Print4.2.2: The National Instrument 43-101
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) developed and released this legal standard, which is referred to as NI 43-101, in 2001. This standard was built on various codes and policies that had been around for many years, as were the standards developed in Australia and the U.S. The standard provides definitions for qualified persons, feasibility studies, and mineral resource categories. We’ve talked about the last two here in class, but not the first. I’ll leave that reading to you. Please visit this link to the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves.
As you read through it, take special note of what constitutes a qualified person. Also, note the use of the term modifying factors to describe both the steps to convert a resource to a reserve and the factors that can affect how much of the resource can be converted to a reserve. Finally, you will no doubt be interested in their definition of a pre-feasibility versus a feasibility study. Although it is not part of the standard, the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) has prepared and made publicly available a series of best practice documents on the estimation of mineral resources and reserves. Best practice documents are always worth consulting. You may learn something new that you were unaware of, even as a practicing professional. Further, if you deviate from practices that are considered industry-standard practices, you expose yourself to sanctions, lawsuits, and so on. Please visit this Best Practices - Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves document. I suggest that you download it along with the previous document, and save it for future use. At this time, please quickly scan this document to familiarize yourself with the kind of information that it contains so that in the future you will be able to refer to it when you need more detailed guidance.
The “heart and soul” of the standard is known as Form 43-101 F1. This form essentially specifies the table of contents for the report, and in so doing, is specifying all of the topics that must be addressed in the report. Detailed instructions are given for each of the topical areas. As before, I recommend that you read through this document and save it for future use.