GNWT ‘making all effort’ to roll out new mining regulations by 2027

The NWT government says it still hopes to introduce new mining and exploration regulations before the 20th Assembly ends in late 2027.

The Mineral Resources Act was passed in 2019 – in the 18th Assembly, each assembly being a four-year term of government between elections.

But the act needs accompanying regulations to be drawn up and brought into force, and draft regulations still aren’t public more than six years later.

There are two years left of Premier RJ Simpson’s government. If the regulations don’t come into effect by the time of the next election, they’ll be pushed to 2028 or beyond.

It took the GNWT until late 2022 to publish a document containing what it calls policy intentions – overarching goals, with an explanation of why those goals were chosen – to help guide drafting of the regulations. There is also a document setting out the proposed changes from existing rules in more detail.

Now, the territory has set out its anticipated timeline for the remainder of the work.

Now until April 2026: ‘final engagement’

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, also known as ITI, says it is currently carrying out a “final detailed engagement” on the policy intentions document. Multiple rounds of broader engagement have occurred in previous years.

The latest round is happening in stages that focus on different sections of the proposed rules.

In October, the department started taking feedback on regulations about exploration, developing and operating mines, drill cores, and the removal of minerals. That process runs until December 3.

The second stage began in November, taking feedback on how the regulations will affect benefit agreements and socio-economic policy – in other words, the relationships (often financial) between the mining industry and the NWT’s communities and people. That feedback process runs until December 19.

At some point in December, a third stage will look at a proposed Mineral Rights Review Board and the “transition of existing interests” (in other words, how everyone moves from the old regulatory regime to the new one without chaos, or at least confusion). That feedback session is expected to close on January 30, 2026.

ITI says collectively, those three feedback stages are “the most effective time for interest groups to inform the regulatory framework.”

The feedback received will then be discussed in collaboration with Indigenous governments.

Summer 2026: a new administration system

Consultation with Indigenous governments is expected to take until the spring of 2027, with the draft regulations not publicly posted until the summer of 2027.

In the meantime, ITI says it’ll need to replace the “outdated” software that runs the NWT’s existing mineral administration system.

The new software will be a “flexible, cloud-based solution” designed to make things easier. That’s due in the summer or fall of 2026.

Getting the software right is key to meeting the 2027 goal for bringing the regulations into force, ITI says.

“This timeline is currently being driven by the time required to complete the software changes in order to accommodate the implementation of the regulations,” the department stated.

“The work on the software system is on a parallel track to finalizing the proposed regulations.”

A second stage of work on the software is due in the summer of 2027: updating it to accommodate new requirements introduced in the Mineral Resources Act and its regulations.

After the regulations are brought into force, a third stage scheduled for 2028 will involve “putting into place the enhanced map tools that are required for selection of online map staking along with creation of zones and temporary restricted areas.”

In the 2026-27 financial year, the GNWT says it will also need to start putting resources into place for “new authorities” created by the Mineral Resources Act.

2027: bringing the regulations into force

The timeline in 2027 is vague at this point, but several key developments are expected in that year.

The first is publicly posting the draft regulations, though the GNWT says it doesn’t expect much to change at that point.

“Only minor adjustments are expected at this stage, since the substantive input should have already been gathered during the policy intentions phase,” an ITI spokesperson said by email last month. (A working group involving Indigenous governments has to sign off on the draft regulations before they are posted in public.)

A territorial election is scheduled for October 2027, which means September of that year is likely a hard stop for the regulations to come into force before some of the workings of government – not least communications – are either interrupted or paused.

“The current targeted date remains consistent that the regulations will come into force within the life of this Assembly. ITI is making all effort to reach this goal,” the department’s spokesperson stated.

“I’m absolutely committed to getting this work done in the life of this Assembly,” industry minister Caitlin Cleveland told the legislature last month, “so we can all say we got this done – we worked together, we put our heads down, we rolled up our sleeves and we did the work.”

Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart has called for the deadline to be moved up to 2026.

“I want to see it done next year. We need to move this project up,” Testart told Cleveland in the legislature.

He had also suggested rolling out the regulations in stage, which Cleveland rejected as a “piecemeal” approach that people affected by the regulations would not want.

What will the regulations do?

Describing exactly what the regulations will achieve remains impossible at this stage as a lot could still change.

However, the GNWT has outlined its hopes.

In its policy intentions document, the territory said it wants the new regulations to set out:

• how people trying to obtain a claim engage with Indigenous governments (“early and often”);
• a new process to notify Indigenous governments of claims staked in their territories;
• an extension of a claim’s maximum life from 10 to 30 years to recognize “the modern life cycle needs of a project”;
• a requirement that people get permission to remove minerals from the land and export them prior to production;
• a new leasing system that requires people to “meet different milestones to progress through the tenure life cycle”;
• increases in lease rental rates;
• new deadlines and reporting requirements for socio-economic agreements;
• more requirements to submit data as part of holding a production licence; and
• a new Mineral Rights Review Board to replace the current ministerial review process.

Finalized regulations will also offer more certainty than is currently the case. Right now, industries and communities know the existing rules are about to be replaced, but they don’t know for sure what’s coming next, which is one reason why the yearslong process has been criticized.

That’s also why the “transition of existing interests” aspect – the move from the old regulations to new ones – is important. If you’re already doing things a certain way under the old rules, do you have to change to meet the new rules? Or can some things be grandfathered in?

Ekati diamond mine owner Burgundy, for example, has already asked the GNWT to ensure the new regulations don’t force it to renegotiate its impact benefit agreements with communities.

Before the Mineral Resources Act passed, the NWT’s mining legislation came from devolution in 2014, meaning the MRA is the first such legislation devised in the territory.

The GNWT has compared the act to the “foundation and framing” of a new house, and the regulations to “the appliances, the paint, the furniture” that finish it off.

“Neither one of them do well if the other is poorly designed,” the territory wrote.