Introduction to Policies

POLICY: 00

Date issued: December 14, 1998

The Mining Lands Section's policies (policies, procedures, guidelines and directives), are divided into 3 major topics:

General Administration (G.A.)

These policies cover a variety of topics which are general in nature, such as confidentiality of information, or are administrative in nature such as fees, or the topics can relate to all forms of land tenure, such as withdrawal of land from staking, sale or lease and reopening of land to staking, sale or lease.

Leases, Licences, Patents (L.P.)

These policies cover topics relating to mining leases, licences of occupation issued under the Mining Act, patents, and other forms of disposition of land or use of the land for mining purposes, such as aggregate permits vs. staked mining claims.

Unpatented Mining Claims (U.C.)

These policies cover a wide variety of topics and issues relating to mining claims.

The policies should be used both for reference and training. Diagrams and plain language are used to help explain complex issues within the Mining Act (Revised Statutes of Ontario 1990) and its regulations.

Availability

The Mining Lands Section's policies are written for internal staff to aid in the interpretation and understanding of complex legislative issues. Under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the policies are accessible to the public for viewing. The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines has chosen the Internet as the reading room for these policies.

Subsections 33(1) and 35(2) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (F.O.I.P.P.A.) state:

"33(1) A head shall make available, in the manner described in section 35,

1. manuals, directives, guidelines prepared by the institution, issued to its officers and containing interpretations of the provisions of any enactment or scheme administered by the institution .......
2. instructions to and guidelines for, officers of the institution on the procedures to be followed, the methods to be employed or the objective to be pursued in their administration or enforcement of the provisions of any enactment or scheme administered by the institution that affects the public.

35 (2) Every head shall cause the materials described in section 33 and 34 to be made available to the public in the reading room, library or office designated by each institution for this purpose."

Staff should encourage clients to access the Mining Lands Section's policies on the Internet. Recognizing that not all clients have a computer or do not have access to Internet, staff will fill a client's request for a photocopy of an individual policy, when time allows.

Note: Policies can change on a frequent basis. For the most current version, check with a provincial mining recorder.

Policy Numbering System

The numbering system for the policies is based on the prefix of the broad topics [G.A. or L.P. or U.C.], chapters, sections and titles.

The 3 broad topics and prefixes are:

• General Administration of the Mining Act (G.A.)
• Leases, Licences and Patents (L.P.)
• Unpatented Mining Claims (U.C.)

Each broad topic is subdivided into chapters. For example Staking is the third chapter under the broad topic Unpatented Mining Claims. All staking policies are in the U.C. 300 series.

Under the staking chapter, there are several several sections such as Staking Methods- U.C. 301 and Staking: General Topics - U.C. 303. The section numbers are further divided into titles. For example the policy titled Staking Placer Deposits is assigned the number U.C. 301-1 because it is the first policy in the section on staking methods.

• U.C. (Prefix)
  • 300 (Chapter)
    • 301 (Section)
      • 301-1 (Title)

Layout of Text

The contents of the policies are laid out in a pattern of margin captions, paragraph headings and sub-paragraph headings. For an example see Indexes below.

The margin captions, e.g. Indexes, introduce the theme/topic of the text which follows. Paragraph headings further focus your attention on the theme/topic and help organize the flow of thoughts. Paragraph headings decrease the need to repeat words. They are the first words in the paragraph and should be read that way. See Key Word Index below.

Sub-paragraph headings help to keep the paragraphs short and easier to read. A paragraph that is several sentences long is hard to digest mentally.

Indexes

To help you find what you are looking for, there are two indexes: Key Words Index and Policy Index.

Key Word Index

lists all the key headings alphabetically, primarily using the titles of the subjects, captions, paragraphs, and sub-paragraphs. The key word index is common to all 3 broad topics.

Policy Index

is basically a table of contents. It lists all the titles of the policies in numerical order within the broad topic.

Latest Issue/Revision Dates

Latest issue/revision dates are added to the Policy Index to help you keep track of the latest policies or revisions, at a glance. The actual policy has the Date Issued under the policy number. If the policy is revised, the Date Issued changes.

Glossary

In some policies you will find the margin caption Definitions. These definitons are used to build a glossary of terms for use by staff. Law dicitionaries are often the source for definitions.