Public exploration datasets in British Columbia

British Columbia has an unusually deep public record of mineral occurrences and exploration work. The challenge is understanding what each database represents — and what it does not.

Public mineral-exploration data in British Columbia is not a single, uniform dataset. It is a stack of records created for different purposes: geological mapping, mineral inventory, tenure administration, exploration reporting and historical preservation. Two sources sit near the centre of that stack.

• MINFILE is a curated inventory of known mineral occurrences. Think of it as an occurrence-level index and geological summary: one record per showing, prospect, deposit or mine.
• ARIS is an archive of technical assessment reports filed by industry. Think of it as the underlying work record: maps, sample results, drilling, geophysics, interpretations and expenditures from individual exploration programs.

The relationship is similar to a library catalogue and the books on the shelves. MINFILE tells you that an occurrence exists, where it is, what commodities and deposit characteristics are associated with it, and which sources describe it. ARIS often contains the detailed evidence behind that summary.

At a glance

MINFILE is the British Columbia Geological Survey's provincial mineral inventory. A MINFILE record represents a specific occurrence — such as an anomaly, showing, prospect, developed prospect, producer or past producer — rather than a single sample, drillhole or exploration campaign.

The official BCGS landing page describes more than 14,750 metallic, industrial-mineral and coal mines, deposits and occurrences. The live unfiltered search returned 16,261 total records on July 20, 2026. Because the public interfaces are updated on different schedules and summarize coverage differently, it is most useful to think of MINFILE as a database of roughly 15,000 to 16,000 occurrence records — not as a fixed static count.

How MINFILE records are created and curated

MINFILE is maintained by the B.C. Geological Survey's MINFILE team. New occurrences and revisions are entered through a structured coding system, assigned a unique MINFILE number, and placed into a review and approval workflow before becoming publicly available. The coding framework uses controlled lists and standardized codes for many fields, with built-in validation intended to reduce spelling variation and inconsistent terminology.

The compilation process is interpretive rather than automatic. MINFILE geologists assemble information from ARIS assessment reports, BCGS and Geological Survey of Canada publications, topographic and geological maps, Property File documents, production records, claim information and other referenced sources. The objective stated in the coding guidance is to maintain a dataset that is as accurate and complete as possible.

This matters because MINFILE is not simply a dump of industry data. It is a normalized summary prepared from many sources, sometimes spanning decades of exploration under different property names, operators, coordinate systems and geological interpretations.

What information is typically available

• Identity and location: MINFILE number, primary and alternate names, map-sheet references, coordinates, mining division and geographic comments.
• Development status: anomaly, showing, prospect, developed prospect, producer, past producer or unknown.
• Commodities and mineralogy: primary and secondary commodities, significant and associated minerals, gangue minerals and alteration minerals.
• Geological context: host rocks, stratigraphy, lithology, geological setting, structure, metamorphism, alteration and interpreted deposit type.
• Economic information: historical production, reported inventories or representative assays when available. These figures are quoted from referenced sources rather than independently calculated by the ministry.
• Capsule geology and work history: a narrative synopsis that may cover location, regional and local geology, mineralization, exploration history, representative grades, production and references.
• Bibliography and cross-references: links or citations to assessment reports, government publications, Property File documents and other supporting material.

Strengths — and the caveats that matter

Strength: fast provincial screening. MINFILE is highly effective for identifying known occurrences, recognizing mineralized trends, finding analogues and quickly learning the vocabulary used for a district.

Caveat: the record is a summary. The capsule geology is intended to synthesize the most important characteristics, not replace original reports or provide a definitive geological model.

Caveat: coordinate quality varies. A location can represent an adit, trench, outcrop, drill site, claim centre or other significant point. Older locations may have been derived from small-scale maps and later converted between coordinate systems. Always check the location comment and the cited source before treating a point as survey-grade.

Caveat: economic figures require context. Historical "reserves," "resources," inventories and assays may pre-date modern reporting standards. MINFILE explicitly notes that ministry staff quote these figures from industry sources and publications; users should return to the original source for definitions, dates and assumptions.

MINFILE is usually the best place to discover that something exists. It is rarely the last place to verify what it means.

