Mineral staking is still solid as a rock

Published 1:30 pm Thursday, March 6, 2025

B.C.’s mineral exploration industry is soon going to have to align with Canada’s basic constitutional requirement of having to engage in Indigenous consultation before being granted a mining claim. After nearly 170 years of privilege, this change is long overdue.

British Columbia’s mining laws were largely created during the gold rush era of the 1850s to help guarantee unfettered access to new lands by creating the right of “free entry.”

In the digital age, a simple registration as a free miner and an internet connection allows claims to mineral rights for $1.75/Hectare. Click and you have a claim staked almost anywhere – on private property, key tourism areas, important salmon habitat or on melting glaciers. Specific parcels of land can be granted No Registration Reserve status by the Chief Gold Commissioner, but essentially mining activities are only off-limits in parks, a set distance from buildings, and at certain archeological sites.

In other words, mining exploration can take place in nearly 75 per cent of the province and is still given priority use.

Mining gets a free pass from zoning bylaws and land use plans that apply to other industrial sectors. There are numerous cases of farmers surprised to find exploration rights superseding their private property rights. Others have been outraged to find mineral exploration happening in their community’s drinking water source or on their wilderness tourism tenure.

But the largest number of conflicts have resulted from proponents not being required to engage with First Nations prior to staking a claim or entering the land. Some examples are the Nuxalk Nation evicting Juggernaut from their territory and the Klabona Keepers setting up a blockade to stop Fortune Minerals.

A couple of years ago, the Gitxaała and Ehattesaht First Nations challenged the mineral claim system in court as a “colonial holdover” for allowing claims to be staked without consultation or consent, with a number of supporting intervenors echoing similar experiences.

As a result, the BC Supreme Court ruled that B.C. owes a duty to consult Gitxaała and other Indigenous nations prior to granting mineral claims in their territories. This new consultation requirement must be in place by March 26, 2025.

While many in the mining industry recognize the importance of engaging and partnering with First Nations to move projects forward, others are calling the proposed changes “unworkable” and “devastating”. There were a range of actors in the sector seeking clarity on the new consultation framework at the Association of Mineral Exploration of BC’s annual Round Up conference. What is very clear, is that not complying with this court order would mean a moratorium on staking throughout the province (or making every new claim illegal).

There are approximately 6,000 new mineral claims a year in British Columbia – and soon a new way of doing business. What’s being required is really the most basic duty to consult that has applied to all other industries for decades.

There are more changes needed to how mineral claims are staked aligning with conservation commitments and aligning with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As changes are implemented, there will be lots of green lights – but some red lights and no-go zones for the industry as the sector is brought into line with other values and limits.

Following the court order will also mean fewer costly, time-consuming legal challenges and blockades. Change can be hard as we address historical injustices, but the mineral exploration sector in BC has been around for over 160 years and will undoubtedly remain solid as a rock.

Nikki Skuce is the director of Northern Confluence, an initiative based out of Smithers that aims to improve land-use decisions and stewardship.