Yellowknife (Mar 31/03) - DIAND is going back to the drawing board with proposed changes to the Canada Mining Regulations.
That includes sections covering staking and the rights of licence holders.

Draft changes to the regulations were published for industry comment at the end of January.

After consultation with industry, a final draft was to be published in the Canada Gazette this summer as a start to implementing the new regulations.

That won't happen now, said Robert Lauer of DIAND's mineral resources division in Ottawa.

Lauer said DIAND is now working on a new draft which it hopes will be out by the end of June.

Sections drawing the heaviest criticism from industry involved the rights of claim and licence holders.

A white paper published by the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines targeted both areas for criticism.

The draft as worded failed to even spell out what rights or obligations are involved with a prospector's licence, noted the chamber.

Another proposed change would have eliminated a prospector's exclusive right to a claim.

"I accept the industry's criticisms that we could have done a better job on those sections," said Lauer.

"What we will do now is to produce another draft."

Prospectors and exploration firms will get another crack at the proposed changes this summer, he said.

"The changes are significant that people who are interested should have another run at the draft before it goes into the Gazette."

Other areas that will be revisited include metrification, incentives for filing work reports, and the turnaround time for approval of company-submitted work reports.