Lands Management

We can issue three types of licences: exploration, significant discovery and production through our fundamental decision process. This means our Board members may make the decision to issue licences, but we are required to notify the federal Minister of Natural Resources and the provincial Minister of Energy and Mines of our decision. The ministers have an opportunity to accept our fundamental decision, delay the decision, or jointly veto the decision. You can learn more about these licences on our Licensing section.

Once a licence is issued, our job is just beginning. The terms and conditions of a licence are based on legislative requirements and our established policies, and include items such as effective dates, area of the licence, work deposits, and requirements for reports and submission of geoscience data. We need to continually make sure that licence owners are in compliance with the terms and conditions of their licence, including meeting the required timeframe for reports and deposits, which we review.

For those that want to know more, we manage a public registry for our licences. Our public registry contains information such as who owns a licence, the licence location, and any relevant dates. It also includes information on licences that have been issued, surrendered, or transferred, and if the lands have any significant or commercial discoveries. We have a designated Registrar and Deputy Registrar, whose jobs are to review and register these documents. Information in our public registry is available to the public and can also be found using our interactive map under our Maps and Coordinates section.

Learn more about some of our key lands management processes.