Free Miners Certificate:
Remember: For "Recreational Panning" you DON'T need a "Free Miners
Certificate"
To acquire a Free Miner Certificate (FMC) & a British Columbia Electronic Identification Number (BCEID) go to a BC Government Agents Office. You can't have one without the other and will require 2 pieces of Government ID; one of which must have a photograph.
To acquire or renew a FMC, a person must meet the following qualifications:
a) a person age 18 or over and ordinarily a resident of Canada for at
least 183 days in each calendar year or authorized to work in Canada,
b) a Canadian corporation, or
c) a partnership consisting of partners who are persons that qualify
underparagraph (a) or (b)
CORPORATION: "Canadian Corporation" means:
a) a company or an extraprovincial company as those
terms are defined in the Business Corporations Act,
b) a trust company registered under the Trust
Company Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 412,
c) an insurer licensed under the Insurance Act, or
d) a chartered bank.
the BC Partnership Act
A Free Miners Certificate is valid for a period of 12 months from the date issued and costs:
INDIVIDUAL: $25.00
SENIOR: You must be 65 years of age or older and have the same
qualifications as an individual.
Seniors are "FREE"
CORPORATION: $500.00
PARTNERSHIP: $25.00 per individual partners
An individual, a corporation or a partnership, must hold a valid Free Miner Certificate (FMC) in order to:
a) be registered as a recorded holder of a claim or lease,
b) hold a claim under Section 29: A recorded holder may hold a claim
until the expiry date, and after that, in accordance with the
regulations, may hold the claim from year to year by:
- doing exploration and development and registering a statement
of the exploration and development, or making payments instead
of exploration and development, and
- registering a revised expiry date
c) revise an expiry date under section 33.1:
1) If a recorded holder records exploration and development under
section 29 or33.1, the recorded holder must submit reports to
the chief gold commissioner respecting that exploration and
development at the time and in the form and manner prescribed
by the regulations.
2) The chief gold commissioner may order the cancellation of all or
a portion of the recording of the exploration and development
under section 29 or 33.1 if the recorded holder fails to comply
with subsection (1).
Possession of a Free Miners Certificate does not authorize you:
- to use a FMC for purposes other than activities directly related to placer
or mineral exploration &/or mining
- to place a cabin, house or other structure on your claim
- use your claim for residential or recreational purposes
- to sell your claim as a vaction property
- to conduct any mining &/or road building activity without written
approval from the Mines Office with jurisdiction
- explore for the purposes of mining:
- land in a park established under an Act of British Columbia
(i.e.
Provincial, Regional or Municipal) or Canada
- land in a conservancy established under an Act of British Columbia
- an ecological reserve established under an Act of British Columbia
or Canada;
- an area in which mining activity is prohibited under the Park Act
or under anorder under the Environment and Land Use Act; and
- Indian reserve land.
Should any of the above be brought to the attention of the Gold Commissioner they have the power to order the cancellation of the record of the claim effective as of the date it was recorded, or order the cancellation of the record or credit for exploration and development remaining to be performed, or both. In some circumstances they will cancel your FMC.
For more information regarding claims, click on the "Mineral Titles Online" button.