On Friday, October 6, 2017, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (“MNDM”) released a revised roll-out schedule for the final phase of modernizing Ontario’s Mining Act through their October 2017 bulletin. This will mark the end of claim staking in the province and the implementation of the new Mining Lands Administration System (MLAS). Please make note of the new dates as the change in key milestones may have an impact on your lands management strategies, obligations and decisions. 

Any claims that fall within the period of Pre-Conversion ("Staking Hiatus") plus 6 months after Pre-Conversion would automatically have their due dates moved forward 1 year (as an exclusion of time). Claim holders had anticipated this to start on November 1, 2017 as was communicated in previous MNDM Bulletins. The MNDM has recognized the impact that the revised schedule may have on claim holders this close to the anticipated start of Staking Hiatus. In response, they will be offering concessions to help manage any due dates through this period. Watch for more details through the MNDM’s bulletins, the MNDM’s MAM web page, and the RMG Blog.

Should the MNDM not make any further communications in this regard, claim holders should manage all their claims that are coming due between November 1, 2017 and January 8, 2018, as they normally would in order to maintain them in good standing.

The revised schedule is now as follows and remains subject to Cabinet approval:

Pre-Conversion Period (formerly referred to as "Staking Hiatus")

• January 9, 2018 to April 9, 2018 (3 months)
• Most transactions will be suspended during this period including staking, transfers, filing of assessment work, distributions and payments in lieu of performing work.

Submit CBRs (“Claim Boundary Reports”)

• January 9, 2018 to February 9, 2018
• Clients will be able to submit a Claim Boundary Report (CBR) for a 30-day period. A CBR is a report that may be submitted by a claim holder to group claims so they will not merge at conversion (important to help maintain agreement boundaries).

Stage 1 Launch of MLAS (“Mining Lands Administration System”)

• February 7, 2018
• log on to MLAS to set up your client profile (using enrollment packages sent by mail to claim holders in early January 2018).

Last Day for Changes

• February 23, 2018
• Last day for clients to submit their Claim Boundary Report confirmation forms. Once claims have been grouped and a CBR submitted, clients need to download and complete the confirmation form and return it to MNDM. The CBR will not be processed unless the form is received by MNDM.
• Last day to file a draft plan of survey for lease. If your draft plan of survey has not been submitted by this date, the claim fabric will convert and you will have to re-survey the new boundaries.

Final Determination and Delineation

• February 26, 2018
• The Provincial Mining Recorder will make the final determination as to the location of legacy claims and delineate them on the provincial grid. Mining claims will then be legally defined by those coordinates and not by posts on the ground or township surveys.

Temporary Suspension of Exploration Plan and Permit Submissions

• March 3, 2018 to April 10, 2018 (Stage 2 Launch of MLAS)

Temporary Suspension in Obtaining a New Prospector's License

• March 24, 2018 to April 10, 2018 (Stage 2 Launch of MLAS)

Conversion

• April 10, 2018
• Conversion is the process of taking mining claim holders’ existing ground or map staked mining claims (legacy claims) and transforming them into one or more cell claims or boundary claims on the provincial grid.  As part of that process, existing mining claim locations will be delineated and legally defined by their coordinates on the map.
• All legacy claims will convert at once. Legacy claims will not be cancelled but will be continued as cell claims or boundary claims that result from conversion. Dispositions (such as leases, patents, and licences of occupation) will not be converted, however, they will be viewable and certain transactions will be managed within MLAS.

Stage 2 Launch of MLAS

• April 10, 2018
• Full launch of the new online system
• Transactions resume through MLAS

For more detailed information on the final phase of Modernizing Ontario's Mining Act, please feel free to contact Tania Poehlman at Tania.Poehlman@RMGeoscience.com or visit the MNDM's Mining Act Modernization (“MAM”) website.