Using Mining Claims to Plan the Far North
In the summer and fall of 2009, an unusual pattern of mining claims were staked in northern Ontario. Two long north-south lines of mining claims (see Figure 1), each stretching hundreds of kilometres, were staked leading from the Ring of Fire (see box on page ##). It has been widely reported that these linear corridors of staked claims will be used to develop a railway line to a future open pit mine that will extract high-grade chromite.
[[Figure 1. Staked mining claims are depicted in dark green. The solid blue square identifies the staked claims in the Ring of Fire. The dashed red circle identifies the area containing two linear corridors of mining claims that were purportedly staked to secure lands for a railway. (Source: MDNMF CLAIMaps. Date: May 17, 2010)]]
The ECO is concerned that the staking of hundreds of kilometres of Crown lands for a rail corridor abuses the intended purpose of mining claims. Unfortunately, the Mining Act is ambiguous on this matter, stating only that lands, surface and mining rights issued under the Act are to be used solely for “mining purposes” and that staked claims are to be used as “mining land” or for another purpose of the “mineral industry.”
Furthermore, the ECO believes that the staking of claims to build a rail corridor circumvents the appropriate approvals process: MNR’s Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA) for MNR Resource Stewardship and Facility Development Projects. Unlike the process of staking mining claims, the Class EA process assesses alternatives and examines impacts of proposed projects with the possibility of rejecting a proposed project due to unnecessary environmental impacts. Obtaining land for a project by staking mining claims essentially predetermines the project’s location and, thereby, nullifies a core purpose of conducting an environmental assessment: to assess site alternatives. Moreover, it ignores the fact that other permits and considerations, such as potential impacts on species at risk, may be necessary before the project’s location is determined.
Under still-to-be proclaimed amendments to the Mining Act, claim staking and the opening of a new mine in the Far North will be prohibited if there is no community-based land use plan for the area, or if the land use designation is “inconsistent” with mineral exploration and development. Because pre-existing mining claims are unaffected by designations in community-based land use plans, the case of the staked rail corridors illustrates that staking could be used to essentially supersede future attempts at Far North land use planning. Using the Mining Act to secure possible rail corridors takes these Crown lands off the table for any possible protection based on their cultural or ecological significance. As such, it would be possible under the auspices of the Mining Act for a proponent with sufficient resources to “plan” or pre-determine many land uses in the Far North before the government and local communities develop land use plans. Moreover, map staking and the allowing of claim holders to pay fees in lieu of on-the-ground assessment work could, depending on the systems developed in regulations, make it even easier for wealthy companies to stake and retain claims that conflict with effective land use planning.
| Recommendation 10:
The ECO recommends that the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry consult on safeguards to ensure that electronic map staking is not misused as de facto land use planning in the Far North. |
| Previous section: Illegal Construction of Mining-related Projects |
| Next section: Aging Landfills: Ontario’s Forgotten Polluters |
| This is an article from the 2009/10 Annual Report to the Legislature from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. |
Citing This Article:
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2010. "Ring of Fire: Using Mining Claims to Plan the Far North." Redefining Conservation, ECO Annual Report, 2009/10. Toronto, ON : Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 123-4.
