On June 12, 2025, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published a notice and request for public comment (the CSA Notice) regarding proposed amendments to National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (the Instrument), as well as Form 43-101 Technical Report (the Technical Report Form) and the Companion Policy 43-101CP to the Instrument (the Companion Policy). The CSA is also seeking public comments on proposed and related amendments to several existing rules and forms, such as National Instrument 44-101 Short Form Prospectus Distributions, National Instrument 44-102 Shelf Distributions and Form 51-102F2 Annual Information Form.
The proposed amendments, which the CSA terms the "Modernized Disclosure Requirements," are now published for public comment and are intended to modernize, clarify and streamline Canada's mining disclosure regime. The public comment period will end on October 10, 2025.
For a detailed summary of the proposed changes, please see our previous insight here.
The Ontario Securities Commission
The Ontario Securities Commission (the OSC) published an annex to the CSA Notice that describes the Modernized Disclosure Requirements' practical impacts on reporting issuers that have Ontario as their principal regulator. Approximately 338 reporting issuers with mineral projects, representing 32% of all reporting issuers regulated primarily by Ontario, will be affected by the Modernized Disclosure Requirements. The breakdown of these 338 reporting issuers with mining projects by their stage of development is:
- Production – 54 issuers (16%)
- Development (Mineral Reserve) – 40 issuers (12%)
- Development (Preliminary Economic Assessment) – 26 issuers (8%)
- Mineral Resource – 51 issuers (15%)
- Exploration – 156 issuers (46%)
- Royalty – 11 issuers (3%)
Estimated costs and benefits
The OSC anticipates the Modernized Disclosure Requirements to have minimal effects on existing compliance costs for issuers who already prepare disclosure under the current requirements. While some one-time onboarding costs are expected, the OSC estimates that the overall impact of the Modernized Disclosure Requirements on compliance costs will be minimal.
The OSC believes the Modernized Disclosure Requirements will generate material cost savings for mining issuers with Ontario as their principal regulator, in some cases up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, by streamlining filings and reducing burdens on external consultants, particularly qualified persons.
Background
The Modernized Disclosure Requirements aim to enhance Canada's mining disclosure regime to address evolving disclosure practices and policy considerations identified by CSA staff and market participants. In April 2022, the CSA published Consultation Paper 43-101 Consultation on National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (the Consultation Paper). The Modernized Disclosure Requirements address the comments expressed by reporting issuers, individuals, consulting and law firms, regulatory organizations and advocacy groups, including groups representing Indigenous Peoples, in response to the Consultation Paper.
The Modernized Disclosure Requirements are designed to remove or replace certain definitions that have become outdated, modernize and streamline certain requirements to reflect current industry practice, remove certain requirements that have become outdated, provide clarification and guidance on certain definitions and requirements and make other minor drafting changes to clarify disclosure requirements.
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