Manitoba Provincial Politics

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by optimusREIM

This is a given anywhere, the guy I spoke with specifically mentioned that Manitoba is a much more difficult jurisdiction to deal with. I'm just reporting what an industry insider told me.

I'd love to see a comparison between Manitoba mining regulations and whomever the other jurisdictions are. I'm sure they have to be similar in many ways, but as they say, the devil is in the details.

I haven't read the provincial Mines and Minerals Act, so my comments are based on summaries I've looked at.

in general, to open a mine an organization apparently needs to obtain mineral rights, secure environmental approvals, and submit a closure plan.

Prospectors need to have a provincial license, operations have to follow the Workplace Health and Safety Act and operations have to provide financial security for rehabilitation work. Permits have to be received from land owners, whether from private owners or Crown land. Indigenous consultation is required for projects that may impact treaty rights.

I guess any of these could slow the process, but in general I wouldn't want to see any of these eliminated. Licensing prospectors doesn't seem unusual. Needing to follow Workplace Health and Safety rules just makes sense and having a site closure plan seems good insurance against a fly-by-night operator who wants to strip resources and do a runner (think about orphan oil wells in Alberta).

Site closure plans apparently require some financial security for mine rehabilitation work. I can see mining companies being reluctant to offer this, though from the province's perspective avoiding a "mine & dash" situation (again, think orphan wells) seems to make sense.

I can see permits being a bit of an issue, especially in the area of Treaty rights, however, if a producer does their due diligence and consults with Indigenous communities before starting their mine, I would think (or hope) many issues could be mitigated.

Are these rules unreasonable or are we competing against jurisdictions that don't care as much about environmental concerns and just want to "mine, baby, mine"?