About

Dustin Isaacs, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, leads the highly skilled four member in-house legal team at Turquoise Hill Resources, a major Canadian headquartered international mining company. Turquoise Hill Resources, a TSX, NYSE and NASDAQ listed public company, owns a 66.6% interest in Oyu Tolgoi. As Isaacs describes, ‘the Oyu Tolgoi mine located in Mongolia is a rare, world-class asset that is the best developing copper project globally and is expected to be the world’s third-largest copper mine when the underground reaches peak production. The team is committed to the success of this project and adding value where we can for all our shareholders’. Since the closing of the US$4.4bn project financing facility that is being provided by a syndicate of international financial institutions and export credit agencies, including the Government of Canada, along with 15 commercial banks, the Montreal-based legal team continues to be responsible for advising and contributing to the ongoing successful development of the underground mine in Mongolia. It is involved in advising the company on day-to-day matters including funding draw downs as well as complex matters involving key stakeholders. It also provides legal support in relation to the achievement of operational and technical milestones. Of particular note is its direct involvement and leadership in a complex IT project in partnership with external consultants. Isaacs highlights that the team has ‘used AI technology in this project and plan to leverage the knowledge gained from this experience into exploring the use of AI and legal technology in my department and also more broadly in our business’. The team is committed to corporate social responsibility as well as health, safety, environmental matters and community engagement and is described by Isaacs as ‘a highly motivated and empowered team that enjoys coming to work and provides practical, solution-oriented and well-grounded advice to all our internal clients and business partners’.