Learn about the stages of mineral exploration and development in Ontario and get resources for each stage of the mining sequence.
Mining involves several stages which occur in a sequence known as the mining sequence which is divided into 5 stages:
The mining sequence covers all aspects of mining, including:
Consultation happens throughout the mining sequence with:
Contact with Aboriginal (First Nation and Métis) communities is made and maintained throughout the mining sequence.
Regulations under the Mining Act provide a framework for authorizing mineral exploration and development activities. The Consultation framework:
Contact with the public (people living in Ontario) is made and maintained throughout the mining sequence. Changes to the land may:
We notify the public for:
Public consultation can include:
Surface rights are all the rights to the land above and below the surface, other than the mining rights.
A surface rights owner is an owner of the land who does not own the mining rights for the land.
A surface rights holder is a person to whom the surface rights of land have been granted, sold, leased or located.
In some cases, contacting surface rights owners and holders is a requirement under the Mining Act , such as when:
We also highly recommend contacting surface rights owners and holders before:
You can identify the surface rights owner of a piece of land by performing a title search through ONLand.
For more information on contacting surface rights holders, contact the Data Management Unit.
Progressive rehabilitation is:
Proponents must take all reasonable steps to progressively rehabilitate a site, whether or not:
If a project is not subject to a closure plan, progressive rehabilitation still applies. In this case, the proponent must:
Once lands are not actively being disrupted by a mining project, you may commence progressive rehabilitation of those lands, rather than wait until closure. Many new mining projects in development reflect this design-for-closure approach. All Ontario closure plans must describe their anticipated progressive rehabilitation schedule.
For prescribed early exploration activities, proponents must follow the:
For advanced exploration or mine production sites subject to a closure plan, proponents are required to describe the progressive rehabilitation measures they anticipate will be undertaken as part of the closure plan.
Early mineral exploration covers objectives and activities that begin with:
The type of work carried out depends on the minerals being sought. If early exploration leads to a mineral discovery, advancing it to development typically requires a large investment and years of work.
The Ontario Geological Survey collects data about Ontario's geology. They provide access to published reports, maps and digital data, through:
Visit the Ontario Geological Survey for more information about:
Registering a mining claim grants the claim holder the exclusive right to:
Early exploration activities can also be performed on:
A wider range of early exploration activities can be performed on mining lands to:
The following are examples of early exploration activities that can be carried out after registering a mining claim, or on other mining lands (lease, licence of occupation and patent):
Early exploration activities can have potential adverse effects to Aboriginal and treaty rights. Proponents may have to get an exploration plan or permit, under Ontario Regulation 308/12 .
Proponents can submit an exploration plan or apply for an exploration permit through MLAS .
Certain types of early exploration activities constitute assessment work. The costs related to assessment work activities are eligible for credits. These assessment work credits:
To keep a mining claim in good standing, proponents must:
You can register a mining claim and report assessment work online in MLAS .
For help with assessment work, read the:
Claim holders can make a monetary payment to fulfill the current year’s assessment work requirement.
There are restrictions to payments in place of assessment work. Read Section 5 of the Assessment Work regulation for more information.
If the results of early exploration activities are successful, a project could move towards advanced exploration.
Large-scale field exploration which meets a certain list of criteria is considered advanced exploration. Advanced exploration is subject to additional requirements and regulations.
Mineral exploration activities are classified as advanced exploration if they involve one or more of the following:
Before beginning advanced exploration, a proponent must meet certain requirements.
These requirements include:
Contact a local office of the Mineral Exploration and Development Section for more information on:
Evaluation is the process of determining if a mineral deposit is economically viable to extract.
The evaluation of a project or mineral deposit will progress through a number of studies if it shows promise, including:
Evaluation studies generally involve a detailed analysis of:
Only a small number of early exploration programs turn into discoveries. A decision to proceed to mine development can only be made after:
Development is the process of constructing a mine and the infrastructure to support it.
This phase of the mining sequence cannot be done on unpatented mining claims. You must first obtain a lease of the mining claim(s).
Mine development may involve many activities such as:
Before beginning development, a proponent must meet certain requirements, including:
A closure plan is a plan for rehabilitating the affected site:
A closure plan includes financial assurance. Financial assurance allows the ministry to implement the identified rehabilitation measures for each mine feature that is created or disturbed through advanced exploration or mining activities if the proponent fails or refuses to do so.
Before mine development can begin, you must submit a closure plan and have it filed by the ministry.
Step 1: Proponent submits a Notice of Project Status form (or Notice of Material Change form) to the ministry
Step 2: Ministry provides written direction on delegation of procedural elements of consultation to proponent within 45 days
Step 3. Proponent prepares a plan for consultation for ministry review and direction
Step 4: Proponent submits Closure Plan (or Closure Plan Amendment)
Step 5: Ministry acknowledges the filing or return of the Closure Plan (or Closure Plan Amendment) within 45 days
Find the required format and content of a closure plan in Schedule 2 of Ontario Regulation 35/24 .
The Closure plan boundary and land tenure guideline ( PDF ) provides additional details on the scope and geographical boundaries of closure plans.
Closure plans and closure plan amendments must be certified by either:
Many technical aspects in closure plans must be certified by qualified persons. The form and content of these certifications is set out in Ontario Regulation 35/24 .
