Can I pan for gold here?

Hand pan on Crown land: The Mineral Tenure Act lets anyone hand-pan for placer minerals on Crown land for recreation without a Free Miner Certificate — a hand pan and a shovel are the complete tool list. The ground must not be under a mineral or placer title, in a park or protected area, a heritage site, a reserve or private property.

Free Miner Certificate (FMC): Not needed to hand-pan. For claims or any equipment beyond a pan and shovel: you must be 18+ and ordinarily resident in Canada 183 days a year (or authorized to work here). An individual FMC is $25 for a 12-month term (free at 65+). Apply on the paper form at a Mineral Titles, Service BC or FrontCounter BC office, or online in Mineral Titles Online once you hold a Business BCeID (identity-proofed over the counter). The FMC plus BCeID are the login for MTO, where you register placer claims by selecting cells inside placer claim areas at $5 per hectare. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Recreational hand panning — Province of B.C. · Information Update No. 2 — Recreational Hand Panning (PDF) · Mineral Titles Online (claim map) · Free Miner Certificate FAQ — Mineral Titles · Mineral and placer claims — Mineral Titles

Hand pan on Crown land: Yukon welcomes recreational panning with hand tools — pan, shovel, bucket and classifier — on public land that is open to staking and not under a claim. The territory’s own advice: ask the nearest Mining Recorder where panning is permitted before you go.

Recorded placer claim via the Mining Recorder (Yukon has no free miner certificate): Nothing is needed to hand-pan open ground. To use a sluice or anything mechanical you stake your own placer claim: anyone 18 or older may stake, with no residency or citizenship requirement. Confirm the ground is open and not already claimed, then stake it on the ground — two legal posts, one at each end of a location line along or parallel to the base line (no map staking exists under the Placer Mining Act) — and record it at the district Mining Recorder’s office within the Act’s deadline; the application fee is $10 per claim. Before any work beyond hand tools, file a Class 1 placer notification (Yukon-wide since April 2020) and get a water licence if you divert or pump water. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Pan for gold recreationally — Yukon.ca · Recreational gold panning: a visitor’s guide — Yukon.ca · Find a mining recorder’s office — Yukon.ca · Apply for a placer claim — Yukon.ca · Guidelines for placer claim staking in Yukon

Hand pan on Crown land: Alberta’s official position: recreational gold panning in rivers and streams using hand-held, non-mechanized equipment does not require a mineral agreement or licence. Beds and shores of most rivers are Crown land. Royalty applies only if more than one troy ounce of precious metals is produced and sold in a year.

Recreational placer minerals licence (Alberta has no free miner certificate): Not needed for a pan. For a hand-fed, hand-powered sluice box or rocker: fill in the Placer Minerals Licence application form from the placer mining tool kit and email it to Alberta Energy and Minerals (a time-limited payment link is sent during business hours), or mail or deliver it to the Edmonton office. The licence costs $50 + GST, runs five years, grants no exclusive area, and every person operating equipment needs their own. Alberta has no placer claim staking for individuals; commercial metallic and industrial minerals tenure is a separate permit and lease system regulated by the AER. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Minerals — placer mining tool kit — Alberta.ca · “Going for Gold in Alberta” — recreational panning guide (PDF) · Minerals permits and leasing overview — Alberta.ca · Projects near water — Fisheries and Oceans Canada · Alberta Parks — legislation and regulations

Hand pan on Crown land: The Mining Act says only licensed prospectors may explore for minerals, but the ministry’s hobby mineral collecting policy states it will generally not enforce that against casual collecting on open Crown land with hand tools — pans are listed — limited to what you can carry out unassisted, not for sale, and not on claims, leases or withdrawn land.

