Meet the Attorneys in Nevada Copper’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Nevada Copper is a Canada-based mining company publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Nevada Copper owns the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine near Yerington, about 60 miles southeast of Reno. On June 10, Nevada Copper announced it filed a Chapter 11 petition in the Bankruptcy Court of the District of Nevada. The press release names McDonald Carano as part of a team of Nevada, New York, and Canadian law firms handling Nevada Copper’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a June 13 article published by Law360 Bankruptcy Authority titled “Meet the Attorneys in Nevada Copper Corp.’s Ch. 11”, McDonald Carano attorneys Ryan Works and Amanda Perach are included in the bios and photos of the attorneys advising Nevada Copper from the Canadian law firm of Torys and the New York office of A&O Shearman. The Law360 article is available here and provided below.

U.S. Steel discovered the Pumkin Hollow copper deposit in 1960. Nevada Copper acquired the property in 2005 and in 2019 began operations for an underground mine, processing plant, and an open pit. When fully completed, Pumpkin Hollow would have been the third largest in the U.S. in terms of production and the first new copper mine to go into production in the U.S. since 2008. In the Chapter 11 petition, the debtor declared $500 million to $1 billion in assets and $100 million to $500 million in liabilities. During the first half of 2024, there have been four business bankruptcies in the U.S. with liabilities of $500 million or more. The Nevada Copper bankruptcy is being extensively covered in the media.

• “Troubled copper and gold mining company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,” TheStreet, 6/12/2024
• “Nevada Copper Files for Bankruptcy after Challenges at Pumpkin Hollow,” Investing News Network, 6/12/2024
• “Nevada Copper files for bankruptcy,” The Mining Journal, 6/12/2024
• “Nevada Copper files for bankruptcy, names new top boss,” Mining.com, 6/10/2024
• “Nevada mine shutting down, laying off 117 workers,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 6/13/2024
• “Nevada Copper files for Chapter 11, lays off 117,” Elko Daily Free Press, 6/13/2024

“Meet The Attorneys In Nevada Copper Corp.’s Ch. 11,” Law360 Bankruptcy Authority, 6/13/2024

A team of lawyers from Torys LLP, Allen Overy Shearman Sterling and McDonald Carano LLP, whose experience encompasses the mining industry, restructuring and corporate law, is helping copper-mining company Nevada Copper Corp. shutter its business and sell assets with Chapter 11 protection.

Nevada Copper filed a Chapter 11 petition Monday in Nevada bankruptcy court, hauling with it $60 million in debtor-in-possession financing, of which it will ask to tap $20 million on an interim basis. In its bankruptcy filing, the company declared between $500 million and $1 billion in debt and $100 million to $500 million worth of assets. Nevada Copper Corp. is a public entity in Canada that owns shares in Nevada Copper Inc., a Nevada-based subsidiary that controls the mining assets. To lend its U.S.-based assets protection while it seeks to sell them off, it applied for Chapter 11 in the U.S. but will follow up with Canadian proceedings as well, Tony DeMarinis of Torys told Law360. Torys, the mining company’s long-standing corporate counsel, will handle Canadian proceedings, DeMarinis said. Teams from McDonald Carano and A&O Shearman are handling the Chapter 11, according to case filings. Having made significant progress toward opening its mine in a market avid for copper, Nevada Copper Corp. is now poised to offer its assets free and clear to a buyer ready to take on the mine and finish its push toward profitability, DeMarinis said. “We expect to generate considerable interest,” he told Law360.

Tony DeMarinis, a Toronto-based partner at Torys, works with bondholder groups, lenders and companies in fields ranging from forestry to entertainment to mining. His experience encompasses work on auctions, refinancing and acquisitions, according to his biography on the firm’s website. Originally expecting to follow a career in mergers and acquisitions, DeMarinis has instead focused on restructuring work because he found bankruptcies exciting, he said. Torys has a longstanding relationship with Nevada Copper, and DeMarinis will lend over 30 years of experience to the team assisting the company as it navigates Chapter 11, he told Law360. He is chair of the firm’s Canadian corporate restructuring and advisory practice. DeMarinis graduated from the University of Ottawa with an MBA and a law degree. Before that, he received a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from McMaster University, the bio showed.

