Last August 16, the Canadian Securities Administrators
("CSA") published CSA Staff Notice 43-307,
Mining Technical Reports – Preliminary Economic
Assessments ("Notice 43-307″) to clarify
various issues surrounding the use and disclosure of a
"preliminary economic
assessment" as defined in Regulation 43-101
respecting Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects
("Regulation 43-101″).
In June 2011, the CSA amended Regulation 43-101 to protect
investors from uncorroborated assertions about mineral resources
and with a view to balancing compliance costs and regulatory
efficiency.
At that time, the CSA amended the definition of the expression
"preliminary economic assessment" so that issuers could
announce the results of conceptual or preliminary economic studies
in a broader range of situations. One year later, the CSA noticed
that some issuers were disclosing preliminary economic assessments
in situations and using terms and conditions that were
