Special Studies

Frequently we are asked to undertake a one-off type of study, which usually involves one or several of the 12 practice areas discussed herein.

Examples of such studies done by us have included:

	Providing the framework for enabling a base metals company to establish the commercial terms with its principal engineering contractor;
	Customized investigation, done on behalf of a medium-sized U.S. coal company, of the future potential of a metallurgical coal sales contract;
	Providing views for a major conglomerate active in the minerals business for environmental issues involving coke plants;
	Providing an analysis, for a major coal company, of the affect of Judge Charles Hayden's rule on valley fills and mountaintop mining;
	Acting as a pricing expert in a dispute between a major coal mining producer and an electric utility;
	Determining competitive practices in project management fees done for a consortium of banks;
	Preparing a white paper on electric utility deregulation done for a major coal company;
	Acting as the line management of a coal company for an oil company client;
	Providing litigation support to the Department of Justice on a tax issue being litigated by the U.S. Government and a major steel company;
	Providing a market overview and price scenario, as well as production and cost trends for six metal mining companies in Brazil, done for a major international investment bank;
	Inventorying of relevant U.N. studies of precious and base metals in Central America;
	Development of a database for perlite and diatomite for use by an industrial minerals company seeking an acquisition
	Acting as one of the three person arbitration personnel in a dispute between the Japanese steel industry and a large Canadian coal company;
	Survey of environmental requirements of the North American minerals/metals industry;
	Providing an opinion to a major investment bank as to project status during construction of a gold mine development project;
	Evaluation of a new technology involving the demoisturization of bituminous coal for an investor;
	Judgments as to the availability and commercial terms of direct investment capital for a coal company.
	Formation of an LBO for a medium-sized coal company owned by a large capital equipment company;
	Acting as an arbitrator on a contract dispute involving two metal mining companies;
	Providing our views of the relevant economics in a commercial dispute between a coal producer and an electric utility;
	Providing, to a major Canadian law firm and its client, our views on the strategy and tactics of settlement discussions in a dispute between a mining equipment manufacturer and a minerals producer.