Guidelines for Early Mineral Exploration in Manitoba

BMP 12 – Lake-Based Drilling

Some exploration programs involve drilling on ice or on water (e.g.:  barge drilling) in the search for mineral deposits. If an individual or company intends to conduct exploration activities using equipment other than hand tools, a Work Permit from Manitoba Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources is required. A Work Permit Application and supporting documents need to be submitted to Permit.Office@gov.mb.ca.

Barge Drilling – Any one of many types of flat-decked shallow draft vessels, usually towed by a boat or self-propelled.

Ice Drilling – Consider contacting an engineer specializing on working on ice prior to embarking on a work program on ice.

When working on or around ice, be aware of ice safety and the ways to reduce the risks. See Appendix A– Ice Safety for more information.

The information regarding exploration drilling contained in BMP – 11 Land-Based Drilling is intended to work in parallel with information contained in this document. The reader is strongly encouraged to review and understand the measures and considerations outlined within BMP 11  – Land Based Drilling prior to proceeding with a review of lake-based drilling information.

NOTE: Lake-based drilling in a provincial park requires a Provincial Park Permit and should follow the BMP details and considerations within the following document. If an ice Provincial Park Permitroad is required to access the drill site in a provincial park, an additional, separate Provincial Park Permit is required. Contact the Manitoba Parks Branch at parks@gov.mb.ca for further details.

Unless otherwise approved, drilling shall occur in water depth greater than 2 metres, including ice thickness. Additional site assessment and mitigation information may be required if the Proponent plans to drill in a fish-bearing Water Body less than 2 metres in depth.

The Proponent is responsible for consulting with and obtaining all necessary authorizations from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada. A request to review projects near water can be made through the Department and Fisheries and Oceans website.

NOTE: Whenfederal government department requirements and authorizations are consulted:

  1. Work permit issuance will not be delayed pending approval of federal government departments or agencies or local governments or agencies.
  2. Work permit conditions will not duplicate requirements or conditions of licences, permits, letters of authority or letters of advice issued by federal government departments or agencies or local governments or agencies.

Because potential risks increase from drilling on ice or water, special attention is given to all drilling phases to prevent or minimize adverse impacts to the environment. Operations may vary between drill rigs or even between holes as situations demand; however, decisions should reflect the practices outlined below to reduce potential impacts to the underlying or adjacent aquatic ecosystem.

A properly planned and managed drill program reduces environmental risks and impact.

Drilling on ice is generally conducted in three phases: setup, drilling, and cleanup. The following information is provided to describe the various precautionary steps and considerations for each phase to protect the environment when drilling on ice. When drilling on water via a barge, these phases and considerations would not apply.

NOTE: Some of the following aspects and practices may apply to land-based drilling programs if drilling is proposed within 100 metres of a Water Body. See BMP 11 – Land Based Drilling for details and considerations.

Site setup

All access routes onto the Water Body must follow the practices and considerations outlined in BMP 7 – Road and Trail Access and in BMP 8 – Water Crossing as relevant to the drill program. 

To maintain safe operations, there must be sufficient ice to support the weight of the drill rig and associated equipment during transportation to the drilling location, setup activities, and while operating on the drill site.

If insufficient ice is present, the ice is commonly built up with a series of local floods. In Manitoba, water withdrawals (surface and groundwater) of less than 25,000 litres (5,500 imperial gallons) per day for domestic, agricultural or irrigation use do not require water rights licensing. Licenses are issued for all water withdrawal for municipal, agricultural, industrial, irrigation and “other” purposes. Details related to the proposed work should be provided in a Work Permit Application. See Environment and Climate Change webpage on Water Use for more information.

A proposed drilling program that will utilize more than 25,000 litres per day water for either setup or operations requires a Water Rights Licence from the Department of Environment and Climate Change. To apply for a Water Rights Licence, an application including all required documentation can be submitted using the online Water Licencing Portal. If needed, this video will walk you through how to create a new user account for the Water Licensing Portal. An application fee ($100) is required for a Water Rights Licence.

Water intake hoses must be fitted with screens that meets Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Freshwater Intake End-of-Pipe Fish Screen Guidelines to prevent the impingement or entrainment of fish during pumping activities. All water-related equipment should be decontaminated prior to use to avoid the spread of invasive species. Manitoba’s Water Protection Handbook also details guidance and practices relevant to water protection. See BMP 8 – Water Crossing for more information on aquatic invasive species. Approved decontamination methods for water related equipment can be found in Schedule C of The Aquatic Invasive Species Regulations.

