Northwest Territories Mining Regulations (SOR/2014-68)

Marginal note:Licence authorization — licensee or agent

• 4 (1) Only a licensee or a person authorized to act on behalf of a licensee may

  • (a) prospect for the purpose of staking a claim; or

  • (b) undertake the staking of a claim.

• Marginal note:Licence authorization — licensee

  (2) Only a licensee may

  • (a) make an application to record a claim;

  • (b) make an application for a prospecting permit;

  • (c) be issued a written confirmation under subsection 15(11), a certificate of extension under subsection 42(2) or a certificate of work under subsection 47(1);

  • (d) be issued a lease of a recorded claim or a renewal of such a lease; and

  • (e) acquire, by themself or with another licensee, a prospecting permit, recorded claim or lease of a recorded claim.

Prohibitions Respecting Prospecting, Staking and Mining

Marginal note:Lands not open for prospecting or staking

5 It is prohibited to prospect or stake a claim on any of the following lands:

• (a) lands used as a cemetery;

• (b) lands covered by a prospecting permit, a recorded claim or a lease of a recorded claim, unless the prospecting or staking is done by the permittee, claim holder or lessee;

• (c) lands for which the minerals have been granted by the Crown;

• (d) lands subject to a prohibition on prospecting or staking a claim under a land use plan that has been approved under federal legislation or under a land claims agreement;

• (e) lands that have been withdrawn from disposal or set apart and appropriated by the Governor in Council under paragraphs 23(a) to (e) of the Act;

• (f) lands that are mentioned in subsections 22(1) and 52(5), section 56, subsection 67(2) and section 85 that are not open for prospecting or staking.

Marginal note:Surface rights — prohibition respecting entry

6 If the surface rights to lands have been granted or leased by the Crown, it is prohibited to go on the surface of those lands to prospect or stake a claim unless

• (a) the holder of the surface rights has consented to entry for the prospecting or staking; or

• (b) a tribunal competent to deal with surface rights in the Northwest Territories has made an order that authorizes entry on those lands and that sets the compensation, if any, to the surface holder.

Marginal note:Prohibition on removing minerals

• 7 (1) It is prohibited to remove minerals or processed minerals from, or develop a mine within, the area of a recorded claim or a leased claim, except in the case of the holder of the recorded claim or the lessee.

• Marginal note:Limitation respecting holder of a recorded claim

  (2) It is prohibited to remove minerals or processed minerals whose gross value exceeds $100,000 from a recorded claim that is not subject to a lease issued under subsection 60(5) or a renewal issued under subsection 62(4), except if the removal is for the purposes of assay and testing to determine the existence, location, extent, quality or economic potential of a mineral deposit within the claim.

• Marginal note:Prohibition on construction and disposal

  (3) It is prohibited to erect on a recorded claim any building to be used as a dwelling or any mill, concentrator or other mine building, or to create any tailings or waste disposal area for the purpose of the commencement of production from a mine, unless the claim holder has been issued a lease of the surface rights to, or a grant of, the land covered by the claim.

Prospecting Permits

Marginal note:Prospecting permit zones

• 8 (1) The mining district is divided into prospecting permit zones based on the National Topographic System of Canada. Each zone consists of one quarter of the area shown on a claim staking sheet and is designated as the northeast, southeast, southwest or northwest quarter.

• Marginal note:Definition of claim staking sheet

  (2) In this section, claim staking sheet means

  • (a) south of 68° north latitude, a map of zones bounded on the north and south by 15-minute intervals of latitude and on the east and west by 30-minute intervals of longitude; and

  • (b) north of 68° north latitude, a map of zones bounded on the north and south by 15-minute intervals of latitude and on the east and west by one-degree intervals of longitude.

Marginal note:Application for prospecting permit

• 9 (1) A licensee may apply to the Mining Recorder for a prospecting permit for the exclusive right to prospect and stake claims in a prospecting permit zone specified in the application.

• Marginal note:Requirements for application

  (2) An application for a prospecting permit must

  • (a) be in the prescribed form;

  • (b) be received by the Mining Recorder between February 1 and close of business on the last business day of November before the year in which it is to commence;

  • (c) be accompanied by payment of the applicable fee set out in Schedule 1; and

  • (d) include a description of the work proposed to be carried out.

• Marginal note:Payment of charge

  (3) In addition, the licensee must pay to the Mining Recorder the charge referred to in subparagraph 14(a)(i) or (b)(i), as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Remission

  (4) If a charge has been paid under subsection (3) but no prospecting permit is issued with respect to the application, the charge is remitted.

• Marginal note:Repayment

  (5) Any charge referred to in subparagraph 14(a)(i) or (b)(i) that has been paid to the Mining Recorder and that is remitted under this section must be repaid by the Minister to the person entitled to it.

Marginal note:Zones excluded

10 A prospecting permit must not be issued in respect of a prospecting permit zone if, at close of business on the last business day of January in the year the permit is to be issued, either of the following situations exists:

• (a) there are recorded claims or leased claims or applications to record claims in that zone and the total area covered by those claims exceeds 1250 hectares;

• (b) there are recorded claims or leased claims in that zone and the total area covered by those claims is 1250 hectares or less and, in the five years preceding that day, either of the following has happened with respect to any of those recorded claims or leased claims:

  • (i) work has been done with respect to any of the recorded claims and has been reported on under section 41 of these Regulations or under section 41 of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Mining Regulations,

  • (ii) there has been a transfer recorded under section 66 of a majority of the interest in the recorded claim or lease to a person who was not, immediately before the transfer, recorded as a holder of the claim or lease and who is not related to anyone who was, immediately before the transfer, a holder of the claim or lease.