Closure plans and amendments must meet all legal requirements at the time of submission. Otherwise, they cannot be filed by the ministry.
If you do not meet a legal requirement at the time of submission, you may request a conditional filing order. Orders are:
Once you have a filed closure plan, you can only undertake activities that are included in and consistent with that closure plan, unless:
To request an amendment, submit a Notice of Material Change form. Describe the proposed changes that will materially affect your filed closure plan.
In Ontario, proponents undertaking mine development are required to rehabilitate the mine hazards created by their activities.
A mine hazard is any feature of a mine, or any disturbance of the ground, that has not been rehabilitated to the prescribed standard. Mine hazards may include:
Most types of mine hazards have minimum prescribed standards for rehabilitation. These standards define requirements, including:
Rehabilitation tasks and standards, broken down by type of hazard, are outlined in the Mine Rehabilitation Code ( PDF ).
The Mine Rehabilitation Code ( PDF ) incorporates other standards and documents by reference, including:
In limited circumstances, the minister may grant exemptions from requirements to complete a rehabilitation measure.
Send your written request for an exemption by email to PartVIIsubmissions@ontario.ca.
Most closure plans reflect the rehabilitation measures necessary to return a site to its prior use or condition.
In some circumstances, closure plans can return the lands to another post-closure state, as long as the minister approves. This allows for the adaptive reuse of mine sites for other purposes, such as:
Financial assurance must be submitted with the closure plan and be held by the ministry.
Financial assurance ensures that the rehabilitation work outlined in a closure plan is successfully performed, even if the proponent is unwilling or financially unable to undertake the work.
Financial assurance must be certified to be adequate and sufficient to cover the cost of the rehabilitation work required to comply with:
You can provide financial assurance in one of the following forms:
Phased financial assurance means proponents can submit financial assurance in installments that are scalable to development of the site, rather than submitting the entire amount of financial assurance for all development activities up-front before the preliminary work begins.
You may submit financial assurance in phases if the phased approach:
The requirements for phased financial assurance are set out in section 21 of Ontario Regulation 35/24 .
At any time during a project, the minister must hold adequate and sufficient financial assurance to cover the costs of the rehabilitation work required under the closure plan for each mine hazard located on the site at that time.
Phased financial assurance must correspond with the mine’s development schedule. You cannot develop a mine feature until the minister has received financial assurance for its rehabilitation.
You must submit your financial assurance for the first phase in a phasing schedule together with the initial submission of the closure plan.
You must submit your financial assurance for subsequent phases to the minister at least 45 days before the planned start of any activity in the phase. Activities in the phase may begin only once the ministry holds sufficient financial assurance for the rehabilitation of mine features or hazards to be created in that phase.
To avoid project delays, you should consider submitting amendments to your closure plans before this 45-day deadline. This will ensure you have enough time to get a revised financial assurance instrument (such as an amended letter of credit) from your financial institution.
If you do not comply with a phasing schedule, the minister can require some or all of the outstanding amount of financial assurance on an accelerated basis.
Failure to comply with a phasing schedule is also an offence under the Mining Act .
You can find information about amounts of financial assurance held by the ministry in the Financial Assurance Table ( XSLX ). We update this table regularly.
Production is the process of extracting any mineral or mineral-bearing substance for:
Mine operations include the following activities:
For more information about immediate and long-term mine operation activities, contact the Mineral Exploration and Development Section or one of our local offices.
Closure is the process of finishing the rehabilitation of a mine site after mining activities have ceased.
Mine closure follows the completion of mineral extraction, processing and transportation activities of the mined materials.
Mine closure is a formal process of planning, managing and implementing the closing out of a mine site. You must:
Rehabilitation often starts with:
Once a mine is fully rehabilitated and closed out, the land tenure can be surrendered, where appropriate.
The standards for mine rehabilitation and closure planning include requirements to restore lands to an appropriate condition after you close out a mining project.
Increasingly, proponents are developing methods of mine closure where mine sites are adapted or reused for other beneficial land uses. This may also involve repurposing infrastructure.
These post-closure land uses are allowed if approved by the minister.
You can find Ontario’s rehabilitation standards in:
Financial assurance must be provided with a closure plan. This allows the ministry to implement the identified rehabilitation measures if the proponent fails or refuses to do so.
The ministry retains all financial assurance provided with a closure plan until we accept an application to reduce financial assurance. There are two grounds for an application for a reduction in financial assurance:
Before we accept an application for a reduction in financial assurance, we may inspect the mine site to determine whether the grounds have been met.
Many mine projects operate from lands that are leased or licensed from the province.
You must return these lands to the province when the lease or license is no longer necessary.
Our closure planning requirements ensure that when land tenure returns to the Crown, there are no inherited liabilities created for the province.
Lands that are owned in fee simple, rather than leased, are typically transferred to third parties before the corporation dissolves. However, these lands can be returned to the province if the corporation dissolves without first divesting (selling) the lands.
When you close out a mine project that operates on mining leases or licenses of occupation, you may need to surrender the lease or license.
Our Mines and Minerals Division has Mineral Exploration and Development Consultants ( MEDCs ) who are available to:
To get in touch with a MEDC , contact the Mineral Exploration and Development Section or one of our local offices.
The following resources can also help you properly plan and implement a mineral development project through all stages of the mining sequence:
