EDITORIAL — The great map-staking debate

Prospectors have played a leading role in the development of Canada’s mining industry, and for proof one need look no farther than the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.

The Hall includes such illustrous names as H.H. (“Spud”) Huestis, a prospector whose claim to mining fame is that he uncovered the large-tonnage, low-cost Highland Valley copper deposits in British Columbia. Another is Karl Springer, who is honored not only for finding mines but for providing the inspirational leadership and drive that made them profitable.

Other prominent minefinders enshrined in the Hall include Sir Harry Oakes, Noah Timmins and Harold Wright, all of whom played key roles in establishing Ontario’s prominent mining districts.

Some Canadians believe that prospecting is less important today than in the past, when the country was underexplored and deposits were easier to find. But if they paused to consider the major discoveries of the past roughly 10 years (the gold deposits at Hemlo; copper-nickel-cobalt at Voisey’s Bay, Labrador; and diamonds in Canada’s North), they would see that this is simply not the case.

That Canada’s prospectors are the motor that drives our industry is no less true today that it ever was. And for this reason, their concerns need to be addressed — particularly in the map-staking debate.

Two provinces, Ontario and Manitoba, are flirting with proposals to convert to a map-staking system.

In Ontario, a proposal initiated by Inco is being attacked by the prospecting community, which wants it taken off the table — the sooner the better.

Nor is the proposal going over well in Manitoba, another province where Inco is a major player. Prospectors say map-staking would make it difficult for them to compete on the level that they do under the current system. They argue that paper-staking stifles competition and that the party with the most money gets the ground, whereas, in ground-staking, the person with the most initiative wins.

Moreover, a great number of prospectors depend, for their livelihood, on field staking and line-cutting. Most of them are familiar with the areas in which they work, and this allows them to generate better-quality prospects than if they sat in an armchair and paper-staked in the mining recorder’s office. (To illustrate their point, prospectors point to the poor quality of some prospects recently “paper-staked” in Labrador by “parasitical promoters” who never set foot on the claims.)

Proponents of map-staking argue that it is better suited to modern (read: electronic) times, is less expensive, and reduces the possibilities of overstaking and claim disputes.

But the current system, while it may have a few warts, has brought about a strong prospecting community — one that continues to generate prospects for the majors to option.

Prospecting organizations intend to fight any expansion of map-staking, and governments ought to listen carefully to their concerns. A vibrant prospecting community is in the best interest of the mining sector, and, by extension, the Canadian economy as a whole.