Stepping in as a board member for Sundance Resources and running a resources firm means Michael Blakiston spends a third of each year in Africa. He speaks to Briana Everett

As the founding partner of leading resources firm Blakiston & Crabb, Michael Blakiston lives and breathes the world of resources. As he shyly recounts his pathway to success, it's easy to see his passion for everything the industry throws his way. A Perth local, it was only natural for Blakiston to delve into the world of mining and resources. The opportunity to be a part of an industry that contributes to the wealth of Australia and being able to work within the "economic heartland" of his home state is what motivated the father of five to develop his position in the industry.

Completing his articles at Stone James & Co (now Mallesons Stephen Jaques), with some time in-house following, Blakiston established his own sole practice - Blakiston & Co - in 1985.

With no particular ambitions to build a legal empire at that stage, it was Blakiston's longing to enter the London to Sydney Car Rally in 1991 that was the catalyst for his decision to form a partnership with colleague and good friend, Rick Crabb.

The car rally would see Blakiston cover 17,000 kilometres in 30 days, leaving little time to run his practice. As Blakiston was seeking extra support, Crabb was contemplating his future as a partner at Robinson Cox, which was to become Clayton Utz. Not seeing himself as a part of the Clayton Utz brand, Crabb decided to join Blakiston and the partnership of Blakiston & Crabb was born.

According to Blakiston, the pair set out to create a boutique law firm as an alternative to the bigger national firms, an approach he maintains today. "Both Rick and I are guys that had been investors into mining companies in their own right, quite separate from being lawyers," he explains. "[We] had been directors of public companies [and] we enjoyed that side of work but we also had something to contribute to others. When we gave advice to small companies, we had been through a lot of it ourselves so we knew the sort of risk profile, the issues, the challenges..."

African adventures

Coinciding with the new partnership, Blakiston began what would be a long association with Africa - the "real frontier" of the resources industry - which has seen him travel to over 39 countries.

In 1991 Blakiston began his work in Africa as a shareholder and director of a company producing gold in Ghana (which was eventually taken over by Goldfields South Africa). This was just the beginning of his many African adventures and since then Blakiston has completed various projects from exploration through to full production.

Over the past four years Blakiston has spent in excess of 120 days in Africa each year, but he says he enjoys the challenges Africa presents. "It's natural, from a Western Australian point of view, we're the closest to Africa," he says. "A lot of mineral projects over in Africa are projects that Western Australia has a significant capacity to develop [including] gold, nickel, iron ore and base metals [and] all of those are very big here. So it's a natural place to take that skill base and go and use it over there."

Discussing the time he spends in Africa, Blakiston describes the rewarding nature of his work, being able to take part in mining projects that make positive contributions to Australia and to the countries in which the projects are based.

Spending such a significant chunk of his time in Africa, away from his family, Blakiston is lucky to be so passionate about his work. "[Resources law] is a different sort of law. There's no question. It's no where near as black letter as other areas of law. There is room for creativity and room for risk-taking," he says. "[The resources space] is where I have focused and I have been encouraging anyone that has an interest in it to have a serious look at it."

New developments

Although Blakiston's travel to Africa in 2010 has been reduced due to projects he has going on in Australia, this is about to change. Blakiston recently joined the board of Sundance Resources as a de facto director following the tragic Congo plane crash in June this year.

"I was doing their legal work before the tragedy [and] I have knowledge of what they were doing," he explains. "The company has a project to bring in. It's a world class project. By any standard it will be a serious challenge and for as long as I am able to contribute then for the foreseeable future I see myself doing that."

Another big development for Blakiston this year is the recently announced alliance with Gilbert + Tobin, providing exciting times ahead for the firm and its partners.

The two firms will pool their resources in a range of different areas allowing Blakiston & Crabb to get involved in larger matters and facilitating a pathway into the energy and resources sector for G+T.

"We do a lot of corporate work in the west but we are up to the $200 to $250 million type transaction," Blakiston says. "We're not considered as being a firm that people would put on their list to do a bigger type of transaction. Obviously, with the G+T background that will change."

With this strategic advantage, over the next few years Blakiston hopes to retain the firm's position in the resources space. "We'd like to think we can match any of the firms in Australia. The size of our resources practice is equivalent to the size of the resources practices in the major firms in WA. We have a density that surprises people."

Finding the balance

Although car rallying brought Blakiston and Crabb together, it is now a hobby of the past for Blakiston, who stopped due to a couple of "interesting" accidents and to devote more time to his growing practice.

"I'm a father of five children so all these things made me think I'd had an incredible set of experiences doing what I was doing, so I stopped rallying. I still own a rally car but I don't drive it," he says.

Taking a step back from things and achieving a balance between work and life is a work in progress for Blakiston, who acknowledges the sacrifices his family has had to make in the past. When asked what interests him, aside from the world of resources, Blakiston quickly responds by saying his wife and family have his "total interest" in life.

"[Work/life balance] has been up and down in a sense," he says. "I'm trying to be a little bit more balanced about it and that's part of the reason I've reduced the amount of travel that I do. That's obviously changed in the immediacy of Sundance but that will come to a more stable arrangement."

Although Blakiston is putting in the effort to achieve some downtime, with so much on the horizon for Blakiston & Crabb, there is little chance of things slowing down.