Fuel shall be stored at a shore cache a minimum 100 metres from the high-water mark, unless otherwise approved. In addition, external pumps or motorized equipment used in the drill operation and sitting on the ice, and any related fuel source shall have secondary containment of the tank and spill kits. See details and considerations outlined in BMP 3 – Storage and Handling of Petroleum Products and Allied Products.

A drill rig should be supported on untreated timbers to distribute its weight over the ice and to help level the rig. Untreated timber or local cut timber can be used to support the drill. If local timber is planned for use, a Timber Permit authorizing this use is required before any timber harvesting is permitted. The Timber Permit Application can be found at through Crown Timber and Permits website of the Department of Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources or contact the Regional Forester in a Regional and District Forestry Office. See BMP 6 – Timber Clearing Activities for further details and considerations. All timbers must be removed away from the Water Body upon completion of drilling operations. 

Some drills are relatively light and need to be stabilized by using ice screws or freezing in anchors that must be removed once the drilling operation is completed. Associated drilling equipment such as drill rods, pumps, mixing tanks, and mechanical support equipment, is brought to the site and usually stored on sleds.

The drill area is to be bermed or fenced to prevent unauthorized entry and provide sufficient warning to passersby with appropriate signage.

Drilling

An initial step in drilling on ice involves “casing” the hole, which is a process of sealing the hole from bedrock to surface using a large diameter pipe or “rod”. This is a necessary step to ensure that the hole can be located again to continue the drilling process.

When casing the hole, one factor to contend with may be the depth of the water, or the distance between the drill and lake bottom. If the water is deep, the drillers will drop their largest rods first, pushing it as far as it will go into the lake bottom manually and then anchored to the drill. Some minimal and localized disturbance of lake bottom sediments will result from this initial step unless the lake bottom is bedrock, resulting in virtually no disturbance. If, however, consolidated sediments exist, then some disturbance to organic matter at the bottom of the lake should be expected. Once the rod encounters bedrock, then the next smallest size casing rod will be lowered inside and drilled into the rock to form a seal between the rock at the bottom of the lake and the drill rig at the surface. Once casing the hole is complete, smaller rods are lowered into the hole for drilling. 

A limited supply of fuel can be temporarily brought to the drill site from the storage location to support active operations using appropriate storage containers to prevent spillage. Any fuel brought to the drill site must be stored in a secondary containment system; either a large tray or an ice/snow berm containment area with a liner impervious to the product being stored as outlined in BMP 3 – Storage and Handling of Petroleum Products and Allied Products.

Refueling on ice, or within 100 metres of water, is permitted provided secondary containment of the tank, and absorbent matting or a drip tray are used. The drilling crew is to be trained to respond to a spill should the need arise, and all drill rigs must be equipped with a spill kit. 

See BMP 3 – Storage and Handling of Petroleum Products and Allied Products for details and considerations regarding fuel handling, storage, and spills. 

A Proponent should identify any drilling additives that will be used in an exploration program within a Work Permit Application.

Wherever possible, biodegradable mud and non-toxic additives should be used and accompanied by a Safety Data Sheet.  If mixing tanks for drill muds are being used, they must be placed on an impervious liner and any spills are to be cleaned up with absorbent material and contained. All drilling operations shall use a “closed loop” recycling system with no discharge to the ice or water. In some cases, approval may be given to allow the return fluid to be pumped back to shore and into a natural or constructed sump located 100 metres or greater from the water (in these cases re-circulating drill fluids would not be required). 

Drill cuttings must be collected through a filter system and disposed of in a Department of Environment and Climate Change approved landfill. Alternatively, the drill mud, return fluid and cuttings can be disposed of in a land-based sump placed 100 metres above the high-water mark. Any considerations outlined in BMP 11 – Land-Based Drilling addressing operation and handling of the land-based sump should be followed.

For any drill mud, solids, or cuttings with a concentration of uranium, please refer to Health Canada’s Canadian Guidelines for the Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials to determine handling, transportation and disposal requirements for the naturally occurring radioactive material.

During drilling activities, noise abatement devices including mufflers and shrouding should be used near populated areas or areas with known Wildlife Sensitivities.   

