How Courts are Leading Change for Mining Law in BC with International Standards

Mining is a global industry where jurisdictions are endowed with different amounts of natural resources and then create institutional frameworks to regulate the extraction of their endowment by local or global entities. As metal prices reach all-time highs, there is more competition than ever among different jurisdictions to attract global investment and encourage local business development based on all aspects of mining. However, there is also an increase in the prevalence of international legal frameworks to create minimum standards for mining. For example, the province of British Columbia in Canada created a new law in 2019 that was used by the courts in 2023 to force the executive branch to make changes that the legislative branch was already working on to roll out in 2027. This article details the ongoing story of BC, where different branches of government interact with each other in new ways based on provincial laws that implement an international framework.