News and Insights

Speyside Group provides an analytical assessment of the social license to operate in mining and the above-ground risks now shaping critical minerals investment across Asia Pacific. As permitting, community influence, and resource nationalism intensify, technical strength alone no longer guarantees returns. This insight examines how investors can evaluate permitting, social legitimacy, and operating-environment stability, and how companies can build the trust that increasingly determines market access, project delivery, and long-term value.

Speyside Group analyzes the implications of the European Commission's Food and Feed Safety Simplification Package, one of the most consequential initiatives emerging from Brussels' expanding Omnibus agenda. As the European Union seeks to strengthen competitiveness, accelerate innovation, and reduce regulatory burdens, the proposal has become a test of whether procedural simplification can be achieved without weakening the precautionary principles that have long defined European food governance.

Speyside Group provides an analytical assessment of Mexico's General Circular Economy Law (LGEC), the framework that introduces Extended Producer Responsibility and circular-design obligations for companies handling plastics, packaging, glass, and paper. With the Regulation due July 19, 2026 and the National Program due in early 2027, this insight maps the pending instruments, the regulatory timeline, and the concrete steps companies should take now to shape their sector obligations

Speyside Group provides an analytical assessment of the complex operating environment in sub-Saharan Africa by unpacking How Does Mining Regulation Work in the DRC. Last revised through major amendments in 2018, the DRC’s regulatory framework, governed by the Mining Code and Mining Regulations, seeks to balance mineral sovereignty with international investments. While the government has made notable efforts to improve compliance by aligning its policies with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the operational landscape remains heavily characterized by severe implementation gaps, infrastructure bottlenecks, and institutional capacity constraints. For global mining and energy investors, navigating the country's strategic cobalt, copper, and gold reserves requires a sophisticated approach to rising fiscal demands, strict local ownership requirements, and rapidly shifting geopolitical alliances.

Speyside Group provides a strategic perspective on accelerating market entry within Brazil's healthcare sector by analyzing how to optimize ANVISA Approval Times. A widespread perception among international life sciences firms is that navigating Brazil's national health regulator is a prohibitive, five-year endeavor. However, an operational analysis reveals that this timeline is rarely driven by the statutory framework itself, which mandates legal review deadlines of 120 days for priority cases and 365 days for ordinary ones. Instead, prolonged market access bottlenecks are primarily structural and behavioral, caused by mismatched dossier formatting, a failure to utilize optimized fast-track sub-categories, and falling into successive technical clarification cycles (fila de exigências). To counter these systemic delays, multinational corporations (MNCs) must pivot toward a sophisticated regulatory strategy built on regulatory reliance pathways, early alignment with optimized priority definitions, and precise tracking of ANVISA’s shifting technical parameters.

Speyside Group provides an analytical assessment of an increasingly critical barrier to capital deployment in the global extractive sector: The Difference Between a Legal Permit and a Social Licence. While a legal permit grants a mining enterprise the formal, statutory approval from local authorities to operate, it represents only one half of the execution equation. This briefing explores why a social licence to operate—defined as the complex political, economic, and social dynamics within local communities—is equally indispensable for long-term project delivery. Without a resilient framework for community alignment, operations face severe reputational and operational risks, where local stakeholders can effectively block projects through strikes, legal challenges, protests, and infrastructure disruption. To mitigate these cascading bottlenecks, international mining companies must shift from purely transactional compliance to active, culturally attuned stakeholder engagement.

Speyside Group analyzes the dramatic market shifts within Colombia's presidential race following the landmark first-round election results on May 31, 2026. Surpassing all pre-election projections, political outsider and far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella secured 43.7% of the vote, capturing more than 10 million ballots. He will face left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda of the ruling Pacto Histórico coalition—who finished second with 40.9%—in a highly consequential runoff set for June 21. This surprise outcome has completely upended a race that previously favored Cepeda, triggering immediate institutional tension. While the current Petro administration has publicly questioned the preliminary vote count without evidence, Colombia’s major business associations—including the Consejo Gremial Nacional and ANDI—have demanded absolute respect for the results and called for international oversight. For multinational corporations, this binary, ideologically stark choice carries massive investor implications for foreign direct investment (FDI), tax structures, and regulatory stability across the energy, mining, and infrastructure sectors.

Speyside Group analyzes the critical barriers and unfulfilled expectations surrounding The Lithium Opportunity Mexico Has Yet to Unlock. When the state created the state-owned enterprise LitioMX on August 23, 2022, the strategic resource was slated to anchor Mexico’s industrial future and feed its automotive hubs. However, three years after its creation, Mexico has yet to achieve commercial production. This briefing explores the sharp friction between political intent and severe geological and fiscal constraints. While early political framing touted massive national reserves, recent extensive testing has reclassified Mexico's lithium deposits in clay formations as "scarce or practically non-existent" under current extraction technologies. To prevent a complete structural standstill, the Sheinbaum administration faces intensifying geopolitical trade policy pressures ahead of the upcoming July USMCA joint review, forcing a necessary re-evaluation of how to combine state sovereignty with specialized international private capital.

Speyside Group analyzes how Indonesia’s Nickel Policy is fundamentally reshaping global supply chains by shifting the country from a raw exporter to a downstream processing powerhouse. Driven by President Prabowo Subianto’scontinuation of the resource nationalism agenda, Indonesia is leveraging its status as the world's leading producer of mined nickel to force domestic refining for stainless steel and electric vehicle (EV) battery production. While foreign direct investment (FDI) remains robust—with Chinese firms currently commanding a dominant 40% share of total operations—a wave of recent tightening measures has introduced critical regulatory and operational risks. For multinational corporations and mining investors evaluating What Indonesia’s Nickel Policy Means for Investors, a sudden return to annual production quotas, revised state benchmark pricing references, and impending progressive royalty increases have placed the sector at a volatile turning point.

Speyside Group analyzes the critical geopolitical and commercial leverage of Mexico’s Modernized Global Agreement with the European Union (EU), highlighting why this pact matters beyond the USMCA. Positioned against an environment of aggressive tariff protectionism from Washington and intense U.S. pressure to restrict trade ties with China, the agreement serves as an indispensable tool to diversify partnerships and demonstrate the sustainable transformation of Plan México. With bilateral trade in goods already reaching €82.4 billion and the EU solidifying its role as Mexico’s second-largest investor with a cumulative €208.9 billion, the modernized framework fundamentally rewrites the rules for Market Access. Moving through an accelerated institutional mechanism via an Interim Trade Agreement (iTA), this pact establishes a highly sophisticated architecture for Regulatory Affairs, trade policy, and long-term investment risk management across the Atlantic.

Speyside Group in Latin America analyzes why Mexican Mining is a Strategic Asset and a structural anchor for the national economy, representing 4.7% of national GDP—a share larger than government administration itself. As the Sheinbaum administration maintains a de facto suspension of new concessions, a widening gap has emerged between "resource nationalism" and the operational requirements of Plan México. For investors and policymakers, the challenge is to bridge the local gap by repositioning mining as the indispensable enabler of Mexico’s nearshoring ambitions and the North American energy transition.

Speyside Group analyzes the intersection of politics and Patient Access in this Healthcare Special Edition of Brazil at the Ballot. As the 2026 Electoral Cycle intensifies, the healthcare sector sits at the core of Brazil’s political economy, driven by the Ministry of Health’s status as the largest destination for congressional discretionary spending. The recent desincompatibilização deadline on April 4 saw 19 ministers depart to pursue candidacies, triggering a major cabinet reshuffle; however, the retention of seasoned operator Alexandre Padilha signals the government's intent to use healthcare delivery as an active electoral asset through October.