Nunavut Mining Regulations (SOR/2014-69)

Marginal note:Annual rent

• 61 (1) The annual rent for a lease that was issued before November 1, 2020 is $2.50 per hectare during the first term and $5 per hectare during each renewed term before that date. The annual rent for a lease that is issued under subsection 60(3) on or after November 1, 2020 and for any lease that is renewed under subsection 62(2) on or after that date is $10 per hectare.

• Marginal note:When rent is due

  (2) The rent must be paid to the Mining Recorder before the anniversary date of the lease.

• Marginal note:Waiver of payment of annual rent — COVID-19

  (3) Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister must waive the payment of the annual rent for a lease that becomes due under subsection (2) during the year beginning on March 13, 2020, if the Supervising Mining Recorder receives a written request for a waiver from the lessee before March 13, 2021.

• Marginal note:Annual rent paid — COVID-19

  (4) However, if the annual rent for a lease has already been paid to the Mining Recorder under subsection (2) during the year beginning on March 13, 2020, the Minister must waive the payment of rent for the following year, but the amount waived by the Minister must not exceed the rent paid to the Mining Recorder during the year beginning on March 13, 2020.

Marginal note:Application for renewal of lease

• 62 (1) A lease may be renewed by the lessee by making an application to the Mining Recorder at least 120 days before the day on which the lease expires but not earlier than two years before that day. The application must be accompanied by the applicable fee set out in Schedule 1 and the rent for the first year of the renewed lease.

• Marginal note:Renewal

  (2) If the requirements set out in subsection (1) are met, the Minister must renew the lease for a period of 21 years.

Marginal note:Application for reduction in area of leased claim

• 62.1 (1) The lessee may, not later than one year before the day on which the lease expires, make an application to the Mining Recorder to reduce the number of units included in the recorded claim (in this section referred to as the “original claim”) that is leased if

  • (a) an application for renewal has already been made by the lessee to the Mining Recorder in accordance with subsection 62(1) or the application for reduction in area of the leased claim is accompanied by the application for the renewal;

  • (b) the application for reduction in area is accompanied by a plan of survey of the reduced claim made under section 31 of the Canada Lands Surveys Act;

  • (c) each unit included in the reduced-area claim is contiguous to another unit in that claim; and

  • (d) the units included in the reduced-area claim do not enclose a unit that is not included in that claim.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Despite subsection (1), no application for reduction in area of a leased claim may be made in respect of a lease that was issued before November 1, 2020 or in respect of a claim for which an application to obtain a lease submitted to the Mining Recorder was pending on that date.

• Marginal note:Recording of reduced leased claim

  (3) The Mining Recorder must record the reduced-area leased claim when the lease is renewed if the conditions set out in paragraphs (1)(a) to (c) are met.

• Marginal note:Effect of recording

  (4) When a reduced-area claim is recorded,

  • (a) the recording date of the original claim is considered to be its recording date;

  • (b) the information recorded, including the applications and documents filed with respect to the original claim, is considered to have been recorded or presented with respect to the reduced-area claim; and

  • (c) the recording of the original claim is cancelled.

• Marginal note:Opening of lands for prospecting

  (5) Subject to subsection (6) and section 14, the lands included in the original claim that are not included in the reduced claim are open for prospecting, and the units containing those lands are available for recording as a claim, beginning on the 31st day after the day on which the recording of the original claim is cancelled.

• Marginal note:Delay in opening lands — environmental damage

  (6) If the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that there is unremedied environmental damage to the lands referred to in subsection (5), the Minister may delay opening the lands for prospecting and making available the units containing those lands for recording as a claim.

• Marginal note:Prohibition

  (7) For one year after the recording of the original claim is cancelled under paragraph 4(c), the former lessee and any person related to the former lessee are not permitted to make an application to record a claim that includes any unit that was included in the original claim but does not form part of the reduced claim, or to acquire a legal or beneficial interest in respect of that claim.

Marginal note:Notice of overdue rent

• 63 (1) If rent is not paid within 30 days after the day it is due, the Mining Recorder must send the lessee a notice stating the amount of rent due and the rate of interest payable on that amount.

