Federal-provincial MDAs include extra year for compiling

Five provinces may have thought the 5-year Mineral Development Agreement (MDA) they signed with the federal government in 1984 expired at the end of March, but in reality the agreements have a sixth year to run.

According to Peter Andrews of the mineral policy sector of Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, negotiation of an agreement included keeping the various management and technical committees involved in place for an extra year to allow for compilation of data, map preparation and any other information gathering, and printing of the same.

No new programs may be started up during the sixth year, he said, although programs already under way may be completed.

Five provinces saw their MDAs expire at the end of March: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Yukon’s agreement also concluded this year.

Set to expire at the end of 1989 is the P.E.I. agreement, while the Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia agreements will conclude at the end of March, 1990. Of the 10 provinces, only Alberta has not signed a similar agreement with the federal government. The N.W.T. agreement will not expire until 1991. Joint funding

Under the federal-provincial agreements, Ottawa and a participating province provide joint funding for geoscientific, technological research and economic development programs to be undertaken within the province’s boundaries.

The federal budget to be brought down this month may shed some light on the future of MDAs. One organization supporting their continuance is the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC).

The mining organization says the MDAs have provided a surge of activity in the various provinces. “The PDAC views the renewal of the MDAs as critical to maintaining a high quality, current geoscientific database across the country,” it states.

The availability of such a database, the PDAC says, is vitally important for mineral exploration.