BMP 2 – Early Exploration

Exploration is a search for minerals by Prospecting, geological, geophysical or geochemical surveys, Trenching, stripping, drilling, or by any other method.

In Manitoba, a person or company is required to hold a Prospecting Licence to explore from minerals (other than quarry minerals), stake out or record a Claim, or apply for a Mineral Exploration Licence on Crown mineral land. For details, refer to BMP 1 – Tenure for Mineral Exploration. See instructions on how to apply for an individual, or company, Prospecting Licence in Manitoba.

A prospector with a valid licence (licensee) may enter, remain, and travel upon Crown mineral land that is open for Prospecting and staking and may prospect, stake out and work on such land with any vehicle, machinery, equipment, supplies, personnel, or temporary accommodations as required in accordance with Section 47, subject to Part 9 of the Mines and Minerals Act.

Grassroots Prospecting involves minimal to no impact to the land and is conducted to help inform and plan for targeted exploration drill programs and further work defining a mineral deposit. Activities may include examining core held in storage areas, conducting regional geological mapping, or surface Prospecting using hand tools only.

If a licensee intends to conduct exploration activities using equipment other than hand tools, a Work Permit is required. A Work Permit Application and supporting documents should be submitted to Permit.Office@gov.mb.ca.

Additionally, for proposed work or activities using equipment other than hand tools on open Crown Land, a licensee is required to secure authority to occupy and conduct work by way of a Crown Land Work Permit for activity lasting less than one year. Activities planned longer than one year and involving temporary developments (e.g., a temporary camp or storage area) may require the holder to obtain a Crown Land General Permit depending on the type of use.

NOTE: Many types of exploration activities carried out by individuals or companies require approval prior to conducting work other than Prospecting with hand tools. An individual or company is encouraged to contact the Permit Office at Permit.Office@gov.mb.ca with any questions regarding the requirements or permits necessary to carry out proposed exploration activity.

Exploration in a Provincial Park

Many Provincial Parks in Manitoba are available for mineral exploration within the land use areas categorized as Resource Management and Recreational Development. See A System Plan For Manitoba’s Provincial Parks for further details. Special conditions apply with respect to park access and the way exploration is conducted as to not compromise the main purpose of the park classification.

Any exploration activity within approved areas of a provincial park should follow all other BMPs related to Crown Land. The Manitoba Parks Branch within the Department of Environment and Climate Change must be contacted before staking a Claim or conducting exploration activity in a provincial park at parks@gov.mb.ca.

If any mineral exploration activities are planned in a Provincial Park, the prospector or company requires a Provincial Park Permit issued by the appropriate Park District Office before starting the any of the following work:

Prospecting using hand tools or machinery
Traditional Airborne and Drone surveys
Establishing winter roads
Snow clearing on roads, trails or bodies of water
Excavating, Trenching, vegetation stripping, Blasting, or drilling
Cutting trees
Burning for the purpose of clearing trees or brush
Access road construction or reestablishment (a provincial park occupancy permit or Environment Act Licence may also be required)
Biochemical sampling
Camps (a provincial park occupancy permit will be required if the camp is to be in place for more than one field season)
Drilling
Fuel, material and equipment caches (a provincial park occupancy permit will be required if the cache is to be in place for more than one field season)
General exploration and Claim Staking (Prospecting, Trenching, soil stripping, test pits, Blasting, etc.) except for an individual who is Prospecting using only hand tools
Geological mapping
Land based geophysical exploration (seismic, gravitational, magnetic, electrical, electromagnetic sensing)
Line-cutting
Soil and till sampling
Timber clearing

NOTE: Exploration or mining is not permitted in a wilderness park or in an area of any other provincial park that is categorized in the Wilderness, Backcountry or Heritage land use categories. Please check Manitoba’s Integrated Mining and Quarrying System (iMaQs) maps for mining restricted areas.

An individual or company is encouraged to contact Manitoba Parks at parks@gov.mb.ca with questions regarding areas allowing activity, requirements, or permits necessary to carry out proposed exploration activity in a provincial park.

Early exploration activities:

Airborne Survey: An Airborne Survey involves the operation of geophysical or geochemical equipment from an aircraft for the purpose of mineral exploration.

When conducting an Airborne Survey over a mineral disposition or open Crown mineral land in Manitoba, an individual or company is required to submit a Notice of Airborne Survey and a map outlining the Airborne Survey area online via iMaQs before a survey is started. The Director of Mines must be notified in writing of the completion of the Airborne Survey after the survey has been completed at mines_br@gov.mb.ca.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that there are no flight restrictions in the area(s) intended to be surveyed. Transport Canada should be contacted for any potential restrictions.

NOTE: Drones are considered aircrafts and must follow the same requirements for airborne surveys and ensure all relevant licensing and legislation is followed. If the survey is conducted with a drone with a weight more than 250g, then all Transport Canada requirements must be followed, as well as having an operator with a Pilot Certificate.

Expenditures accrued as part of an Airborne Survey can be applied as required work on claims acquired after the survey if the survey was performed within one year prior to the date-of-issue of a Claims Certificate. See the Mines and Minerals Act for assessment requirements. The amount applied to each Claim is calculated according to the following formula: (4 x A x B) / C

For the above formula, A = total survey cost | B = area of claim in hectares | C = area of survey in hectares.

Geological Survey

Geographical mapping is the activity of physically mapping rocks and features at a local or regional scale. This may involve hand-stripping small areas of moss or lichen and taking small hand-sized samples to determine the rock type(s) present, mineralization, geochemistry, and structural features.

