‘I want exploration dollars spent exploring’

Potential Manitoba mine sites bear decor not seen in other provinces: GPS-enabled claim markers.

All other provinces permitting mining have dropped requirements for prospectors to physically stake land claims.

They’ve all moved to digital systems.

As Manitoba politicians trumpet plans to triple mining production, exploration companies and the local prospectors association warn outdated staking methods will slow progress.

“Definitely not a fan of keeping the system,” said Dave Peck, vice-president of exploration for Grid Metals Corp.

He expects the company to spend at least $200,000 re-staking land claims in southeastern Manitoba. The physical posts burned in wildfires last year.

Toronto-based Grid Metals has several Manitoba projects; it’s eyeing cesium, lithium, copper and nickel deposits.

It’s hired people to place physical stakes at sites. The process must happen before a firm can pull core samples.

Site co-ordinates are set before staking, Peck said. Staff base their decisions on geology and in-demand minerals.

“It is very time consuming and … very expensive,” Peck said of staking.

Remote areas may require helicopter or float plane transport.

“For a normal prospector who may not have the financial resources, they can’t compete with bigger companies that have good balance sheets and access to cash,” Peck said.

After a site is staked, exploration companies record their mining claims with the provincial government. Claims later appear online, on a public mining map called iMaQs (Integrated Mining and Quarrying System).

Grid Metals also works in Ontario. Staking a claim in that jurisdiction means specifying on a website where you intend to explore.

Companies may pay hundreds of dollars for staking in Ontario — and several thousands in Manitoba, Peck said.

“Say you’ve got a company in Nevada that wants to come up to Manitoba and look for gold. The system we have is quite archaic. They would look at it and go, ‘That’s very expensive — I wonder what else is backwards here,’” Peck said.

“It does seem a bit crazy in this digital age, with the high resolution we have on satellites.”

A spokesperson for Hudbay Minerals Inc., which mines gold in Snow Lake, echoed a move to digital staking would benefit the industry.

The Manitoba Prospectors and Developers Association has been pushing government for a switch to digital, according to board president Terry Brown.

Some areas — surveyed land in Manitoba — can already be staked digitally.

“We don’t need to really invent anything. Just pick a Canadian system that works, adapt it in Manitoba and move forward,” Brown said. “I want exploration dollars spent exploring.”

A change could allow land owners, such as Indigenous groups, to know earlier in the process when exploration will occur. A good digital system would alert communities of new land claims immediately, Brown said.

Currently, locals may be alarmed by explorers coming through with their stakes, he added.

A digital system “must be done in collaboration with rights holders — full stop,” said Patricia Fitzpatrick, a University of Winnipeg geography professor who researches mineral development governance.

Such a system could exacerbate ongoing rights infringements in the mining and mineral sector, Fitzpatrick said.

Court cases across Canada have questioned whether staking infringes on Indigenous rights. In 2025, a British Columbia court found automatic registration of mineral claims without first consulting affected Indigenous groups went against the province’s law.

Physical staking is a good deterrent for unserious explorers, too, Peck noted. Any adult can buy a prospecting licence for $15; the licences don’t expire.

Mining Minister Jamie Moses didn’t commit to axing physical staking.

“We have a really aggressive target about boosting our mining production,” Moses said. “The current system we have on mining, we can still do that — we can triple our mining production with that system in place.”

The province has more than 6,000 mineral claims in good standing, he noted. However, there’s no mechanism to see how many licence holders are actively prospecting, a government spokesperson said.

The prospectors association counts 76 active claims by roughly 40 companies.

The New Democrat government formed a mining advisory council last year for advice on industry modernization, Moses said. The council includes Indigenous, industry, environmental and academic representation. Advice comes on an ongoing basis, Moses said.

A 2025 Fraser Institute report found Manitoba has fallen in mining appeal. Manitoba ranked 26th of 82 jurisdictions for investment attractiveness; a year earlier, it ranked sixth of 86.

A digital staking system should be “strongly considered” with input from prospectors, mining companies and Indigenous communities, said Lauren Stone, the Progressive Conservatives’ economic development critic.

“We do need a system that’s efficient, transparent and encourages responsible exploration and investment,” she said.

Officials would need to prevent overlapping land claims when combining physical and digital systems, said Wilson Phillips, chair of the Consulting Surveyors of Manitoba.

“We’re not opposed to any modernization — we think that’s a good thing — but there are issues with legacy claims,” Phillips said.

“(It) needs to be determined what the co-ordinates are.”

Association members likely wouldn’t be hurt by a switch to digital staking, but people hired to stake physical claims would be impacted, Phillips said.

Four mines and quarry inspectors inspect physical stakes in Manitoba.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com