The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Québec rendered a decision to reject Construction Norascon inc.’s request for an exclusive lease to mine surface mineral substances.
Initially, Fasken filed a notice of appeal to the Court of Québec and a motion to produce additional evidence according to section 300 of the Mining Act.
In the judgment rendered by the Court of Québec, the Court ruled in favour of a motion of dismissal filed by the Minister on the ground that the decision rendered by the Minister under section 142 of the Mining Act is not appealable.
The Court nonetheless establishes that it would have accepted Norascon’s request to file additional evidence. As such, this is the first judgment to confirm the right of an appellant to file additional evidence.
Following the Court of Québec’s judgment, Construction Norascon inc. filed a motion for judicial review before the Superior Court of Québec.
There are very few cases dealing with the Mining Act in the Province of Québec; the Court of Québec’s judgment as well as the one rendered by the Superior Court of Québec will be useful for any mining cases and particularly those dealing with exclusive lease to mine surface mineral substances.
A Fasken team composed of Maxime-Arnaud Keable and Benoît Mailloux acted for Construction Norascon inc. in connection with this case.
Jurisdiction
- Québec
