Archived news and announcements from the Mineral Titles office.
2024 News Notices and Announcements
We have received several questions and concerns over changes to Information Update No. 8 that were posted in a notice dated May 2024. Specifically, in the information update, we clarified that a person conducting work on a claim for work registration requires a free miner certificate. As a result of the feedback, Mineral Titles Branch will review and pause the implementation of the following change to Information Update No. 8:
More information with implementation timelines will be shared in early 2025. Any questions or comments concerning this update may be directed to Andrew.Upper@gov.bc.ca.
Please disregard the message posted on September 5, 2024 regarding the relocation of the Mineral Titles Branch’s Vancouver location. The move has been postponed due to delays in finalizing the construction of the new location. The Mineral Titles branch will continue to be located at Suite 300, 865 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC until otherwise notified.
As stated within the previous messages the Mineral Titles Branch Vancouver Office will remain open to the public by appointment only starting September 16th, 2024. The reason for this closure is due to staffing availability. Appointments can be made by contacting the Mineral Titles Branch at Mineral.Titles@gov.bc.ca.
The Mineral Titles Branch’s Vancouver location will be relocating during the week of Sept 16th, 2024. During this time the Branch will only be accepting clients in person by appointment until otherwise stated. Appointments can be made by contacting the Mineral Titles Branch at Mineral.Titles@gov.bc.ca.
The Branches new location will be located at:
On June 5th, 2024, MTO 4.1.0 was released. This release included several changes to MTO operations which are summarized below.
Mining related orders under the Environment and Land Use Act (ELUA) have been established in the Province. Each order has unique requirements that are in effect in a specified area during a defined time period.
Mining related ELUA orders may prevent the acquisition of new titles and/or may restrict existing title holders from engaging in mining activities, with exceptions allowed for reclamation, monitoring, protection, control, or treatment efforts. A list of the mining related ELUA orders can be found under ‘Other acts, regulations and orders related to mining activities/Environment and Land Use Act’ on Mining legislation page:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/mineral-exploration-mining/mining-legislation
In MTO, two new map layers are now being displayed in the CWM map viewers only. These new map layers contain shapes related to ELUA orders (mining related and others).
The new map layers are found under the “Administrative Boundaries” folder. The layers are called:
The “FADM – Special Protection Area” shapes show up in gold/orange. When you identify information from this layer, the name of the area is displayed.
The “FADM – Designated Areas” shapes show up in a pink colour. When you identify information from this layer, you get the BC Regulation number of the Order that created the area.
For detailed instructions on viewing the mining related ELUA orders in MTO and BC Laws, please see (Viewing Environment and Land Use Orders in Mineral Titles Online)
Note: For large areas, you may have to zoom in to a larger scale in order to receive search results.
Mineral Titles Online will be unavailable on Aug 13th, 2024, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm for maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Effective July 6th, 2024, the Mineral Deferral Area (North Coast) Order under the Environment and Land Use Act has established a three-year pause on the registration of new mineral and placer claims in the North Coast Mineral Deferral Area.
On July 6, 2024 the mining deferral area orders under the Environment and Land Use Act for Ehattesaht Nation and Gitxaala Nation territories (Deferral Area) were replaced with new orders (Mining Deferral Area (Gitxaala Hay-na) Order and Mining Deferral Area (Ehattesaht Hay-na) Order).
The July orders continue all the limitations on mining activities that were contained in the March mining deferral area orders until February 21, 2029 (the Deferral Period). All mineral tenures that are entirely or partially within the Deferral Area in the July order are subject to the limitations on mining activities.
The July order continues the ability of claim holders, by means of notice to the chief gold commissioner at least 7 days and no more than 30 days before the expiry date of a claim, to be granted a one-year extension to the expiry date of the claim.
In addition, the July order contains the following new provisions that deal with concerns raised by claim holders that the March mining deferral area order negatively affected the condition of their claims at the end of the Deferral Period. These new provisions ensure that
For more information and links to the previous orders, please see the March 8, 2024 notice.
Please note that these events are now available for users in MTO. You may now abandon or reduce your claims without assistance from the Mineral Titles Branch. If assistance is required please send a request to mineral.titles@gov.bc.ca for further help.
Mineral Titles Online will be unavailable on July 5th, 2024, from 8:00 am to 10:00 am for maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
June 26, 2024 - Mineral Titles Online planned outage on July 2, 2024
Mineral Titles Online will be unavailable on July 2nd, 2024, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm for planned maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
A government server that hosts the main Mineral Titles Online (MTO) web page is having technical issues. IT staff are working to resolve the issue. No ETA on a fix at this time.
The MTO main page is loading but very slowly and does not displaying correctly once loaded. Please be patient. Once the logon button appears, you will be able to logon as MTO is running.
Alternatively, please use the following link which will take you directly to the logon page:
MTO will be unavailable from 3 pm to approximately 5:30 pm on June 25th for the release of MTO 4.1.1 which will include the following changes:
Mineral Titles Online will be unavailable on June 25th, 2024, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm for maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Below are links to the mineral and placer lists of cells key ID’s that will be released. The cells contained on these lists may be from titles where:
Please note that these lists of cell key ID’s are subject to change.
The Yale Panning Reserve was closed in September 2023 due to a reported sighting of a silvery metallic liquid at the site suspected to be mercury. Since then, Fraser Health Authority has worked with BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and the Mineral Titles Branch to collect soil and sediment samples on the site to inform a human health risk assessment. No visible mercury was identified during the sampling visits. Analysis of the soil and sediment samples found levels of mercury contamination to be low and within Canadian guideline limits. The assessment suggests that the risk of potential adverse health effects for individuals visiting the site for recreation is low. As a result of the assessment, the Yale Panning Reserve is now open for the public to use for recreational hand panning. The reserve is one of fourteen sites designated for the public to use for recreational hand panning. For more information about panning reserves and recreational panning, please visit:
Elemental or metallic mercury is a shiny, silver-white metal that is liquid at room temperature. It may be present in the environment. Although levels of heavy metals in the environment are generally low in British Columbia, even exposures to low levels can result in negative health effects. For more information about the hazards of mercury exposure please see the BCCDC site:
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/prevention-public-health/lead-mercury
If you observe any substance that you suspect could be mercury, do not touch it. Please immediately report it to the Mineral Titles Branch, Mineral.titles@gov.bc.ca or if outside a panning reserve, to Fraser Health Authority.
June 11, 2024 – Mineral Titles Branch (Vancouver) Office Closure
The Vancouver office of the Mineral Titles Branch will be closed from June 17, 2024 until June 21, 2024.
There will be no staff on site to provide support in-person or via phone call and email during this time.
The office will reopen on June 24, 2024, at 8:30am.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Mineral Titles Online will be unavailable on June 5th, 2024, from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm for maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
On May 10, 2024, the Province established an Environment and Land Use Act order, prohibiting jade mining activities on new tenures in Northwest B.C.
Current tenure holders listed in the Order will be able to continue jade mining for five years with enhanced reclamation requirements. The Order is limited to jade mining activities in Northwest B.C. and does not impact other mining operations in the region, nor does it affect existing or new jade tenures in other areas of B.C.
The cumulative impact of jade mining in Northwest B.C. is causing harmful effects to sensitive alpine environments and creating significant regulatory challenges for permitting, compliance and enforcement. The Order is needed to protect the area from further harm and disturbance.
For further information regarding the Order, please see the May 10, 2024 Information Bulletin.
The Order can be found on the BC Laws website.
May 5, 2024 - Updates to Information Update No. 8
Mineral Titles has developed and revised changes to Information Update No. 8.
Highlights include:
Any questions concerning this update may be directed to Mineral.Titles@gov.bc.ca.
