People are buying mining claims to protect their own property from development

There's an interesting phenonenon going on in Quebec right now. Amid a flurry of mining claims in the province, largely due to the increased demand for minerals for electric car batteries and other elements of a low-carbon economy, many people are buying mining claims with no intention of exercising them.

It is a bizarre quirk of Quebec law that anyone can make a mining claim online for as little as $75, whether or not they actually own the property, and with no explicit requirement that they even notify the landowner. Such a claim is good for an initial three years, with possible renewals therafter, and gives the claimant the exclusive right to mine that land.

Now, the claimant can't actually proceed with mineral exploration work without the landowners' consent, although they can do other potentially upsetting and disruptive tasks like aerial surveying by helicopter. Another problem is that some property owners, unaware of their legal rights, do not even know that they can say no to developers, who might apply high pressure tactics in pursuit of profits. Buying a mining claim on your own land is a way of pre-empting this disruption, and safeguarding it against mining development. Kind of ridiculous, right?

In towns like Saint-Élie-de-Caxton, Saint-Mathieu-du-Park, Saint Boniface and Shawinigan, some 165 claims of this type have been registered in the last few months alone, and an additional 61 gave been registered by concerned non-profit organizations. Many more have been bought up in other regions of the province.

It's a cute solution to what many people see as a return to the Wild West. But it is crazy that people have to resort to these measures to protect their own property.