• Marginal note:Cancellation of lease for non-payment of rent

  (2) If the rent due, together with interest from the date on which the rent was due, is not paid within 60 days after the day the notice was sent, the lease is cancelled on the 61st day after the notice was sent.

Marginal note:Application to cancel lease by lessee

64 A lease is cancelled on the day on which an application by the lessee to cancel the lease is received by the Mining Recorder or, if a later day is set out in the application, on that day.

65 [Repealed, SOR/2020-209, s. 22]

Transfer of a Claim, Lease or Interest

Marginal note:Requirements

• 66 (1) The transfer of a recorded claim or a lease of a recorded claim or an interest in either of them may be recorded only if

  • (a) the transfer is made to a licensee;

  • (b) in the case of the transfer of a recorded claim or an interest in a recorded claim, an application for the transfer is made by the claim holder to the Mining Recorder; and

  • (c) in the case of the transfer of a lease, or an interest in a lease,

    • (i) an application for the recording of the transfer is made by the lessee to the Mining Recorder,

    • (ii) the rent and any interest on the lease is paid, and

    • (iii) the applicable fee set out in Schedule 1 is paid to the Mining Recorder.

• Marginal note:Transfer of claim or interest

  (2) The transfer of a lease, or an interest in a lease, includes, as the case may be, the transfer of the recorded claim to which the lease applies or of that same interest in the recorded claim to which the lease applies.

• Marginal note:Condition on transfer within mining property

  (3) If a recorded claim or a lease of a recorded claim or an interest in either of them is part of a mining property, its transfer may be recorded only if security in the amount of any unpaid royalties in relation to the mining property has been deposited with the Minister.

Marginal note:Cancellation — recording of claim or lease

• 67 (1) The recording of a claim, or a lease and the recorded claim to which the lease applies, are cancelled on the day on which any of the following events occurs:

  • (a) the Minister has realized on a charge or security on the real property of the claim holder or the lessee for the costs of remedying any environmental condition or environmental damage under subsection 11.8(8) of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act or subsection 14.06(7) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act;

  • (b) the interests in territorial lands represented by the claim or lease have reverted to the Crown as a result of a court order made under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act; or

  • (c) the Minister has accepted the claim or lease as a security in respect of a debt or other obligation owed to the Crown and the Minister has realized on the security under section 156 of the Financial Administration Act.

• Marginal note:Delay in opening lands by the Minister

  (2) Subject to subsection (3) and section 14, the lands that were covered by a claim the recording of which has been cancelled under subsection (1), or by a lease that has been cancelled under that subsection, are not open for prospecting and the units containing those lands are not available for recording as a claim until the Minister opens them for prospecting.

• Marginal note:Recording of claim or issuance of lease

  (3) If it is in the financial interest of the Crown or will aid in remedying environmental damage on territorial lands, the Minister may

  • (a) instruct the Mining Recorder to record, in the name of a specified person, a claim that covers the lands that were covered by the claim the recording of which has been cancelled; and

  • (b) if a lease has been cancelled, issue a lease that covers the claim recorded under paragraph (a) to the holder of the claim.

• Marginal note:Effect of recording

  (4) When a claim is recorded under paragraph (3)(a),

  • (a) the recording of the claim is considered to be a transfer of the claim the recording of which has been cancelled;

  • (b) the recording date of the claim is considered to be the recording date of the claim the recording of which has been cancelled;

  • (c) the duration of the claim is extended by a period that is equivalent to the period beginning on the anniversary date of the claim that precedes the cancellation referred to in subsection (1) and ending on the anniversary date following the transfer; and

  • (d) for the purpose of determining any year referred to in subsections 39(1) and 40(1), any year included in the period beginning on the anniversary date of the recording of the claim that precedes the cancellation referred to in subsection (1) and ending on the anniversary date following the transfer is to be excluded.

• Marginal note:Duration of new lease

  (5) A lease issued under paragraph (3)(b) is considered to be a transfer of the cancelled lease on the same lands, with the same duration as was left on the previous lease at the time the previous lease was cancelled.