Mineral Titles Online will be down on May 9th, 2024, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm for maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
When attempting to make a payment in MTO users are redirected to a page that indicates the domain name for the payment service has expired. The payment company has been alerted and is working to resolve it as soon as possible. It appears that the payments are being processed, please do not try to register a payment a second time as this may result in redundant charges. If you notice additional charges on your statement please contact the Mineral Titles Branch and we will work to rectify these errors as soon as we are able to do so.
The BC Geographic Warehouse (BCGW) will not be available on April 28th starting at 6 AM.
This affects all government mapping applications such as MTO, ILRR, iMapBC and the spatial data downloading service.
Mineral Titles Branch is pleased to announce that the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation will be updating Mineral Titles Online (MTO) with more modern technology. Work to upgrade our technology is starting soon and more details will be provided as this work moves forward. MTO is the online registry of mineral, placer mineral and coal tenures in BC. For future announcements, please follow News, Notices and Announcements on the Mineral Titles Branch website.
Why is MTO being replaced?
As the online registry for mineral, placer, and coal tenures, the new MTO must:
For more information about Mineral Tenure Act modernization, please visit https://engage.gov.bc.ca/mtareform/
For information about the Mineral Titles Online system development, please visit News, Notices and Announcements
Donna Myketa
Chief Gold Commissioner and Executive Director
Mineral Titles Branch
On March 7, 2024, orders were made under the Environment and Land Use Act to establish a five-year moratorium on certain mining activities within the Ehattesaht Hay-na Mining Deferral Area and the Lax K’naga Sts’ool Mining Deferral Area, as well as an indefinite pause on the registration of new mineral and placer claims in those areas.
The moratorium restricts existing tenure and permit holders from engaging in mining activities, with exceptions allowed for reclamation, monitoring, protection, control, or treatment efforts.
For further information regarding the moratorium, please see the March 2024 press release.
For additional information on reforming the Mineral Tenure Act, please see the March 7, 2024, update.
Resources:
The next cell release has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at 1:00 pm PST.
Below are links to the mineral and placer lists of cells key ID’s that will be released. The cells contained on these lists may be from titles where:
Please note that these lists of cell key ID’s are subject to change.
Mineral Titles Online will be down on February 29th, 2023, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm for maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Please note the Mineral Titles Branch will be closed during the week of February 5-10, 2024, for staff training and development. During this time email and voicemail will not be monitored. Inquiries will be responded to when the branch reopens on February 12, 2024. Mail will not be collected during this time. Please submit any requests that are time sensitive (eg. may result in claim forfeiture) on or before 12 noon on February 2nd and include ‘TIME SENSITIVE’ in the subject line.
Starting at 12:00 am Sunday, January 21, 2024, BC Government applications related to the Natural Resource Sectors will be unavailable for scheduled maintenance until 5:00 am Sunday, January 21, 2024. During this time users may not be able to access Mineral Titles Online.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Starting at 6:00 am on Sunday January 14th, 2024, BCeID services will be down for maintenance. The expected outage is expected to last until 12:00 pm on January 14th, 2024. During this time users will not be able to login to MTO or government web services that require a BCeID to login.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
2023 News Notices and Announcements
2022 News Notices and Announcements
MTO is back online (10:35am). Thanks for your patience while IT staff resolved the issue.
MTO is currently offline, our IT folks are working to resolve the issue. There is no ETA at this time.
UPDATED, October 19, 2022 - the dates moved from Oct 22-23, 2022 to Oct 29-30, 2022
Please be advised that many government services, including Mineral Titles Online (MTO), will be taken offline this weekend for a planned and mandatory upgrade.
The outage is scheduled for Saturday, October 29 6:00 AM to Sunday, October 30 8:00 PM. Service may be up sooner than the outage window.
If you have a claim coming due this weekend, please ensure you apply claim maintenance to keep your title in good standing.
