Mining lease
To obtain a mining lease, the claim holder must establish the existence of indicators of the presence of a workable deposit and describe the nature, extent and probable value of that deposit. The claim holder must also file a survey of the land involved in the project.
The analysis of an application for a mining lease takes several months. The mining lease is only issued once the survey for the project has been approved by the Arpenteur général du Québec. To accelerate the process for issuing the lease, the survey should be filed as soon as possible. The survey must be submitted at the same time as the application for the mining lease.
Applications should be submitted at the Office of the Registrar or at one of the regional offices of the Department.
The initial term of a mining lease is 20 years, and it can be renewed every 10 years while mining continues.
The holder of a mining lease is required to:
- pay an annual rent;
- submit a mine site rehabilitation plan before starting mining work;
- begin mining work during the four years following the date on which the lease is issued;
- remit information on mining activities.
Lease to mine surface mineral substances
Legislation provides for two types of mining rights:
- the non-exclusive lease, where the substance is sand (with the exception of silica sand used for industrial purposes), gravel, inert mine tailings or any other unconsolidated deposit used for construction purposes;
- the exclusive lease, where these same substances are used for industrial purposes or for crushing in the context of an industrial activity, and for any other surface mineral substance that is not covered by the non exclusive lease.
No lease to mine surface mineral substances is issued for longer than 10 years, except for the harvesting of peat, where a 15-year lease can be issued. Leases are renewable while extraction continues.
It is not mandatory to hold a claim to extract more than 50 tonnes of surface mineral substances in order to determine the mineability of a deposit. However, an authorization to mine without a lease is required. The duration of the authorization will be less than one year.
- Regardless of the type of lease, the holder must apply for a forest work permit if clearing of the site is necessary;
- The holder must pay the required fees based on the quantity and nature of the substances;
- the holder must submit a report to the Department four times a year, showing the quantities extracted daily.
The online publication entitled The Exploration and mining of surface mineral substances describes the procedure for obtaining, holding and renewing rights relating to mining of surface mineral substances.
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