While juniors are having a tough go of it, the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia has some suggestions for the provincial government to keep the mining sector ticking over in British Columbia.
The industry group released a set of recommendations to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services with pre-budget 2013 recommendations.
There are hundreds of mineral exploration projects in B.C., and many of them have become major projects. Over the next ten years, there is potential for as many as 30 mining projects to be developed, representing up to $30 billion in capital investment. According to a recent Mining Industry Human Resources Council report, even under baseline economic conditions, the B.C. mineral exploration and development industry is forecast to need almost 4,000 highly skilled and technically trained workers between 2012 and 2022 due to a large number of pending retirements.
Pre-Budget Recommendations:
- AME BC recommends that the B.C. government extend the B.C. Mining Flow-Through Share (BC MFTS) Tax Credit to December 31, 2016 and consider making it permanent to encourage companies to explore for more in British Columbia;
- AME BC recommends that the B.C. government re-affirm and communicate the two-zone land use and access policy and the security of the mineral tenure that is acquired in B.C.;
- AME BC recommends that the B.C. government publicly monitor, track and report out on the statistics regarding B.C.’s actual land use and access, including mineral exploration and mining;
- AME BC recommends that the B.C. government assess the lost mineral potential and socio-economic impacts of any proposed land use changes before sterilizing potentially mineral-rich lands; AME BC recommends that the B.C. government open up no registration areas (where no claims are currently allowed) to compensate for creating more protected or restricted lands;
- AME BC recommends that the B.C. government continue to reduce the permit backlog and work to achieve an average 60-day turnaround for Notice of Work permit applications;
- AME BC recommends that the B.C. government provide the responsible permitting ministries and agencies with the resources they need to address First Nations consultation requirements in a timely manner; and
- AME BC recommends that the B.C. government continue to support Aboriginal capacity building through a $1 million commitment to the BC Aboriginal Mine Training Association to implement:
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