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Victoria, BC - The British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines, Mineral Titles Branch, was presented with an Award of Excellence at ESRI Canada's 2005 Regional User Conference in Victoria today. Alex Miller, President of ESRI Canada, presented the Award in recognition of the Mineral Titles Branch's innovative application of internet mapping technology in their Mineral Tenures On-Line (MTO) system. Mr. Rick Conte, Director of the Mineral Titles Branch was on hand to receive the award.
"Each year we like to honour one of our many deserving clients with an Award of Excellence," said Mr. Miller. "This year we have chosen to recognize the Mineral Titles Branch of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, as they have deployed an innovative solution for granting Mineral Tenures and have achieved, in a very short period of time, a fundamental shift in the way these rights are granted in British Columbia." MTO is an Internet-based mineral titles administration system that allows the mineral exploration industry to acquire and maintain mineral titles by selecting an area on a seamless digital GIS map of British Columbia and pay the associated fees electronically. Some key benefits of Mineral Titles Online are:
Using modern Internet technology and state-of-the-art mapping software that includes ESRI's ArcIMS and ArcSDE, Mineral Titles Online brings claim acquisition and title maintenance for British Columbia into the 21st century. "Establishing secure title information on an accurate digital map base that is integrated with other online resources, streamlines the entire claim acquisition process," said Mr. Conte. "The process makes information more accessible, and ensures that submissions are fair and competitive for industry. This will allow for greater long-term investment in exploration." The initial phase of the project implementation was completed in January 2005 and allows users to perform a wide variety of tasks including: viewing spatial and attribute data online, user authentication, selection of claim tenure for acquisition, payment for tenure rights, and maintenance of claims by registration of exploration and development. The map selection tool within MTO allows users to acquire mineral claims by selecting the area on a seamless digital GIS map of British Columbia. There will no longer be a requirement to physically mark a claim on the ground for acquisition purposes.
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