Regulators create mining panel

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the umbrella body of provincial securities commissions, is creating a committee to advise it on issues related to mining and mineral exploration.

The panel, christened the Mining Technical Advisory and Monitoring Committee, will provide advice on applying the new National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, which is being adopted as a rule by provincial securities commissions in response to the January 1999 report of the Mining Standards Task Force.

The committee will also help the CSA evaluate the accreditation standards of foreign professional organizations to determine whether their members meet the National Instrument requirements for “qualified persons” to sign off on disclosure documents. The CSA also plans to have the committee take on a more general advisory role as the regulators’ window on the mineral industry.

The committee will have about 10 members, and the CSA is hoping to have representatives from all industry sectors (exploration, development, and production) and from across the country. Deborah McCombe, chief mining consultant at the Ontario Securities Commission, and Adrianne Rubin Hawes, senior counsel at the British Columbia Securities Commission, will chair the committee.

The CSA is seeking volunteers to serve 2-year terms on the committee, which will meet about four times a year, normally by telephone conference. Industry participants interested in serving on the committee can apply to either McCombe at the OSC or Hawes at the BCSC.