François Paradis
Mar 3, 2014
Investing in Mining, The Globe and Mail
(Extract)
It would be an understatement to say that many mining companies breathed a collective sigh of relief last December when the Québec National Assembly finally adopted long-awaited reforms to the province’s mining legislation.
François Paradis, a partner in the Montreal office of the law firm Osler, says the adoption of the new law has increased the predictability and stability of the legal framework and investment conditions for mining companies and investors.
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“This is the first time that Québec has reformed its Mining Act since 1987, so it was a long time coming,” says Mr. Paradis. “Investors now know what to expect when they invest in a mining project in Québec.”
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“At the top of my list of significant changes is that the previous obligation on companies to conduct a feasibility study on ore processing has been replaced with a less stringent obligation to do a scoping and market study, which the industry can better live with,” says Mr. Paradis. “It’s less costly, less time consuming and less of a hurdle to get a mining project into operation.”
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But while mining companies are generally satisfied with the new Act, many Aboriginal groups are not, says Mr. Paradis, and some have threatened legal action to contest parts of it.
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But the challenge is that while municipalities tend to encompass relatively small areas and very few mining projects are actually close to municipalities, Aboriginal land covers vast areas.
To read the full news item, please access Investing in Mining information feature, The Globe and Mail, March 3, 2014.