B.C.’s independent miners and prospectors gather in Vancouver at the end of January for their annual convention, and it’s shaping up to be a grim affair as uncertainty grows over the impact of indigenous land rights on their business.
Mineral exploration claims dropped following new consultation rules
The B.C. mines ministry finally released its review of the first six months, and the results are as predicted.
New mineral exploration claims are down 29 per cent from the average of the past seven years. The total mineral claim area applied for or registered is down 60 per cent since B.C.’s new mineral claims consultation framework took effect.
“The Mineral Claims Consultation Framework is currently not functioning well and lacks the confidence of the industry,” the Association for Mineral Exploration B.C. said in a Jan. 12 statement on the results. “While it remains early, it’s clear that mineral explorers are apprehensive about using the system.”
The ministry promised not only six-month updates but a service delivery target of 90 to 120 days for permit applications. In the first six months, permit applications took an average of 127 days, and the association says delays have increased even more since August.
Part of the reduction in prospecting is from a year-long exploration ban imposed last summer in the area known as the Golden Triangle in northwest B.C. Located between Stewart, Dease Lake and the Alaska panhandle, it’s the region where the most recent of B.C.’s gold, silver and copper mines are established. This mineral zone contains an estimated 70 per cent of Canada’s known copper reserves.
Despite the ban, private “nation-to-nation” land use planning continues between the B.C. government and Indigenous groups asserting title to land. In the Golden Triangle and the surrounding north, that includes several aboriginal groups, dominated by the Tahltan and Kaska Dene whose two combined asserted territories account for about 20 per cent of the province’s total land mass.
Read the full article at Northern Beat: Consent based decision-making causing prospectors delays, hardship