Canadian mining code being updated

Canadian securities regulators are aiming to publish proposed revisions to the country’s NI 43-101 mining industry reporting standards in February, a senior geologist with the process says.

The industry is to have 90 days to comment on the proposals for the first upgrade to the code since 2011.

“That’s sort of the time frame we’re looking for,” Craig Waldie of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) told the Mining Research Analyst Group’s annual forecast luncheon in Toronto Jan. 9. “We’ll see if that comes out, but definitely in the next month or two there will be something.”

The plan is to implement a new version of the code by mid-2026, he said.

Some of the code’s definitions are being targeted for clarification, some requirements would be streamlined, and some areas could be harmonized with other jurisdictions, Waldie said. He described them as incremental changes. Also involved is the Canadian Institute of Mining.

OSC data show initial public offerings have declined for the past four years from 825 in 2021 to 546 last year, the geologist said.

While gold companies used to make up half the number of technical reports released, now it’s 38% and uranium has grown to 7% from 1%, he said. Copper figures strongly, but lithium and graphite have dropped off.