Prospector’s licence (MLAS): Not needed for hand-tool hobby panning. For claims or equipment: you must be 18 or older. Register for an ONe-key account, enrol as an MLAS client, complete the free online Mining Act Awareness Program within the 60 days before you apply, then apply and pay in MLAS — $25.50, valid five years (renewal needs MAAP again). The licence lets you register mining claims on the MLAS map; ground staking ended in 2018. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Hobby mineral collecting policy — Ontario Ministry of Mines · Mining Lands Administration System (MLAS) — Ontario.ca · Directive 2 — How to obtain or renew a prospector’s licence (PDF) · Crown land and shore land work permits — Ontario.ca · Projects near water — Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Hand pan on Crown land: Mining Act s. 19: “Any person may prospect on land in the domain of the State”, except ground under a claim, lease, concession, suspension or withdrawal (s. 27). Examining a stream with a hand pan is prospecting. Quebec abolished the prospector’s licence in 2021, so nothing needs buying — but the gold belongs to the State until you hold a mining right, so keep it to samples, keep the pan in your hand and leave the streambed and banks undisturbed.

Exclusive exploration right (claim) via GESTIM — no prospector’s licence since 2021: Quebec abolished the prospector’s licence in December 2021; the claim (droit exclusif d’exploration) is now the only exploration title, and nothing is required to hand-pan unclaimed State land. To hold ground: open a GESTIM account, designate free cells on the map — map designation is the only method — and pay the registration fee, which scales with area and region. The first term is three years, renewable for two-year terms if you file the required exploration work. Since 7 February 2024, exploration work with impacts (hydraulic-pump panning is named) needs a separate ministerial authorization. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Mining Act (CQLR c. M-13.1) — ss. 19, 26, 27, 33 · GESTIM — Quebec mining titles register · Exploration rights (claim / EER) — MRNF · Authorization for exploration work with impacts (Feb 2024) — Québec.ca · Guide du promoteur — travaux d’exploration à impacts (PDF)

Hand pan on Crown land: Mineral Resources Act s. 30(1): no person shall explore for minerals except under a mineral right — with an exemption for registered prospectors doing preliminary, non-disturbance work (outcrop and float examination, sampling) on land open for application. The province’s own collecting guide treats casual hand collecting as acceptable. The safe path: register as a prospector ($10, ten years), check NovaROC, keep it to a pan, and confirm with the Geoscience and Mines Branch.

Prospector registration and exploration licence (NovaROC): Register as a prospector online in NovaROC — $10, valid ten years, renewable at no cost — which permits preliminary non-disturbance prospecting (outcrop and float examination, sampling, mapping) on ground open for application, with the landowner’s consent. To hold ground, apply in NovaROC for an exploration licence: $10 per claim, two-year term, renewable indefinitely while work requirements are met; you do not have to be a registered prospector to hold one. Drilling, excavation and aerial surveys are notified through NovaROC. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Mineral Resources Act, s. 30 (requirement for mineral right) · A Guide to Rock and Mineral Collecting in Nova Scotia (IC 66, PDF) · NovaROC — Nova Scotia mineral rights online · Prospector registration — N.S. permits directory · Mineral exploration licence — N.S. permits directory

Hand pan on Crown land: A Prospecting Licence is mandatory to pan for gold in New Brunswick — $100 one-time, lifetime, from NB e-CLAIMS. With it, a hand-held pan needs no watercourse alteration permit provided no other equipment is used and in-channel material goes back into the watercourse. Panning is allowed June 1 – September 30 only, not on claims, protected areas, within 30 m of a provincially significant wetland, in parks or on federal land. Gold found recreationally cannot, by law, be sold, traded or kept for personal gain without a claim and mining lease.

