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Mine exploration and discovery

Last updated on March 28, 2025

Most exploration activities, including mechanical disturbance or ground excavation, require a Mines Act permit. 

A Mines Act permit must be in place before any work in, on, or about a mine can occur. In addition to authorization under the Mines Act, additional permits or approvals may be required under other legislation. It is a proponent's responsibility to communicate with overlapping and potentially affected tenure holders.

Mechanized work includes any disturbance or excavation of the ground, such as:

  • Drilling
  • Excavation, trenching and test pits
  • Site reclamation
  • Developing access via road, water or air, etc. 
 

Advanced exploration

After initial exploration activities, the project may move to advanced exploration. This stage involves more intensive exploration techniques. For example, testing and studying the estimated and proved reserves of the deposit such as size, grade, quantity, quality, and physical and/or metallurgical characteristics.

Advanced exploration helps to determine:
  • Economic feasibility
  • Technical feasibility
  • Planning including mining methods and processing methods
  • Design
  • Financing
Bulk sampling is a common technique used to test the deposit. This involves selecting a large sample to represent the potential deposit. Scientists analyze the geochemical and metallurgical characteristics of the extracted sample. The analyses tests marketability and potential processing techniques.
 
Environmental or baseline monitoring data collection intensifies as the feasibility work continues.
More intensive activities may require authorizations under other legislation. For example, a discharge permit, under the Environmental Management Act.

Types of Mines Act permits

Mines Act permits are issued by the chief permitting officer under section 10 of the Mines Act and administered by the ministry. Applications for exploration permits are known as Notice of Work (NoW) applications. Exploration permits are referred to as regional mine permits.

 A NoW application for a regional mine outlines the:

  • Location
  • Proposed exploration activities
  • Program for protection of land, watercourses and cultural heritage resources

Progressive reclamation begins at exploration and continues until the site is reclaimed and permit closed. 

Mines Act permits based on an activity include: 

Mineral and Coal exploration (MX/CX)

Picture of an exploration site

  • Mineral
  • Coal
  • Rock quarry
  • Industrial mineral
  • Dimension stone

For production mining of rock quarry, industrial mineral, or dimension stone, a quarry (Q) permit is required. 

Placer mining (P)

Picture of a gold pan with stream sediment

 

  • Placer minerals

Sand and Gravel production (G)

Image of a sand and gravel operation

  • Aggregate
  • Rock or natural substances used for construction purposes

Contact information

Mines contact information:

  • Regional mines offices
  • Mines incident reporting
  • Mines inquiries and complaints
  • Geological survey
  • Major mines
  • Mine health and safety
  • Mines auditing
  • Mineral titles