Rules & Regulations

The Aggregate Resources Act and Regulations

The purposes of the Act are:

• to provide for the management of the aggregate resources of Ontario;
• to control and regulate aggregate operations on both Crown lands and private lands;
• to require the progressive and final rehabilitation of land from which aggregate has been excavated; and
• to minimize the adverse impact on the environment from aggregate operations.

The Act and the regulations apply to the excavation of:

• All aggregate and topsoil on Crown land and all Crown-owned aggregate;
• All aggregate from land under natural water bodies; and
• All aggregate on private land in designated areas of the province.

The Act and the regulations do not apply where:

• material is not defined as “aggregate” under the Act;
• material is excluded from the definition of “rock” under the Act; or
• material is being extracted through underground mining (i.e. not open pit).

The term ‘aggregate’ is defined by the Act as: gravel, sand, clay, earth, shale, stone, limestone, dolostone, sandstone, marble, granite, and rock .

‘Rock’ does not include metallic ores, andalusite, asbestos, barite, coal, diamond, graphite, gypsum, kaolin, kyanite, lepidolite, magnesite, mica, nepheline syenite, petalite, phosphate rock, salt, sillimanite, spodumene, talc, or wollastonite.

Underground aggregate mining and materials exempted from the definition of ‘rock’ are regulated under the Mining Act. The Mining Act is administered by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM).

The Aggregate Resources of Ontario Provincial Standards

The Provincial Standards were developed to provide concise, up-front and user-friendly requirements for the delivery of the Aggregate Resources Act.

They set out:

• standard criteria for licence, aggregate permit and wayside permit applications;
• standard conditions (referred to as ‘prescribed conditions') that must be attached to every new issuance of a licence, aggregate permit and wayside permit; and
• operational standards for licences, aggregate permits and wayside permits that apply to every site regulated under the Act.

Other Provincial & Federal Legislation Affecting Aggregate Extraction

The issuance of a licence or permit under the Aggregate Resources Act does not relieve the individual or company from meeting the requirements of other agencies and applicable legislation. Aggregate operations may also require additional information or approvals under other legislation, both during the application stage and throughout the life of the operation (e.g. Planning Act, Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, Greenbelt Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, Ontario Water Resources Act, Environmental Protection Act).

Click here to see a list of other legislation affecting aggregate extraction.