Michael D. Amm is another Toronto-based partner at Torys, Amm has worked for more than 20 years on issues tied to transactions and capital markets. He co-heads his firm’s mergers and acquisition practice and has an expertise in the world of mining. Amm has international and domestic experience touching on areas including investment, securities and royalties, according to his online bio. He earned his law degree at Queen’s University after receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, the bio indicated. Nevada Copper is one of his many clients in the mining industry, according to the law firm’s website.

Michael Pedlow, a Torys partner based in Calgary, Alberta, brings familiarity with topics such as capital markets and the oil industry to his work advising clients on financing packages, as well as mergers and recapitalization, Torys highlighted. Many of his clients are underwriter syndicates or agents whom he helps with due diligence efforts, the firm’s bio noted. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of British Columbia, and earned a law degree and a certificate in business law at Dalhousie University. Pedlow is also a board member of a nonprofit promoting people with disability participating in their community and the workforce, his online bio said.

Torys attorney Michael Jason’s work includes corporate finance and private equity, with special expertise on the mining industry. He has handled interjurisdictional and royalties issues, and is a senior associate based in Toronto, Torys said. His LinkedIn profile showed he became an associate at the law firm in 2015, after spending time with there as an articling student and summer law student. Before that, he got his law degree and an MBA from the University of Toronto after picking up a bachelor’s degree at McGill University, the page said.

Jeremy Opolsky is touted by Torys for his talent as a litigator and a track record that sees “his cases often making new law.” A former clerk for a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Opolsky is a Toronto partner with experience in courts across Canada. He tackles commercial litigation, appellate disputes and insolvency proceedings, his firm bio noted. He received a bachelor’s degree from Queen’s University and his law degree at the University of Toronto, the page said.

A Torys associate based in Toronto, Mike Noel handles insolvencies, advising parties including creditors and receivers in Canadian and transnational restructurings. He graduated in 2019 from Osgoode Hall Law School after earning a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering at the University of Alberta, the firm highlighted. His LinkedIn profile noted he was an articling student and summer law student with Torys before becoming an associate at the firm, similar to Jason. Before that, Noel held positions such as a gas well operator internship at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

Sarah Rimer, a Torys associate working in Toronto, handles mergers and acquisitions, as well as capital markets matters for Torys. She got her law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2022 after graduating from Syracuse University with her bachelor’s, according to her firm profile.

Another Toronto-based Torys associate, Hanna Singer brings expertise in areas including intellectual property and securities to her litigation work. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 2020 with a law degree, having earned her bachelor’s at McGill University, her firm biography said.

Ryan Works, a partner in McDonald Carano’s Las Vegas office, has offered his services to both debtors and creditors, from within and without the bankruptcy courtroom, and on both sides of adversary and avoidance litigation, the firm highlighted on its website. He chairs the firm’s bankruptcy, insolvency and financial restructuring group. Works earned his law degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law, after receiving a bachelor’s from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Also a partner in McDonald Carano’s Las Vegas office, Amanda Perach has represented debtors, creditors and others in proceedings under Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, including nonconsumer debtors, McDonald Carano noted in her online bio. Her clients have come from industries ranging from manufacturing to finance, and she moderated the Bankruptcy Practice Forum at the 2023 Federal District Conference for the District of Nevada, the profile said. She also earned her law degree at the William S. Boyd School of Law and got her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego, her CV showed.

Fredric Sosnick, a partner in A&O Shearman’s New York office, counsels debtors, their pre- and post-petition lenders and creditors, the firm said in a bio. He tackles Chapter 11 cases, as well as complicated restructurings outside the court, both in the U.S. and globally, according to the profile. He is A&O Shearman’s global co-head of restructuring and bankruptcy. On LinkedIn, he shared that he worked at Shearmen & Sterling LLP for 27 years before its merger with Allen & Overy LLP in May. Prior to that, he worked as an associate at Kaye Scholer LLP, now called Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, after graduating from American University’s Washington College of Law. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Albany.

Another A&O Shearman partner based in its New York office, Sara Coelho handles international insolvencies and reorganizations, both within the context of Chapter 11 cases and outside the court system, including work on debtor-in-possession and exit financing. Her clients include equity holders and creditor groups, her firm’s profile said.
She joined Shearman & Sterling LLP as an associate roughly eight and half years before the recent merger, her LinkedIn profile said. Previously, she was an associate at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP. She graduated with her bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania before getting her law degree from Cornell University Law School, according to her firm’s website.

The case is Nevada Copper Corp., case number 3:24-bk-50567, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada.

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