Geochemical Surveys

Geochemical surveys can be conducted with a range of intensity, from taking samples of vegetation to digging trenches. Impacts on the environment vary depending on the level of sampling done. The most common geochemical surveys involve collecting soil, vegetation or rock samples without resulting in a significant impact to the landscape.

Geophysical Surveys

Geophysical surveys test the physical properties of rocks. These tests can include magnetism, electrical conductivity, or resistivity and radioactivity. In most cases, these tests involve taking readings with instruments in a non-destructive manner, either on the ground or over a broad area from an aircraft.

Seismic Surveys

Although rarely conducted, seismic surveys use explosives or vibration generating equipment to create seismic waves. A geophone is a device used to detect the seismic waves that respond to subsurface geologic structures. These surveys may be conducted as ground-based, airborne, or down existing boreholes.

Diamond Drilling

Uses a diamond drill bit to take a sample of bedrock (drill core) to analyze and follow up on results from various Prospecting and exploration surveys. Diamond Drill pads are up to 30mX30m or .09Ha. Holes can be drilled to a depth of 2500m and beyond with specialized equipment.

Drilling that penetrates Phanerozoic rock formations situated above Precambrian rock formations require a Borehole License, applied for through iMaQs.

NOTE: Depending on the activity proposed, a Geophysical Survey or a Seismic Survey may require a permit/licence from the Department of Economic Development, Investment and Trade. It is recommended that individuals or companies proposing to conduct surveys of this nature contact the Mines Branch at mines_br@gov.mb.ca to determine any regulatory requirements.

Other actions that may support early exploration:

Low-impact gridding is the new industry technique for Line Cutting to minimize disturbances to Crown lands from traditional Line Cutting methods. Low-impact gridding uses very narrow corridors, often made with little or no cutting or cutting, using manual or precision cutting tools.

The following are low-impact gridding recommendations for Mineral Exploration:

Low impact gridding should be considered the same disturbance as Claim Staking
GPS navigation and flagging should be used for the establishment of low impact grid lines
Natural features should be used to conceal visual sight of the line where possible
Low impact or avoidance cutting techniques should be utilized. This would include removing branches from trees rather than cutting the tree and avoiding the cutting of merchantable trees where possible

Line Cutting: The process to prepare a grid for Early Mineral Exploration activities and geophysical surveys with known coordinates on the ground. Some surveys and activities require lines, due to operation requirements. Historically, large, expansive grids were cut, but technology and changing practices has reduced the grid size and impacts.

All lines are to be cut using hand tools or chain saws
Less than 1.5 m wide unless otherwise approved
When not accessing an area by foot, any proposed access trails shall be identified in a Proponent’s Work Permit Application
Line width should not extend 1.5 meters in width unless otherwise approved to meet operational and safety requirements
Any trees cut are to be laid flat
Avoid clear, long sight lines where possible
Minimize cutting at locations where any line enters or exits any Water Body, trail, road, or cutblock
Felling of trees should be away from any Water Body
No cut brush or trees should be left on any Water Body during a project

Blasting: Sometimes used in Trenching and to a lesser extent some seismic surveys. Blasting activities are regulated by the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation, contact the Workplace Safety and Health Branch wshcompl@gov.mb.ca for additional information.

In addition to the requirements under the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulations, the use of explosives in Canada are regulated by the Explosives Act of Canada.

If proposed work plans include the use of explosives, an individual or employee of a company must obtain Blaster Certification prior to beginning any work.

In Manitoba, it is an employer’s responsibility to provide workers with information, instruction, training, supervision, and facilities to ensure their safety, health and welfare. An employer is required to develop and implement safe work procedures to ensure the safe use of explosives, and procedures for the removal of any misfire, including:

Training blasters and other workers who may be working in the vicinity of Blasting in those safe work procedures
Ensuring that the blasters and other workers comply with those safe work procedures

NOTE: Safe work procedures that are developed and implemented by an employer must be consistent with the Code of Practice for Working with Explosives issued by the Director of the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Branch.

Anyone working with explosives must be trained and pass the Manitoba Blaster Certification Exam before they can be certified and become a blaster in the different classes of Blaster Certification.

Blasting procedures include the following:

Only certified blasters are authorized to blast
Blasters are not allowed to work alone
Proof of Blaster Certification must be provided to the employer – an employer must ensure proof is received
Experienced Blasters must supervise Blasting operations
Post-blast inspection and clearance is conducted by a Blaster
No smoking or burning material near explosives
All explosives are kept in a magazine
Magazine(s) located at least 8 metres away from a flammable liquid or compressed gas
Empty containers, cases, boxes, bags and wrappers from explosives and detonators are not reused and disposed of in accordance with the manufacture’s specifications
Loose rock and materials are removed before Blasting

NOTE: Contact Workplace Safety & Health prior to any start up of any work program. Full regulatory requirements are detailed in Part 34 of the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation. Additionally, procedures and guidelines are detailed in the Code of Practice for the Use of Explosives.

Report any unsafe work to wshcompl@gov.mb.ca.

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

Related Acts and Regulations

M162 – The Mines and Minerals Act
C340 – The Crown Lands Act
P20 – Provincial Parks Act
MR 141/96 Park Activities Regulation
W210 – Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Act

Exploration in a Provincial Park

Early exploration activities:

Geological Survey

Geochemical Surveys

Geophysical Surveys

Seismic Surveys

Diamond Drilling

Other actions that may support early exploration:

Contacts

Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources

Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources

Department of Environment and Climate Change

Department of Labour and Immigration