MTO step-by-step instructions
MTO will be taken offline at approximately 1:30pm on Oct 17, 2022. The outage is expected for approximately 1 hour.
The following cells have been added to the placer list of cells to be released on Thursday October 20, 2022 at 1pm PDT.
Placer cell key ID's (revised) [PDF, 270KB]
Cell Key ID | Cell Key ID | Cell Key ID |
---|---|---|
093N09E077A | 093N09E076B | 093N09E076A |
093N09E075B | 093N09E075A | 093N09E074B |
093N09E074A | 093N09E073B | 093N09E064B |
093N09E065C | 093N09E065D | 093N09E064C |
093N09E064D | 093N09E073C | 093N09E074D |
093N09E074C | 093N09E075D | 093N09E075C |
093N09E076D | 093N09E076C | 093N09E077D |
093N09E086B | 093N09E086A | 093N09E085B |
093N09E085A | 093N09E084B | 093N09E084A |
093N09E083B | 093N09E083A | 093N09E082D |
093N09E082C | 093N09E083D | 093N09E083C |
093N09E084D | 093N09E084C | 093N09E085D |
093N09E085C | 093N09E086D | 093N09E086C |
093N09E096B | 093N09E096A | 093N09E095B |
093N09E095A | 093N09E094B | 093N09E094A |
093N09E093B | 093N09E093A | 093N09E092B |
093N09E092C | 093N09E093C | 093N09E094D |
093N09E094C | 093N09E095D | 093N09E095C |
093N09E096D | 093N09E096C | 093N09L006A |
093N09L005B | 093N09L005A | 093N09L004B |
093N09L003B | 093N09L005D | 093N09L005C |
093N09L006D | 093N09E073D | 093N09E077B |
The next cell release has been scheduled for Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 1pm PDT.
Below are links to two lists of cells that will be released – one list contains placer cells, and one list contains mineral cells. The cells contained on these lists are from titles where:
Mineral cell key ID's [PDF, 4MB]
Placer cell key ID's [PDF, 222KB]
The Assessment Report Indexing System (ARIS) public search page has been updated to include new features and improve stability. We recommend updating bookmarks to the new site https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/pub/aris
Information Update #20 has been updated, please take the time to review the document.
Please be advised that the Assessment Report Indexing System (ARIS) public search page (https://aris.empr.gov.bc.ca/) is being updated to include new features and improve stability.
The page will be moving mid-August 2022.
There will be an automatic re-direct to the new webpage, however it is recommended that you update any bookmarks to the new webpage after the update.
Please be advised that the next scheduled cell release which was estimated for late July 2022 has been postponed.
Continue to watch this News, Notices and Announcements page for a future notice as to when the next cell release will take place.
Please be advised that work is underway for the next scheduled cell release which we estimate will occur within late July 2022.
Mineral Titles is reviewing a list of mineral and placer cells that may be released.
Please watch News, Notices and Announcements for a future notice with the list of cells, release date(s) and time(s) to be posted by mid-July 2022.
Some government applications (MTO, NROS, vFCBC) are returning an error message when users click the logoff or exit this service button. Applications will need to update their parameters to avoid this error. There is no impact to the end user. There is no ETA at this time for when MTO will have the fix applied to the production environment.
Please be advised that many government applications will be unavailable on Sunday, June 12th from approximately 5am-10am. This planned service interruption affects MTO, ILRR and Natural Resources Online services, to name a few.
Please be advised that the BC Geographic Warehouse (BCGW) will be undergoing regular maintenance on Sunday, May 29, 2022 from 6am - 10am. There may be temporary service interruptions during this time. This will affect the display of all layers in MTO CWM except the Mineral/Placer/Coal Titles (MTO) folder. Download of spatial data via the Data Catalogue may also be unavailable during this time.
MTO will be offline April 28,2022 starting at 2:30pm. The planned outage should last approximately 1 hour.
