| Mineral Land Use Mineral
exploration and mining are permitted land use activities in all areas of British Columbia
outside of provincial parks and protected areas, subject to applicable legislation. This direction
has been implemented in all approved land use plans across the
province.
In the new era of land use planning, in addition to
streamlining the planning processes, government is moving to enhance
the existing 2-zone system to increase sector certainty, improve investor
confidence and support a streamlined regulatory environment, and
sustainable resource development.
In British Columbia, this two-zone approach in land and resource management
is unique to subsurface resources for a variety of reasons.
 | It respects the indefinite, expensive and high-risk nature of inventorying our
hidden mineral resources through private sector exploration.
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| It recognizes that there is little or no environmental impact to other resources
or land users from the great majority of prospecting and early exploration activities that
must be carried out across the land base as the first essential step in finding new mines.
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| It also recognizes that we have regulatory tools that are effective in managing
exploration and mining activities, including access roads or trails, in relation to
environmental values and sensitivities across the land base. Potential impacts from mining
are much more site-specific than from exploration and the need for regulation
correspondingly increases with the potential for impacts. |
| Finally, this approach reflects the extremely high value of those small sites of
land that contain orebodies and the benefits that mining them can bring to provincial and
regional economies. |
In short, maintaining all lands outside of protected areas open to mining is the
most practical and effective approach to optimizing the benefits of maintaining a healthy
mining sector in British Columbia.
However, land use management remains a complex and difficult process in a
province as dynamic as British Columbia. There are many mineral concerns to be addressed
along the way, in order to ensure the above policy approach is implemented efficiently.
This website provides information and examples on how mineral land use concerns are being
addressed in British Columbia through three main headings:
This site provides a "minerals value-added" source of information on
land use in British Columbia. Other websites are identified where you can find more
detailed information on particular land use issues, without a focus on mineral
resources.
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