There are various rights you may acquire when you make a purchase of land in a rural area like Haliburton. You may purchase the surface rights to land, such as the gravel or sand that you want because the land is really purchased to develop a gravel pit or the timber rights to a tract of Crown land for the purpose of logging. You may also purchase the sub-surface rights, such as mineral rights for the purpose of mining.
There has been a lot of talk about uranium mining in the County of Haliburton. Mining in Ontario is governed by the Mining Act. The legislation states that “the purpose of this Act is to encourage prospecting, staking and exploration for the development of mineral resources and to minimize the impact of these activities on public health and safety and the environment through rehabilitation of mining lands in Ontario.” The definition of “mine” in the Act is quite lengthy and includes any excavation of the ground for the purpose of winning any mineral. The term “winning” is a technical term which simply means retrieving a mineral from a mine. “Minerals” in the Act is a broad term which includes all metallic minerals, such as gold and silver, and all non-metallic minerals, such as natural gas and petroleum. “Minerals” also includes quarry and pit material but does not include sand and gravel, which is a bit confusing. An issue may occur, as it did in one case in the1960 Mining Act, in interpreting these definitions. A company purchased a gravel pit and in the course of searching the title to the land at the registry office discovered that the mining rights to the land had been forfeited to the Crown because of unpaid taxes. The issue addressed by the court was whether the gravel pit had also been forfeited to the Crown.
Gravel pits are governed by different legislation, the Aggregate Resources Act. The purpose of this Act is similar to the Mining Act and includes the requirement “to minimize adverse impact on the environment in respect of aggregate operations.”