A drill site shall be kept orderly, and any garbage is to be removed daily from the area to an approved disposal site. The ice surface is to be always kept clean. Once drilling is complete, all material is to be removed from the ice and the site left in a safe and clean state. 

Barge Drilling

A barge can be set up on top of water or ice to enable drilling under a lake. There are several benefits to barge-drilling including improved predictability of the strength of the barge versus ice to support the rig, increased cost effectiveness, increased flexibility to change operation sites in real time and reduced time to complete projects.

Many safety considerations are still required during barge drilling. See [Appendix B – Example Safe Work Procedures – Barge Work] for more information on safe work procedures relating to barge work.

Site cleanup

Upon completion of a hole or drilling operations conducted from ice surface:

  • Clean water must be circulated through the hole to remove any remaining drill fluids and cuttings;
  • The hole is to be sealed by cementing (e.g.:  grouting) the upper 30 metres of bedrock or the entire depth of the hole, whichever is less;
  • All drill hole rods and casing removed;
  • All ice screws or anchors, if used, are removed;
  • All timbers are removed away from the Water Body;
  • All berms should be levelled; and
  • All waste is removed, and site cleanup is conducted to leave the site in a condition satisfactory to the Director of Mines. 

Decommissioning of a drill site should follow procedures outlined in BMP 17 – Decommissioning.

Manitoba’s Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention and Response Plan

Manitoba’s Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention and Response Plan was released on July 9, 2024 and provides information on:

  • Aquatic invasive species of most concern in Manitoba and outside of Manitoba,
  • How to identify AIS, where they are located and how they can be transported from one waterbody to another,
  • Actions the Manitoba government is taking to proactively manage AIS; and
  • Actions that individuals and communities can take to prevent the movement of aquatic invasive species.

All users must be AIS free. Further information can be found on the Manitoba government aquatic invasive species website here. Checklists exist for proper procedures for both open water and closed water checklists that follow the Cleaned Drained Dry (CDD) process to be AIS free. Please see the decontamination link for further information of processes to ensure AIS are removed.

No person can deposit water from any surface waterbody to any other Water Body (control zone or not). More specifically, water extracted from one waterbody cannot be deposited within 30 metres of another waterbody according to the Aquatic Invasive Species Regulation.

NOTE: Everyone has a role to play in preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species. Read Manitoba’s Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention and Response Plan to learn more about what you can do. As a first step, please consider sharing this information.

If using dedicated equipment, gear can come into a waterbody on a back-and-forth basis (but still must meet CDD requirements). CDD does not apply until the gear is removed from the waterbody (e.g.:a contractor has a boat on shore of a lake they pull up each night. CDD does not apply until they take it away from the lake). See the Aquatic Invasive Species Regulation for more information on exceptions.

Contacts

Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources

Minerals, Petroleum and Geoscience Division 
204-945-1119  
Toll free 1-800-223-5215  
minesinfo@gov.mb.ca 

Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources

Lands and Planning Branch 
204-945-6784 
Toll free 1-800-214-6497 
List of Regional Office Contacts 

Environment and Climate Change

Parks Branch 
204-945-6784 
Toll free 1-800-214-6497 
parks@gov.mb.ca  

Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources

Forestry and Peatlands Branch 
204-945-6784 
Toll free 1-800-214-6497
treeline@gov.mb.ca

Environment and Climate Change

Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Branch 
Winnipeg Office 
204-945-5305 
EnvCEWinnipeg@gov.mb.ca 
For areas outside of Winnipeg, see Listing for Regional Office Contacts 

Environment and Climate Change

Environmental Approvals Branch 
204-945-8321 
EABDirector@gov.mb.ca 

Department of Labour and Immigration

Workplace Safety and Health 
204-957-7233
Toll-free 1-855-957-7233 
wshcompl@gov.mb.ca

Related Acts and Regulations

M162 – The Mines and Minerals Act 
MR 63/92 – Drilling Regulation, 1992 
C340 – The Crown Lands Act  
P20 – Provincial Parks Act 
MR 141/96 Park Activities Regulation 
F150 – The Forest Act  
E125 – The Environment Act
W80 – The Water Rights Act 
M.R. 188/2001  Storage and Handling of Petroleum Products and Allied Products Regulation  
M.R. 439/87 Environmental Accident Reporting Regulation 
Manitoba’s Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention and Response Plan

Canada

F–14 – Fisheries Act