Royalties

Marginal note:Commencement of production of mine

• 68 (1) For the purposes of these Regulations, the date on which a mine commences production is

  • (a) if the mine includes a mill or concentrator, the first day of the first 90-day period during which the mill or concentrator operates at an average of at least 60% of its rated capacity; or

  • (b) otherwise, the day the mine begins to produce minerals in reasonable commercial quantities.

• Marginal note:Presumptions respecting mineral or processed mineral

  (2) For the purposes of these Regulations, a mineral or processed mineral is considered to

  • (a) be produced and be part of the output of a mine if the mineral or processed mineral is in a saleable form or has been removed from the mine; and

  • (b) form part of the output of the mine if it is produced from the reprocessing of tailings from a mine.

• Marginal note:Presumptions respecting related persons

  (3) For the purposes of these Regulations,

  • (a) if minerals or processed minerals that have been sold by an operator to a person not related to the operator are later sold to a person related to the operator, those minerals or processed minerals are considered to have been sold by the operator to a related person; and

  • (b) if minerals or processed minerals that have been sold by an operator to a person related to the operator are later sold to a person not related to the operator and proof of that sale is provided, those minerals or processed minerals are considered to have been sold by the operator to a person not related to the operator.

Marginal note:Royalties on value of output of mine

• 69 (1) Each fiscal year, the owner or operator of a mine must pay to the Crown royalties on the value of the mine’s output during that fiscal year in an amount equal to the lesser of

  • (a) 13% of the value of the output of the mine, and

  • (b) the sum of the royalties payable set out in Column 2 of the table to this paragraph for the dollar value of the output set out in Column 1.

    	Column 1	Column 2
    Item	Dollar value of the output of the mine	Royalty payable on that portion of the value (%)
    1	10,000 or less	0
    2	greater than 10,000 but not greater than 5 million	5%
    3	greater than 5 million but not greater than 10 million	6%
    4	greater than 10 million but not greater than 15 million	7%
    5	greater than 15 million but not greater than 20 million	8%
    6	greater than 20 million but not greater than 25 million	9%
    7	greater than 25 million but not greater than 30 million	10%
    8	greater than 30 million but not greater than 35 million	11%
    9	greater than 35 million but not greater than 40 million	12%
    10	greater than 40 million but not greater than 45 million	13%
    11	greater than 45 million	14%

• Marginal note:Royalties payable to Receiver General

  (2) The royalties payable to the Receiver General of Canada under subsection (1) in respect of a mine accrue during a fiscal year as the output of a mine is produced and must be remitted to the Chief not later than the last day of the fourth month after the end of that fiscal year.

• Marginal note:Joint and several liability

  (3) Subject to paragraph 74(1)(b), any person who was an owner or operator of a mine during the fiscal year in respect of which the royalties were payable is jointly and severally liable for the entire amount of the royalties payable in respect of the period during which that person was an owner or operator.

• Marginal note:Calculation of value of output

  (4) For the purposes of this section, the value of the output of a mine for a fiscal year must be calculated in accordance with the formula

  A + B – C + D + E + F + G + H – I + J

  where

  A

  is the total of

  • (a) the proceeds from sales, during the fiscal year, of minerals or processed minerals produced from the mine to persons not related to the operator, if proof of those sales is provided,

  • (b) the market value of any minerals or processed minerals produced from the mine that were sold or transferred to a person related to the operator, or to any other person if the proof of that disposition is not provided, and

  • (c) if the minerals or processed minerals produced from the mine are precious stones that have been cut or polished before their sale or transfer, the market value of those precious stones before they were cut or polished;

  B

  is the market value of any inventories of minerals and processed minerals produced from the mine, as at the end of the fiscal year, determined under subsection (9);

  C

  is the market value of any inventories of minerals and processed minerals produced from the mine, as at the beginning of the fiscal year, determined under subsection (9);

  D

  is the lesser of

  • (a) the amount of any payment received during the fiscal year that is related to a cost that has been claimed as a deduction or allowance under this section, and

  • (b) that cost;

  E

  is any excess amount referred to in paragraph 70(5)(b);

  F

  is any amount withdrawn, during the fiscal year, from a mining reclamation trust established in respect of lands to which these Regulations apply, up to the maximum of the total of the amounts contributed to the trust;

