Most prospectors have always felt that if they acquired title to a mining claim, they had an absolute right to exploit the minerals within its boundaries. I am not sure that is any longer true. We have come a long way from the time prospectors trekked into the Yukon or paddled a canoe following lakes and rivers through the north country of Canada. In those days, discovery and possession were prime concerns.
Today, things are different. Discoveries are not usually made by exposing minerals on surface. Rather, it is usually necessary to study a large area, determine a target and drill several hundred feet at great expense.
If a government makes land available for prospecting and staking, it must ensure that there is security of title and there is clearly an absolute right to mine.
I could cite many examples where this is not the case. We need only to look at the on-again-off-again situation concerning claims situated within parks in British Columbia. If you stake a claim in British Columbia, you may wonder when and where the next park will be created and how it will affect your claim.
Similarly in Ontario where parks and land claims exclude vast areas from exploration thereby preventing claim holders from exploring their existing claims. Recently created buffer zones around parks in Ontario capture even larger areas subjecting that ground to the same conditions as applies to parks. If you hold claims in those areas, what are your chances of extracting any minerals when found?
Unfortunately, parks and wilderness areas appear to be chosen with little regard for the mineral potential, lending one to believe that mineral rights are a low priority.
And then there is pressure from various interest groups who, it seems, are bent on preventing any kind of mining operations. Many of those people appear to think the north country is their own private playground and no one else, including the local residents, should be allowed to do anything.
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