Title Overlap Reports will be regenerated for the April 4 - 14, 2022 timeframe. The TOR service was offline during this time period and TORs will be run today. Clients should expect emails in their inbox for any newly acquired title or TOR request (TORR) during the time frame.
The frequently asked questions for PAC have been updated and posted to the branch website.
Reminder: Effective May 1, 2022, the transfer of PAC credits between accounts will no longer be allowed.
April 7, 2022 - Title Overlap Reports (TOR) not being generated
Please be advised that TOR reports are not being generated for newly acquired title or TOR requests. Once the service is corrected, all TORs will be regenerated for the time period the service was offline. A follow-up notice will be posted once the service is back online.
Effective May 1, 2022, the transfer of PAC credits between accounts will no longer be allowed.
Section 9 of the Mineral Tenure Act Regulation sets out who can earn portable assessment credit (PAC), how credit can be applied to a PAC account and how PAC credits can be used to satisfy exploration and development on a claim.
Currently, the Mineral Titles Branch has been allowing the practice of transferring credits between PAC accounts. However, section 9 of the Regulation does not provide authorization for the transfer of credits between accounts to occur.
If your current business practice has been to hold PAC credits on behalf of other free miners or account holders, you may wish to review your account holdings and request the necessary adjustments prior to May 1, 2022.
A review of all the MTO grid cells in the province has been completed. The next cell release will occur over two days, March 29 and 30, 2022. Each release will occur at 1pm Daylight Savings Time (DST).
March 29, 2022 – Map blocks 082, 083, and 092
March 30, 2022 – Map blocks 093, 094, 103, 104, and 114
We are aware that some cells are not being released according to the release schedule as expected. We are reviewing these cells. Upon completion of the current release schedule, we will be setting up another release date for these remaining cells. Please watch for a future notice for more details about their release.
At 0900AM PST Mineral Titles Online will be restarted. You will need to log back into MTO after the restart. Once you log in, the cells planned for release at 0800AM will be available.
Due to time constraints, the planned scheduled release for 8:00AM today is delayed. We will post a notice as soon as the release is ready.
The previously scheduled cell release of cells related to map blocks 092 and 093 has been re-scheduled.
Titles that were acquired over cells related to the January 24, 2022 11:00 am cell release will be cancelled and the acquisition fees will be refunded.
Map Sheet |
Date and Time |
---|---|
092K, L, M, N |
January 26, 2022 @ 8 am |
092I, J, O, P |
January 26, 2022 @ 12 Noon |
093C, D, E, F |
January 26, 2022 @ 3 pm |
093A, B, G, H |
January 27, 2022 @ 8 am |
093L, M |
January 27, 2022 @ 12 Noon |
093K, N |
January 27, 2022 @ 3 pm |
093I, J, O, P |
January 28, 2022 @ 8 am |
092C, E, F |
January 28, 2022 @ 12 Noon |
092B, G, H |
January 28, 2022 @ 3 pm |
At 1030h PST Mineral Titles Online will be restarted. If you are logged in during that time, you will be automatically logged out of the system.
Please be aware that claim acquisition will be temporarily disabled until a new schedule for cell release is developed.
Due to unprecedented demand related to the cell release this morning, Monday, January 24, 2022, the mapping server used by the Mineral Titles Online application for claim acquisition was not able to handle the volume of mapping demands. As such, many users found the map was either very slow to load or would not load at all.
To ensure free miners have a fair ability to acquire cells, it has been decided that the cell release of today, Monday, January 24, 2022 and for Tuesday, January 25, 2022 is hereby cancelled and will be rescheduled.
Titles that were acquired today over cells related to today’s cell release will be cancelled and the acquisition fees will be refunded.
Please be advised that Mineral Titles Online is now back online and available.
Clients with claims with good to dates of January 12, 2022 have had a time extension applied to their title.
A number of cells related to legacy claims became available and were acquired. These claims forfeited as a result of the end of the COVID-19 time extension order.
