How do you make a clear claims map for a BC exploration property?

Pull the tenure data

In Mineral Titles Online (MTO), viewing maps and running tenure searches is public, without logging in. The province’s mapping FAQ says MTO shows live information as transactions complete, while DataBC downloads may be at least one day out of date. Use the current titles dataset for GIS, then check your claims in MTO on the day you finish.

The same FAQ says MTO’s spatial data is projected in NAD 1983 BC Environment Albers (WKID 3005), that the viewer displays in Web Mercator, and that MTO is not recommended for measuring area and distance. Take hectares from the title record or from GIS in Albers.

Build a title schedule

Each title has a unique number of 6 or 7 digits. Newer help pages say “title number” and older ones say “tenure number”; they mean the same ID. Keep a table of title number, claim name, recorded holder and share, good-to-date and hectares, all taken from the title records.

The good-to-date deserves its own check. The province says a claim not maintained is forfeited automatically at midnight on the expiry date, and no notice is sent.

At property scale, group claims on the figure and keep the schedule behind it. A technical report needs the detail: Form 43-101F1 asks for the type of tenure, its identifying name or number, and expiry dates.

Show ownership and option status

The Mineral Tenure Act defines the recorded holder as the person named as owner on the title record, so the registry tells you who holds the claim. It may not tell you who is earning in. The province says an option agreement can be registered if the recorded holder consents, that registration is for public record only, and that registered documents appear as an encumbrance event (ECUM). So option status comes from the agreement and your filed disclosure, and each status gets its own legend class.

Claim applications are a separate case. Since March 26, 2025, the province must consult First Nations before new claims are registered in MTO, while pre-existing claims remain valid. An application is not yet a title, so leave it out of the claim outline.

State the date of the data

Put a source line on the figure: “Tenure data: BC Mineral Titles Online, as of [date].” A figure can stay in a deck for years, and the date tells a reader when it was true. Form 43-101F1 requires technical-report maps to be dated, with a legend, an author or source, a bar or grid scale and a north arrow, and that list suits an investor figure too.

Handle neighbours carefully

Draw neighbouring claims from the same dated pull, in a quiet tone, labelled by holder. Adding their mineralization is a disclosure decision. For technical reports, Item 23 of Form 43-101F1 allows adjacent-property information if the owner disclosed it publicly, the source is named, the report says the QP could not verify it and that it does not necessarily indicate mineralization on your property, and the two sets of information are clearly distinguished. Apply the same discipline to a figure, and let your QP and counsel decide.

The June 2025 CSA proposal to replace NI 43-101 calls adjacent-property disclosure often promotional and would tighten it. It is not final: the BCSC page showed no adopted replacement on November 6, 2026.

Check overlapping designations

The province says a cell claim grants no rights to ground under existing legacy claims or to alienated or reserved land within the cell. The Act excludes park land from free entry except as permitted under section 21, and section 22 allows mineral reserves. Reserves either bar new claims (No Registration) or allow them on stated conditions (Conditional Registration). Crown grants need separate research, because the province’s overlap guide says each one sets its own terms.

That guide describes the Title Overlap Report, which a holder can request in MTO for owned claims. It covers First Nations interests, reserves, other tenures, Crown grants and more. It is a snapshot from the day it was generated, so check it against live records. Some provincial reserves, including the uranium and thorium reserve, have no spatial data and won’t appear as a shape.

Show the overlaps that change what a reader would conclude, with hatching that keeps the claims legible. Take advice before depicting First Nations interests; the report itself says it does not create, recognize, limit or deny any rights.

Label it so it stands alone

Figures get forwarded, so put everything on the figure: project and company name, figure title, your claims by status with total hectares, neighbours by holder, a scale bar, a north arrow, a locator inset, one reference a non-geologist recognizes, the projection, and the dated source line. Say “claims” rather than “land”. The province says a claim gives rights to minerals not already granted, and a permit is required before any work on it.

Who does what

Exploration Sites draws property and claims maps from $1,200, typically in 3–7 business days. We are not a Qualified Person: your QP reviews and approves the technical content before release. We do not prepare NI 43-101 reports, give title or legal opinions, or solicit investors. The provincial pages linked here were read on November 6, 2026.