Prospecting licence (NB e-CLAIMS): Required even to hand-pan. Issued to individuals 19 or older, corporations or partnerships; $100 one-time, valid for life; bought online in NB e-CLAIMS by credit card. The same account registers mineral claims by selecting units on the interactive map (fees and annual work requirements apply). A mining lease — feasibility study, fees and reclamation security — is what lets you produce and sell gold. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Gold prospecting in New Brunswick: legislative and regulatory requirements (PDF) · NB e-CLAIMS (prospecting licence & claims) · Minerals FAQ — Government of New Brunswick · Minerals and petroleum — N.B. Natural Resources and Energy Development · Projects near water — Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Hand pan on Crown land: Newfoundland and Labrador needs no prospector’s licence, and the Mineral Act only prohibits prospecting where the minerals are already under someone else’s licence or lease without their consent (s. 12). But the Act has no recreational-panning exemption and a mineral licence is what confers rights to minerals, so keeping gold from a pan sits in a grey area. Check the mineral-lands map, keep to a pan, and confirm with the Mineral Lands Division (Industry, Energy and Technology).

Mineral licence by online map staking (no prospector’s licence required): No prospector’s licence exists or is needed in the province. Any natural person 19 or older, or a corporation registered in the province, may obtain a mineral licence: register for a MinLAP account (the online staking portal, formerly MIRIAD; activation about ten business days), select 25 ha claims on the map (up to 256 contiguous claims per licence) and pay $65 per claim — a $15 recording fee plus a $50 security deposit refunded after the first-year work report is accepted. Licences run five years with escalating assessment-work requirements ($200 per claim in year one). Exploration approval from the department is required before any ground-disturbing work. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Mineral Act (RSNL 1990 c. M-12) — ss. 12, 20, 23 · Mines FAQ — N.L. Industry, Energy and Technology · Mines — N.L. Department of Industry, Energy and Technology · Acquiring and managing your mineral exploration licences (2024, PDF) · Projects near water — Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Hand pan on Crown land: Official position: using a pan to test for gold can be done without authorization where Crown mineral rights have not been issued to someone else. Strict limits: all recreational panning must be done with a gold pan; no equipment — including hand shovels — may be used to move material to be panned; no damage to the bed or bank; and only the surface owner can grant access.

Mineral claim via MARS (Saskatchewan has no prospecting licence): Nothing is required to pan. Saskatchewan issues no prospector’s licence; to use anything beyond a simple pan you acquire a mineral claim online. Register for an account in the Mineral Administration Registry Saskatchewan (MARS, run with ISC), check land availability on the map, select surveyed mineral parcels or unsurveyed grid cells and pay the fees set by The Mineral Tenure Registry Regulations; ground staking was replaced by the registry in 2012. The Mineral Tenure Branch will confirm availability if you give the legal land description (LSD, section, township, range, meridian). Apply / details ↗

Official sources: Recreational gold panning and placer mining — Government of Saskatchewan · Mineral Administration Registry Saskatchewan (MARS) · MARS online registry (ISC) · Projects near water — Fisheries and Oceans Canada · Sask Parks — rules and regulations

Hand pan on Crown land: The Mines and Minerals Act s. 45(1): no person shall explore for minerals, or stake out or record a claim, on Crown mineral land unless they hold a prospecting licence. Washing gravel for gold is exploring. The licence is cheap — $15, lifetime, anyone 18+, online in iMaQs — and s. 47 lets a licensee enter open Crown mineral land, prospect and bring in equipment. Hand-tool prospecting outside a park needs no Crown Land work permit.

Prospecting licence (iMaQs): Anyone 18 or older may apply; $15 for an individual ($287 for a company); valid for life; not transferable. Apply online through Manitoba’s iMaQs portal (a step-by-step tutorial PDF is on the Mines Branch site) or contact mines_br@gov.mb.ca. The licence is required to explore for minerals or to stake and record a claim on Crown mineral land. Claims are then staked on the ground and recorded within 30 days (tags $7.50 + GST per set of four; $16 per claim unsurveyed, $67 surveyed) or, in surveyed territory, applied for by map. Apply / details ↗

Official sources: The Mines and Minerals Act (C.C.S.M. c. M162), ss. 45–47 · Staking requirements in Manitoba — Mines Branch · How to apply for a prospecting licence (iMaQs tutorial, PDF) · iMaQs — Manitoba online mining portal · Projects near water — Fisheries and Oceans Canada