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14 September 20205 minute read

DLA Piper (Canada) LLP joins Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford in ‎congratulating Sumitomo Metal Mining on official ground-breaking for Côté Gold Project‎

DLA Piper (Canada) LLP congratulates our valued client, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (“SMM”), together with its joint venture partner, IAMGOLD Corporation (“IAMGOLD”), on the occasion of the official ground-breaking ceremony at the Côté Gold Project.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford personally attended the ceremony held at site in Northern Ontario to symbolize the start of construction for what will be, on completion, one of Canada’s newest and most important gold mines.

Following on July’s announcement of the US$1.4 billion construction decision to build the Côté Gold Project, last week’s ceremony marks another successful milestone achieved by this award winning joint venture, for which the DLA Piper (Canada) Mining Team, led by David Reid, DLA’s Global Co-Chair, Mining, has provided counsel and guidance, on behalf of SMM, since its initial involvement in the Project just over three years ago.

At the ground-breaking ceremony, Prime Minister Trudeau commented, "Creating more than a thousand jobs during construction and 450 full-time positions once it's completed, today's ground-breaking of the Côte Gold mine is good news for the Flying Post First Nation and the Mattagami First Nation, for Northern Ontarians, and for the Canadian economy. As the world continues to manage the impacts of COVID-19 and as we safely restart our economy, projects like this one will be vital to helping get Canadians back to work, and will continue to signal to international investors that Canada is a good place to do business.”

"The opening of this mine is a prime example of how the Ontario government can help businesses grow and create jobs by cutting red tape and removing regulatory roadblocks, without cost to taxpayers," said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. "I want to thank IAMGOLD and SMM for making this significant investment in Northern Ontario, which will create good-paying jobs for the local community and support the long-term prosperity of both the region and Ontario as a whole."

Consistent with the messages from Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford, DLA’s Canada Managing Partner, Robert Seidel, Q.C., stated: I want to personally congratulate SMM on this remarkable achievement. All of us at DLA are extremely proud to be part of this successful transaction on behalf of SMM, its partners and the communities involved. David and his team have provided industry leading legal representation and guidance to SMM throughout its involvement in the Côté Gold Project since 2017, when SMM acquired its interest and, together with IAMGOLD, formed the Côté Project Joint Venture, a transaction that received PDAC's prestigious Viola R. MacMillan Award in 2018.”

With far-reaching experience representing mining companies at all stages in relation to all aspects of projects in Canada and around the world, the DLA Piper Canada Mining Team provides integrated expertise on multi-faceted transactions to give our clients the competitive edge in the global commodities market.

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