise in international trade and business law, human rights law, environmental law, and indigenous peoples law and policy. The planned curriculum includes specialty courses on the intellectual property of mining, water law, multinational taxation, and mining workplace safety and legal responsibility," said college spokeswoman Tracy Mueller.

The center will create degree and non-degree training opportunities online and on campus, including master's degrees with a mining law and policy focus for both lawyers (LLM) and non-lawyers (MLS); certificate courses for executives, lawyers and government officials; and a JD resident degree with a concentration and certificate in mining law and policy.

"As befits Arizona's economy and history, we have taught mining law for nearly a century," said Marc Miller, the college's dean. "This new center will allow us to provide graduates with even more resources to enter a complex and critically important industry."

The center is led by John Lacy, an alumnus of the college and professor of practice who has devoted his career to international mining transactions. He also is head of the natural resources practice group at the law firm of DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy.

"The University of Arizona is in a remarkable position of combining its long-standing strengths in law, policy, geological engineering, geosciences and natural resource economics, along with many other science and social science disciplines, to make a significant impact in mining education, research and industry," Lacy said.