Assessment Work Submissions - Due Dates

The Geoscience Assessment Office has noticed an increase in the number of assessment work submissions filed at or near the due date of the claims. Although the Mining Act allows submissions of assessment work to be filed on the due date of a mining claim, all recorded holders should be aware that there are risks involved and limitations on the work being reported.

Risks

There are two inherent risks involved in submitting work at the due date:

1. The work type or some of the costs may not be eligible and the assessment work credit is rejected.
2. There may be a reduction in the amount of assessment work credit approved.

If there is insufficient assessment work credit to be applied to claims that are past their due dates, the claims will forfeit.

Clients who file an Application to Distribute Banked Assessment Work Credits from a work report that has not been approved also run the same risks.

It is strictly a business decision as to when a company/individual performs and files their assessment work. By filing on the due date of a claim you immediately place the status of your claims in possible jeopardy. The results/impact of any business decision must take into account the fact that the requirements of the Mining Act Regulation are going to be applied.

Many of our clients take the position that if assessment work is filed a minimum of 4 to 5 months before the due date, there is sufficient time to perform and file additional work if the assessment credit is reduced. A 45 Day Notice received from the Geoscience Assessment Office prior to the due date allows for several options to prevent forfeiture of a claim:

• additional work may be performed and reported;
• previously completed but unrecorded work may be reported;
• available assessment credit can be distributed from a reserve; or,
• an extension of time may be an available option.

Non Eligibility

An increasing number of work reports filed at the due date contain incomplete information.

The filing of incomplete reports at the due date is not to be considered as an opportunity to extend the due date and circumvent the Mining Act to allow additional time to perform and report on the required information.

Policy UC 703-1 allows for the refusal of assessment work at the time of filing if the work is considered unrecordable. A report is incomplete when there is not enough information to make an entry on record or the technical data or map is missing. A work report submitted that contains insufficient information, such that it would not receive any assessment work credit without major revisions, and where it is clear that the information was not available at the time of filing and could only be completed after the due date of the claims will be considered incomplete and unrecordable.

Geochemical surveys, rock and till sampling programs, submitted at the due date without analytical results and interpretation, are not eligible for assessment work credit. The results of analysis must be completed before the due date of the claims on which the sampling work was performed in order to complete the submission. Geology and prospecting submissions where the only information presented are the sample locations will be considered as sampling, and therefore incomplete without the analytical results.

Should you have any questions please contact the Geoscience Assessment Office.