The purpose of the Act is twofold: (a) to encourage prospecting, staking and exploration for the development of mineral resources, and (b) to minimize the impact of these activities on public health and safety and the environment through rehabilitation of mining lands in Ontario.
The Act addresses the administration, by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, of mining rights within the Province. No person can prospect or stake a claim on Crown lands without holding a valid prospector’s licence; any person who is eighteen years old or over is entitled to obtain a prospector’s license, valid for a period of five years and renewable for subsequent five year periods
Except where otherwise stated in the Act, the holder of a prospector’s licence may prospect for minerals and stake out a mining claim on virtually any unused plot of land, including on any Crown lands and private lands, where no pre-existing mining rights are in effect. By law, mining rights are the rights to the minerals located in, on or under the land. Surface rights refer to any right of land that is not mining rights. A surface rights owner (the land owner), therefore, legally only owns the surface of the land and not the land under the surface; thus, the surface rights owner cannot prevent a mineral rights holder from having access to the land for prospecting and mineral exploration. Conversely, the holder of a mining claim does not have any right to the surface rights of the claim other than the right to enter upon, use and occupy such parts necessary for the purpose of prospecting and the efficient exploration, development and operation of the claimed mineral rights.
A surface rights owner is entitled to compensation if damage occurs to his or her property during the course of exploration. For example, if a fence is damaged during drilling, the property owner would be entitled to seek compensation from the prospector for the cost of repairing or replacing the fence.
Prospecting, staking out mining claims, developing mineral interests, or the working of mines in provincial parks, conservation reserves, railway lands, Crown town sites, residential subdivisions, and Indian Reserves is prohibited.
Similarly, no person shall prospect for minerals or stake out a mining claim upon the part of a lot of land that is used as a garden, orchard, vineyard, nursery, plantation or recreational area, or upon land where crops are growing and may become damaged, or where a spring, artificial reservoir, dam, public building, church, or cemetery are situated. In these cases, prospecting and staking can only occur with the consent of the surface rights holder or by the Mining and Lands Commissioner.