Vancouver, B.C. – October 28, 2025 – The Association for Mineral Exploration (AME) is responding to the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals’ launch of a continuous improvement process for British Columbia’s Mineral Claims Consultation Framework (MCCF), and to the publication of data. The process is currently not functioning within the 90-120 day timeline and there have been significant declines in both mineral claims staked and the average size of claims staked. AME is committed to working with government to improve the process and improve timeliness of the system.
The MCCF continuous improvement process is an important opportunity to understand how mineral claim staking is functioning following implementation on March 25, 2025. The new framework, designed by the BC government, was implemented in response to the Justice Ross decision on Gitxaala v British Columbia (Chief Gold Commissioner), 2023 BCSC 1680.
Mineral claims are the foundational unit from which mineral explorers work to generate projects that may one day become mines. AME listened closely to members during MCCF development and relayed concerns and ideas to government – some of which were addressed. AME has worked hard to raise the concerns of our members about the MCCF. The result incorporated some of these ideas, but ultimately AME took issue with the disclosure of applicant names and on the ability to meet timelines.
Data Update
Data released by the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals shows key MCCF statistics for March to October 2025:
- 1,531 applications received up to August 31, 2025
- 959 total applications processed up to September 30, 2025
- 899 approved
- 40 withdrawn
- 20 declined
- 127 average days to decision
This compares to a 90-to-120-day decision target proposed ahead of the MCCF implementation. Based on an independent analysis conducted for AME*, there was a 45 per cent drop in mineral claim applications between March and September 2025 compared to the average for the same period between 2022 to 2024. Although this highlights a significant reduction in claim staking – and a potential apprehension to stake claims – it is too early to determine if this is solely due to the introduction of the MCCF. AME hopes to see the average number of days to a decision improve in the coming months to restore predictability and consistency.
It is important to note that, to date, any claim applications that have been denied relate to “administrative” reasons such as the deletion of intervening claims per Section 67 of the Mineral Tenure Act. No applications have been denied for consultation reasons.
Industry Suggestions
It is clear that the system is not yet working well, and significant effort will be required in the continuous improvement process to deliver consistent and timely decisions. To support this, AME has focused on solutions including:
- Removal of applicant names until claims are approved.
- Escalation of claim applications to a more senior level, or emergency process after reaching certain timing gates.
- Recognition that “approval delayed is approval declined” – the global mineral exploration industry will pursue other opportunities if approvals for BC claim applications cannot be obtained in a timely manner of the 120-day timeline.
- Allowing for companies to apply for a claim and voluntarily pause the process to allow for them to engage with Nations themselves resulting in protecting “first in line status” and allowing for voluntary early engagement.
- Introduction of more transparent statuses in the MCCF, such as indicating which party is currently reviewing the application.
- Improving the transparency of public application data by adding columns for the application date, application ID, and decision time of approved claims to the “MTA – Mineral, Placer and Coal Tenure Spatial View” dataset.
- The release of cells on MTO often corresponds to a significant uptick in claims. There was a release of cells on June 25 at 1pm PDT* that corresponded to a small uptick in claims. We expect that future releases of cells to drive similar behaviour and feel that this may be a helpful means of testing the health of the system. Therefore, prioritizing major MTO cell releases can be a good way to test the health of the system and willingness to stake claims.
*Correction: In a previous version of the document, we reported that there had been no new cell releases on MTO since March 25, 2025. - Claims that have been approved but are dropped in the future should not be subject to further consultation as they have already been consulted on.
Continuous Improvement Process and Survey
AME encourages anyone who has used the new MCCF system to apply for claims to participate in the Ministry’s MCCF continuous improvement process survey. This survey is open until November 26, 2025.
- During evaluation, we encourage consideration of the following questions:
- Was the scope of consultation proportional and appropriate to the impact of staking a mineral claim?
- Was your confidentiality protected throughout the process?
- If your claim was denied, were the reasons provided sufficient?
- Were timelines upheld for your claim decision?
- If included, were spiritual, cultural, or intangible impacts defined, and did you find this sufficient?
- Were your claims subject to overlapping land claims from First Nations? If so, what was the impact on consultation and timelines?
- Has the amount of Indigenous capacity provided been sufficient?
We also encourage you to contact AME Vice President, Policy and Advocacy Jack Middleton ([email protected]) to ensure our advocacy accurately and effectively represents the sector’s views.
*The independent analysis of historical data compared “snapshot” versions of the publicly available mineral tenures dataset, each of which shows the state of mineral tenures at the time of download. The average time between snapshots is 87 days and the number of new claims during the period between each snapshot was determined by a spatial difference calculation that excluded new tenures created by claim amalgamations or subdivisions. Claims that were staked and abandoned before the next snapshot are not detected by this method.