Ontario government makes amendments to Mining Act

The Ontario government has made six amendments to the Ontario Mining Act, which Mines Minister Gilles Pouliot says will make the legislation fairer, clearer and more effective.

The six changes involve: * eliminating overlapping and conflicting rules concerning the regulation of “non-metallic minerals”;

* allowing assessment credit for exploration work performed on all mining lands;

* requiring an applicant to provide an approved plan of survey with the application for a mining lease;

* allowing mining lands to be reopened for staking after three years, when that land has been forfeited to the Crown because a corporation has ceased to exist;

* requiring employers who were operating mines when the Act was proclaimed in June, 1991, to file annual reports on their closure plans; and * providing that judicial proceedings involving land do not prevent the staking of mining claims on that land unless they relate to mining land issues being heard by the Mining and Lands Commissioner or by a mining recorder.

(The amendments were contained in the government’s Statute Law Amendment Act, 1994, which was proclaimed in December. The housekeeping bill contained about 125 amendments involving 14 ministries.)

Another two amendments that affect the Mining Act are contained in 12 amendments put forward by the Ministry of Natural Resources: * eliminating the conflict in the definition of “aggregate” between the Aggregate Resources Act and the Mining Act, to remove double regulation of some commodities; and

* allowing the Mining and Lands Commissioner to file an order with the appropriate mining recorder, rather than leaving it to the parties involved in the case to file the order.