Marginal note:Priority

• 11 (1) If two or more applications for a prospecting permit are made in respect of a prospecting permit zone, the Mining Recorder must, in issuing a prospecting permit, give priority to

  • (a) firstly, applications presented in person at the office of the Mining Recorder on the first business day of November, in the order of their receipt;

  • (b) secondly, applications — other than those dealt with in paragraph (a) — received by the Mining Recorder before the second business day of November, in the order of their drawing from a lottery of those applications; and

  • (c) lastly, all other applications received after the first business day of November, in the order of their receipt by the Mining Recorder, or, if the order of receipt of applications cannot be determined, then in the order of their drawing from a lottery of those applications.

• Marginal note:Issuance

  (2) The Mining Recorder must issue the prospecting permit as soon as possible after January 31 in the year following the receipt of the application.

• Marginal note:Identification number

  (3) The Mining Recorder must assign an identification number to each prospecting permit.

• Marginal note:Exclusion of claim from permit zone

  (4) The area covered by a prospecting permit must be modified by removing the area covered by a recorded claim within that zone if

  • (a) the claim was staked within the zone before the permit was issued; and

  • (b) the application to record the claim was made after the permit was issued.

Marginal note:Duration of prospecting permits

12 A prospecting permit takes effect on the first day of February in the year it is issued and expires at the end of January

• (a) three years later, in the case of a permit in respect of a zone located south of 68° north latitude; or

• (b) five years later, in the case of a permit in respect of a zone located north of 68° north latitude.

Marginal note:Notice respecting prospecting permits

13 On or before the fifth business day in February, a notice must be posted in the Mining Recorder’s office identifying the zones in respect of which prospecting permits were issued that year in the mining district.

Marginal note:Charges for prospecting permit

14 The following charges must be paid for a prospecting permit:

• (a) for a prospecting permit zone located south of 68° north latitude,

  • (i) before the close of business on the last business day of November in the year in which the application for the permit is made, an amount equal to the number of hectares in the permit zone multiplied by $0.25,

  • (ii) before the start of the second year of the permit, an amount equal to the number of hectares in the permit zone multiplied by $0.50, and

  • (iii) before the start of the third year of the permit, an amount equal to the number of hectares in the permit zone multiplied by $1.00; and

• (b) for a prospecting permit zone north of 68° north latitude,

  • (i) before the close of business on the last business day of November of the year in which the application for the permit is made, an amount equal to the number of hectares in the permit zone multiplied by $0.25,

  • (ii) before the start of the third year of the permit, an amount equal to the number of hectares in the permit zone multiplied by $0.50, and

  • (iii) before the start of the fifth year of the permit, an amount equal to the number of hectares in the permit zone multiplied by $1.00.

Marginal note:Report on work to obtain remission

• 15 (1) A permittee who has done work in respect of a zone for which they have a prospecting permit may request remission of the charges the permittee has paid or is obligated to pay for that permit under section 14 by submitting a report on the work to the Mining Recorder no later than 60 days after the expiry of the permit.

• Marginal note:Preparation of report

  (2) The report must be prepared in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 2, but if the report deals only with excavation, sampling or the examination of outcrops and surficial deposits — or any combination of them — and the cost of work is less than $10,000, the report may be a simplified report prepared in accordance with Part 2 of Schedule 2.

• Marginal note:Signature of report

  (3) The report must be prepared and signed

  • (a) in the case of a simplified report, by the individual who performed or supervised the work; or

  • (b) in all other cases, by a professional geoscientist or a professional engineer as those terms are defined in subsection 1(1) of the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act, S.N.W.T. 2006, c. 16.

• Marginal note:Associated documents

  (4) The following must be submitted with the report:

  • (a) a statement of work in the prescribed form;

  • (b) a table setting out the cost of work by type of work, together with, for each type of work, details of the costs sufficient to enable evaluation of the report in accordance with subsection (8); and

  • (c) a table setting out the cost of work that is attributable to each permit.

• Marginal note:Details of costs

  (5) In respect of the details of the costs,

  • (a) if a permittee uses their own equipment to perform work, the cost claimed in relation to that equipment must not be more than the cost of leasing similar equipment for the period that the equipment was used in performing the work; and

  • (b) if a permittee personally performs work, the cost claimed in relation to that work must not be more than an amount equal to the cost of engaging another person to do that work.

• Marginal note:Record keeping

  (6) The permittee must keep all supporting documents used to justify the cost of work and make them available on request by the Mining Recorder until the permittee has received a confirmation under subsection (11).

• Marginal note:Work reported once

  (7) Work reported in one report must not be reported in any other report.

• Marginal note:Evaluation of report

  (8) The Mining Recorder must evaluate the report to determine its compliance with Schedule 2 and the cost of work to be entered in a written confirmation of the cost of work under subsection (11).

• Marginal note:Supporting documents

  (9) If the Mining Recorder requests supporting documents that justify the cost of work reported, the Mining Recorder must notify the permittee in writing and must specify the cost of work for which such documents are requested.

• Marginal note:Lack of justification

  (10) If the permittee does not, within four months after the day the notification is sent, provide the supporting documents requested, the cost of work to which they relate must be considered to be unjustified.

• Marginal note:Justified cost of work and allocation

  (11) After completing the evaluation of a report, the Mining Recorder must provide to the permittee a written confirmation of the cost of work that has been justified in the report and, if a request for allocation of the cost has been made under subsection 17(5), of the amounts allocated in accordance with the request.