The cells were intended to be released as per the revised schedule posted online.
As the cells were never intended to be released prior to the schedule and to ensure all free miners are given a fair opportunity to register claims, all related claims that were acquired starting on January 11, 2022 are being deleted from the registry as per section 6.36 of the Mineral Tenure Act.
Refunds of claim registration fees related to these claim registrations will be issued.
MTO access will be temporarily disabled today until the issue is resolved. We will notify you when MTO is available.
The plan is for MTO to be online and available to the public on Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at 1400h PST.
The following letter has been emailed out to recorded holders.
On December 31, 2021, in order to terminate the effect of the COVID-19 order, it was necessary to update the MTO database, which involved taking MTO offline and updating the registry.
The planned update to the MTO registry resulted in a number of failures and created errors in the MTO production database and caused the forfeiture of a number of claims that were not intended to forfeit. In turn, a number of new claims were immediately registered after midnight on January 1st, 2022. MTO was turned off at 1200h on January 1st, 2022.
We had previously communicated in a notice posted on the Mineral Titles Branch website on December 6, 2021 that cells related to the end of the COVID-19 time extension order were to be released in a schedule between January 4, 2022 to January 10, 2022. Instead, these cells became available at midnight on December 31, 2021.
Following is a list of steps we have taken to resolve these issues:
Mapsheet |
Date |
---|---|
114 |
Thursday January 13, 2022 |
083 |
Friday January 14, 2022 |
102 |
Monday January 17, 2022 |
103 |
Tuesday January 18, 2022 |
094 |
Wednesday January 19, 2022 |
082 |
Thursday January 20, 2022 |
104 |
Friday January 21, 2022 |
092 |
Monday January 24, 2022 |
093 |
Tuesday January 25, 2022 |
A few recorded holders who tried to register work or make payment on their claims have reported they were not able to do so between 1600h and midnight on December 31, 2021. Their claims have been reinstated with a short time extension applied to allow for the registrations to be completed.
These steps will be completed by Monday, January 10, 2022.
The plan is for MTO to be online and available to the public on Tuesday January 11th 2022.
MTO remains offline until further notice. The planned release of cells by NTS mapsheet has been cancelled. A new schedule for cell release will be posted here when it is available.
At approximately 11:45 am, Mineral Titles Online was taken offline. It will remain offline for the next two days while we resolve the following:
This morning, mineral titles automatically forfeited on December 31, 2021. These titles had time extension orders applied which meant they should not have forfeited. In some cases, the cells within these forfeited claims became available and were reacquired. The cells should not have become available for acquisition. MTO will remain offline while these errors are corrected.
Further updates will be posted as they become available.
2021 News Notices and Announcements
No news notices or announcements archived for this year.
2020 News Notices and Announcements
The Mineral Titles Branch Vancouver office is open to in-person service with the following changes:
Do not come to the office if you have:
There are new requirements at the office to limit the ongoing spread of COVID-19 to protect the health and well-being of our employees, recorded holders and the public. Some of these changes include:
We encourage you to take advantage of self-serve resources on our application website.
We continue to provide assistance by:
Email: Mineral.Titles@gov.bc.ca
Voice-Mail: 1-866-616-4999 (must leave a message)
By order of the PHO, operators in the natural resource sector that provide accommodation at their industrial camps must develop a COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Protocol.
As the Ministry continues to respond and adapt to the directions and orders issued in response to COVID-19, the Chief Gold Commissioner has issued a blanket Time Extension Order for all claims and leases, as well as all coal licenses and leases. This Order gives more time for recorded holders to register work, make cash in lieu of work payments and make rental payments.
For more information, an Information Sheet is available. If you have any further questions, please visit the Mineral Titles Online Registry system or email Mineral.Titles@gov.bc.ca.
Claims
Mining and Placer Leases
Coal Leases and Licenses
Visit the Mineral Titles Online Registry system or email Mineral.Titles@gov.bc.ca for more information.