About Mineral Land Tax

The Mineral Land Tax Act is tax levied on owners of freehold mineral rights.

Before 1950, the Crown sometimes granted freehold ownership of minerals with the ownership of the surface land, or by grants of ownership of the minerals only. Such areas comprise a small portion of the province. For the rest of the province, the government rents or leases rights to minerals under tenure legislation such as the Mineral Tenure Act, the Coal Act or the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.

The Mineral Land Tax is assessed annually at $1.25 to $4.94 per hectare, depending on the amount of land to which the owner has freehold mineral rights and whether minerals are being produced from the land.

A Notice of Mineral Land Tax Assessment is an assessment of the amount of taxes owing on the mineral rights. Tax notices are issued once each year, on or before May 1, to every owner on the Mineral Land Tax Roll. Payments are due by July 2 and delinquent as of July 31.

  There are two types of exemptions:

1. Charitable Exemptions
   Registered charitable organizations are exempt from the payment of Mineral Land Tax. Please contact us with your charitable registration number to claim this exemption.
   
2. Agricultural Exemptions
   The Mineral Land Tax Act provides for a classification of "agricultural mineral land", where the land is used primarily for agricultural purposes. Land classified as agricultural mineral land must be assessed under the Act, but no tax is payable. Please see the Application for the Classification of Agricultural Mineral Land for more information.

  These exemptions do not apply if:

• the land is used for the exploration, development or production of minerals, or
• the land is in a production area, or
• the only interest that the owner has in the land is a freehold mineral interest

Mineral rights can be forfeited (taken away by the government) if the Mineral Land Tax is not paid for two consecutive years.

If Mineral Land Tax remains unpaid on August 1 of the year following the year it was levied, a $50 penalty is added to the tax owing.

The administrator then publishes a notice in the Gazette with

• the name and address of every owner on the Mineral Land Tax Assessment Roll and everyone who has a registered claim or title to, or charge on, the minerals
• a brief description of the mineral land
• the amount of the assessment and unpaid Mineral Land Tax

If the taxes and interest owing are not paid within 90 days of the publication of the notice in the Gazette , the mineral rights are forfeited to the government and the taxes owing are cancelled.

If forfeiture has occurred through the inadvertence or mistake of any person, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may, subject to payment of all taxes and interest owing, restore the mineral rights to the former owner.

Under Section 18 of the Mineral Land Tax Act, an owner may, at any time, surrender all or part of an interest in mineral land to the government.

Surrender of mineral land to the Crown is rare, as most owners elect to allow forfeiture to take place by not paying the tax for two consecutive years.

Please see our Forms page for Mineral Land Surrender Forms.

General conveyances such as transfers are to be conducted at the appropriate Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia. For your convenience, the following list provides contact information for the offices in B.C.: