BC support great but too much new policy, AME warns

Canada’s mineral sector is enjoying a rare moment of unity among governments, First Nations and industry, but a rapid policy blitz in British Columbia is throttling prospectors and juniors and could hobble the next wave of mine builds, Association for Mineral Exploration (AME) president and CEO Todd Stone says.

With exploration underpinning every mine Stone argues the real test isn’t today’s handful of likely project approvals, but whether B.C.’s policy makes the province competitive for tomorrow’s discoveries. Allies count on Canada for secure mineral supply and rules impact credibility, he says.

“There is an unprecedented alignment across the country on the importance of minerals,” Stone told The Northern Miner. “But it might be time to just take a pause and step back a bit because the unintended consequences of this cumulative impact are posing a significant challenge to mineral exploration.”

Overlapping land-use initiatives, pending changes to the Heritage Conservation Act, the Mineral Claims Consultation Framework (MCCF) and long notice-of-work (NoW) approval times all count as a cumulative shock that “disproportionately” lands on prospectors and juniors, Stone said. Industry veterans tell him they’ve “never” seen so much change, so fast.

‘Fix-it’ underway

On the MCCF – created after the B.C. Supreme Court’s Gitxaała decision – AME warned early that the design could chill activity. “Our concerns have been realized,” Stone said, citing a “very dramatic drop-off” in claim filings and smaller claim sizes. Permit decisions are routinely exceeding the province’s 120-day service target, leaving juniors unable to plan drill campaigns. He added that NoW approvals for drilling and trenching have grown steadily longer and less predictable.

After a recent meeting with Premier David Eby, AME and senior provincial officials formed a working table with five AME members to pinpoint choke points and co-design fixes to both the MCCF and NoW regime.

“Government is listening now,” Stone said. “They’re changing aspects of the MCCF and NoW based on AME’s feedback,” with measurable improvements expected to show in the next field season.

Stone drew a distinction between mine-level approvals and exploration-stage bottlenecks. The province has highlighted faster timelines for some operating-mine permits and major-project decisions this year; Stone welcomes that progress but says early-stage permitting – the seed corn of future mines – has lagged.

Ottawa’s tailwinds

Federally, Stone welcomed Budget 2025 as “really good news” for explorers: an extension of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit to 2027; a broadened Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit that adds 12 minerals essential to defence, semiconductors and clean tech; a $372-million First & Last Mile fund for energy and transport links starting in 2026-27; and a $2-billion Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund for equity, guarantees and offtakes.

Those carrots, he stresses, only translate into metres drilled if provinces deliver predictable, timely permits. “Capital follows certainty,” Stone underlined. “Right now, that certainty is what juniors are missing.”

Capacity, land access

Stone is urging Victoria to “put more cash on the table” so First Nations can process a growing volume of referrals on tighter timelines – a request he says he hears “from chiefs across the province.”

As a practical step, AME last month launched an Indigenous engagement toolkit to help field crews identify the right nation and contacts early and engage well before a drill is mobilized.

Land access is the other fault line. The government targets protected areas of around “30 by 30” – protecting 30% of land and waters by 2030 under national and global biodiversity commitments. But Stone contends “the province has blown well past 30% already.”

He tallied wildlife zones, environmental land-use orders, Indigenous-led conservation areas and potential heritage management zones shrink the map open to low-impact exploration. The implication, he says, is fewer shots on goal for discoveries.

Labour remains a constraint, too. Despite robust activity, juniors report difficulty hiring geologists and field technologists. AME has relaunched its mentorship program, and Stone is pressing schools and industry to restore hands-on career pathways that fell away during the last downturn from 2012 until about 2019 in the case of juniors.

Momentum in the field

Even with headwinds, B.C. remains busy, Stone said. Last year’s exploration spend was about $550 million, with about 90% of that money staying in nearby communities. About 1,100 exploration companies have offices in the province and about 300 projects saw work. This year could set new marks for metres drilled, he added, with some programs still running later than usual, deep into November.

The paradox, as Stone frames it, is a sector enjoying unprecedented political alignment – from climate competitiveness to supply-chain security – while the day-to-day rules for staking, permitting and access risk are starving the pipeline of the discoveries Canada needs.

“The projects getting approved today were mostly on track already,” he said. “The real question is whether B.C. can set the conditions now for the next wave. That’s how we’ll know if we’re serious about being a global leader.”

Those issues are among many that will be covered at AME’s Roundup conference in Vancouver, in January.