Changes in the works for the Ontario Mining Act.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: MINING

The relationship between surface rights holders and mineral rights holders has sometimes been a tense one, but a series of changes being proposed for the Ontario Mining Act may change that.

"We're trying to clean up the Act so it's a little easier for people to understand, but also for it to be a little more friendly for the surface rights holder," Garry Clark, executive director of the Ontario Prospectors Association (OPA).

"It's not that we won't have access to those lands anymore, but it'll make it easier for us to get access to them and get into dialogue with the surface rights holder, and that's the main thing."

Currently, the Act gives prospectors the ability to stake out open mineral rights, even if someone else holds the surface rights as a property owner, with a handful of exceptions.

If armed with the mineral rights, prospectors can legally enter the property and conduct exploration work, provided they notify the surface rights holder 24 hours prior.

This has sometimes led to conflicts between mineral rights holders and rather surprised surface rights holders who perhaps were not aware that it is legally possible for someone else to access and perform work on their land, Clark says.

As a result, MNDM spent the last year consulting with a number of stakeholders, including the OPA, leading to changes which propose to establish a stronger dialogue between the two sets of right holders.

It's suggested that the surface owner should be notified within a certain time period, such as 60 days, after proper staking paperwork has been filed with the MNDM.

What's more, the 24-hour warning prospectors must give to the surface rights holder is also being expanded. A notice of intent to perform ground exploration work must be sent to the surface owner a minimum of 30 days prior to entry on the property, and must come complete with full details as to the work due to be carried out.

The list of lands that are not open for staking is being altered as well. Provincial parks and First Nation reserves are currently barred from the staking process being added to this list are churches, cemetaries, burial grounds, airports as well as pipelines for natural gas, oil and water.

Rather than requiring the MNDM minister's consent over the right to stake on certain properties, such as lands laid into residential lots on a registered subdivision, the staking consent will revert to the surface rights holder. This would require the filing of forms indicating...