  G

  is the amount of any proceeds received, during the fiscal year, from insurance on minerals or processed minerals produced from the mine;

  H

  is the amount of any grants in respect of the mine that were made to the operator, or of any loans to the operator in respect of the mine that were forgiven, by the federal government during the fiscal year;

  I

  is the total of the deductions and allowances claimed under subsection 70(1); and

  J

  is the total of

  • (a) the amount by which the sum of the amounts referred to in paragraphs 70(8)(d) and (9)(e) exceeds the undeducted balance of the depreciable assets eligible for a depreciation allowance at the end of the fiscal year, and

  • (b) the amount by which the sum of the amounts referred to in paragraphs 70(9)(c) and (d) exceeds the undeducted balance of the development allowance at the end of the fiscal year.

• Marginal note:Joint venture — determination of value of A

  (5) For the purpose of determining the value of A in subsection (4), if a mine is operated as a joint venture whose members deliver separate mining royalty returns under subsection 74(1),

  • (a) a diversion of any or all of the production of the mine from one member of the joint venture to another does not constitute a sale or transfer for the purposes of subsection 77(2), even if consideration is paid for the diversion; and

  • (b) any consideration paid to the member from whom the production was diverted must be included by that member as proceeds of sale of minerals or processed minerals produced from the mine.

• Marginal note:Certain costs and values excluded

  (6) Costs related to the production of or value for minerals or processed minerals from lands other than lands to which these Regulations apply must not be taken into account for the purposes of determining the values of A to D, G and I in subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Last year of production — option for calculation

  (7) In the case of a mining royalty return for the last fiscal year of production of a mine, the operator may, for the purpose of determining the value of B in subsection (4), elect to use the actual proceeds from the sale to a party not related to the operator of minerals or processed minerals in inventory at the end of the fiscal year, if proof of that sale is provided, rather than the market value of the inventory of minerals or processed minerals at the end of that fiscal year as required under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Election is irrevocable

  (8) An election made under subsection (7) is irrevocable.

• Marginal note:Market value of precious stones

  (9) If the minerals or processed minerals referred to in paragraphs (b) and (c) of the description of A, and in the descriptions of B and C, in subsection (4) are precious stones, the market value of the precious stones is as follows:

  • (a) if the mining royalty valuer and the operator agree on a value for the stones, that value; or

  • (b) if the mining royalty valuer and the operator cannot agree on a value for the stones, the maximum amount that could be realized from the sale of the stones on the open market after they are sorted into market assortments.

• Marginal note:Timing of market value of precious stones

  (10) For the purpose of subsection (9), the market value must be determined

  • (a) when the value is calculated for inventory purposes, at the beginning or end of the fiscal year; and

  • (b) when the value is calculated for any other purpose, as of the last time the precious stones were valued by the mining royalty valuer.

• Marginal note:Market value of other minerals

  (11) If the minerals or processed minerals referred to in paragraphs (b) and (c) of the description of A, and in the descriptions of B and C, in subsection (4) are not precious stones, their market value is the price that could be obtained from their sale to a person who is not related to the operator.

• Marginal note:Timing of market value of other minerals

  (12) For the purpose of subsection (11), the market value must be determined

  • (a) when the value is calculated for inventory purposes, at the beginning or end of the fiscal year; and

  • (b) when the value is calculated for any other purpose, at the time the minerals or processed minerals are shipped from the mine.

• Marginal note:Exclusion respecting hedging transactions

  (13) Gains and losses from hedging transactions must not be included in calculating the value of the mine’s output.

• Marginal note:Exchange rate

  (14) For the purpose of these Regulations, the Bank of Canada’s exchange rate must be used to convert foreign currencies into Canadian dollars

  • (a) as of the date of that transaction if a transaction is carried out in a foreign currency; and

  • (b) as of the last day of the fiscal year if inventories have been valued in a foreign currency.

• Marginal note:Operating costs for operations outside Canada

  (15) When operating costs are incurred for operations outside of Canada, the operator may convert foreign currency transactions for those costs into Canadian dollars using the Bank of Canada’s average exchange rate for the month in which those costs were incurred.