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Northwest Territories Mining Regulations (SOR/2014-68)

Regulations are current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2017-06-19. Previous Versions

Prohibitions Respecting Prospecting, Staking and Mining (continued)

Marginal note:Surface rights — prohibition respecting entry

 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

  •  (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

  •  (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

  •  (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

 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

  •  (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

 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

 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

 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

  •  (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.

Marginal note:Request for deferral of charge and extension of permit

  •  (1) If a permittee is unable to do work with respect to a prospecting permit zone because the permittee is, for reasons beyond the permittee’s control, waiting for a public authority to give an authorization or decision without which the work cannot proceed, the permittee may request an extension of one year for the payment of the charge under section 14 and the duration of the permit.

  • Marginal note:Requirements respecting request

    (2) The request must be made in writing to the Supervising Mining Recorder before the next charge under section 14 is payable and must be accompanied by documents showing that the permittee is waiting for the authorization or decision.

  • Marginal note:Recording of extension

    (3) If the requirements of subsection (2) have been met, the Supervising Mining Recorder must record the extension.

Marginal note:Grouping of prospecting permits

  •  (1) Prospecting permits may be grouped for the purpose of allocating the cost of work done with respect to them if

    • (a) there are no more than four permits in the group; and

    • (b) the zones of the grouped permits are wholly or partly within a circle having a radius of 32 kilometres.

  • Marginal note:Requirements respecting request

    (2) A request to group prospecting permits must be submitted in writing to the Mining Recorder. It must be signed by each of the permittees and be accompanied by the applicable fee set out in Schedule 1.

  • Marginal note:Grouping certificate

    (3) If the requirements of subsections (1) and (2) are met, the Mining Recorder must issue a grouping certificate to each of the permittees.

  • Marginal note:Duration of grouping certificate

    (4) A grouping certificate takes effect on the day on which the fee is submitted under subsection (2) and ceases to have effect on the earlier of

    • (a) the 120th day after the day that any permit in the group expires or is cancelled, and

    • (b) the day on which a new grouping certificate in respect of any permit in the group takes effect.

  • Marginal note:Allocation of cost of work within group

    (5) On request by any of the permittees referred to in a grouping certificate, the Mining Recorder must allocate, in accordance with the request, the cost of work that has been justified in a report in respect of any of the prospecting permits referred to in the grouping certificate to those permits.

  • Marginal note:Limit on reallocation

    (6) The cost of work allocated under subsection (5) must not be reallocated to any prospecting permit referred to in another grouping certificate.

  • Marginal note:Allocation not permitted

    (7) The cost of work set out in a confirmation under subsection 15(11) with respect to a prospecting permit that was not, when the confirmation was provided, referred to in a grouping certificate must not be allocated to any other prospecting permit.

Marginal note:Application to record claim in prospecting permit zone

  •  (1) A permittee may apply to record a claim wholly or partially within the permittee’s prospecting permit zone only if a confirmation under subsection 15(11) respecting that zone has been provided setting out a cost of work equal to or greater than the number of hectares in the permit zone multiplied by $0.25.

  • Marginal note:Exclusion of claim from permit zone

    (2) When a claim referred to in subsection (1) has been recorded, the area covered by the claim no longer forms part of the permit zone.

  • Marginal note:Excess cost of work transferrable to claim

    (3) If the cost of work that has been justified in a report with respect to a prospecting permit exceeds the charges remitted under subsection 19(2), the permittee may request the Mining Recorder to allocate the excess cost of work to work required under subsection 39(1) on a claim referred to in subsection (1). The request must be in the prescribed form and be accompanied by the fee for a certificate of work set out in Schedule 1.

 

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