The Yukon Prospectors Association does not support any changes to staking rules in the Quartz or Placer Mining Acts.  Nonetheless, we watch with interest developments elsewhere as different jurisdictions try new staking regimes and we are moderating a discussion of this topic among our members and others interested in this topic.

The following was submitted by a very experienced and successful prospector who has worked in both BC and the Yukon:

Here is a proposal for a paper staking regime that might address the current problems with the Yukon and BC systems.  Let’s call it Option A.  Here is how it would work:

1. The staker would identify the area they want to claim on a 1:50,000 claim map and would fill out the claim recording form.
2. The staker would take their map and application form – in person – to the mining recorder for the district in which the claims would be located to record them.  Claim applications would be accepted on a first come / first served basis.
3. A staker can record up to 16 claims per day in total anywhere in the Yukon.
4. The cost to record an isolated claim or the first claim in any contiguous group is $610.  The cost for each subsequent claim in a contiguous group would be $110.  The first $10 per claim would be the recording fee and the remainder would be a refundable deposit on physical work to be performed on the claims in the first year following staking of the claim.  The first claim listed in a contiguous group or an isolated claim would get a deposit of $400 while $100 deposits would be put on each of the rest of the claims in a group of claims filed together on the same day.
5. When physical assessment work is filed on a claim in the first year equal to the value of the deposit, the deposit is returned to the staker or to a designated third party (eg. the client if the staking was contracted).
6. The location of the claims on the application map would be the definitive location of the claims for the purposes of mineral tenure.

Here is a background document on his proposal.  What do you think?