Feature Article February 6, 2002
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Minister unresponsive to calls for changes to Mining Actby Jeff GreenLast week The News ran two articles on mining claims. Underpinning all prospecting and mining practice in Ontario is the Mining Act. The Bedford Mining Alert in Frontenac County, and the group from Lanark County both claim that the Mining Act subverts landowners rights. This week, we look at the provincial government response to calls for changes to the act.
Citizens groups in Frontenac and Lanark counties that have sprung up as a result of prospecting activity by Mountain Graphite Inc. of Utah, have been mounting a political campaign to change the Ontario Mining Act to better reflect the modern use of rural lands in southern Ontario.Dan Newman, Ontario minister for Northern Development and Mining, in a recent radio interview on the CBC Ontario Morning show, poured cold water on their efforts. Newman said, I believe that the Mining Act strikes a balance between individual property owners rights and the protection of mineral rights, which is rooted in our provinces history. Its as old as our nation is. The checks and balances are there to protect the interests of both sides. Newman said he appreciates the recent publicity about mineral versus surface rights, saying I think it is important that the public is educated about its rights. I think that my ministry has done a lot of work in informing and educating the public.
Indeed, on January 10, a few days before the radio interview, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines released a Backgrounder on Surface versus Mining Rights. The document concludes by placing the onus on the public to be informed of their rights. It is important for an owner, a vendor, or a purchaser to seek advice from a lawyer on such matters, just as one would when purchasing a home. Potential purchasers should be informed, and ready to ask appropriate questions of their lawyer regarding mineral versus surface rights.
Maureen Towaij, whose homestead in Lanark has been staked by prospectors, calls the ministry position an insult to the intelligence of people. She says an act that allows someone to stake a property without informing the property owner, that gives that owner one year to dispute the claim, but doesnt require that they are even informed the claim has been made, is unfair. I understand the concepts of wealth creation, and understand why mining is a part of the wealth creation of Ontario. But I do believe that the act is completely archaic. Here are the three aspects of the Mining Act that particularly invoke the ire of activists:
that the Mining Act supercedes the laws against trespass. If landowners do not own the subsurface rights to their property, prospectors may enter and investigate with a view towards staking. As explained by Minister Newman, Anyone who has a legal right to go on land is not trespassing. The mining act gives the holder of a prospectors license the right of entry on land that is open for staking
that neither a prospector nor the ministry is required to inform a landowner that a claim has been staked on his or her land, and a landowner has only one year to dispute a claim.
that the Mining Act supercedes the authority of municipalities in many cases, undermining municipal planning exercises.