ARIS — the Assessment Report Indexing System — is the public collection of technical assessment reports and related data from mineral and placer exploration and development properties across British Columbia. Report filing began in 1947. As of July 20, 2026, the live database contained 41,708 approved reports.

Why ARIS reports are created

Assessment reports document exploration and development work performed on mineral tenures. Filing is tied to the province's assessment-credit and tenure-maintenance regime: operators submit reports to record eligible work, retain their claims and satisfy regulatory requirements. Reports are reviewed by the BCGS before being approved and released to the public archive.

What information can be found in an ARIS report

• Property and tenure context: property name, claims, owners, operators, authors, access, physiography, infrastructure and work dates.
• Geological work: mapping, lithological descriptions, structural measurements, alteration, mineralization, petrography and geological interpretation.
• Geochemistry: soil, silt, stream-sediment, till, rock and drill-core sampling; sample locations; preparation and analytical methods; assay certificates and result tables.
• Geophysics and remote sensing: magnetic, electromagnetic, induced-polarization, resistivity, gravity, radiometric, seismic, LiDAR and other surveys, often with maps and processed grids.
• Drilling and physical work: collar coordinates, azimuth and dip, downhole surveys, lithology logs, sample intervals, assays, trenching, stripping, road work and underground development.
• Interpretation and recommendations: targets, anomalies, cross-sections, models, conclusions and proposed follow-up work.
• Cost information: itemized expenditures supporting the assessment-work submission.

The magnitude is much larger than the report count suggests

ARIS contains more than twice as many reports as MINFILE has occurrence records, but the more important difference is granularity. One report can contain dozens of maps, hundreds of samples, thousands of assay results or an entire drill campaign. The report count therefore understates the true volume of observations.

A useful illustration comes from a BCGS project that digitized surface-sediment geochemistry from only about 120 assessment reports: that subset contained more than 34,000 samples and approximately 1.446 million analytical determinations from 13 laboratories. This is not a count for all of ARIS; it demonstrates how much structured data can be embedded inside a relatively small slice of the archive.

The province is progressively extracting selected ARIS content into GIS- and analytics-ready databases, including drillhole and surface-sediment geochemistry compilations. However, most historical value still lives inside report PDFs and associated files rather than in one fully normalized provincial table.

Strengths — and the caveats that matter

Strength: primary-source depth. ARIS holds the actual maps, sample data, drill logs and interpretations that sit behind most modern exploration decisions in the province.

Caveat: filing purpose affects content. A report is designed to document eligible work and meet regulatory requirements. It may not present every internal dataset, failed interpretation or later revision available to the operator.

Caveat: old results need normalization. Analytical methods, detection limits, coordinate datums, units, QA/QC practices and terminology change through time. Comparing results across reports often requires careful conversion and metadata review.

The two systems are most powerful when treated as complementary rather than competing sources. A disciplined desktop review can follow the sequence below.

1. 1
   Define the area and exploration question

   Start with a geographic boundary and a hypothesis: a commodity, deposit style, structural corridor, lithological contact, historical camp or underexplored trend.

2. 2
   Screen MINFILE

   Map all nearby occurrences, then filter by commodity, status, deposit type, host rock and key minerals. Read the capsule geology and bibliography for the most relevant records.

3. 3
   Build an ARIS report set

   Search by MINFILE number, map sheet, property name, claim, operator, commodity, work type and coordinates. Include reports around the target — not only those directly attached to the occurrence.

4. 4
   Read maps before narratives

   Property maps, sample-location maps, geology maps, geophysical plans and drill sections often reveal the program geometry faster than the report text.

5. 5
   Extract structured facts

   Capture coordinates, datum, sample medium, analytical method, detection limits, intervals, grades, survey parameters and references. Keep the original report and page number linked to every extracted value.

6. 6
   Reconcile conflicts

   When MINFILE and ARIS differ, check dates and source references. A later MINFILE revision may synthesize several reports; an ARIS report may contain the more precise original coordinate or description.

7. 7
   Add the missing layers

   Overlay tenure, regional geology, geochemistry, geophysics and Property File material to fill gaps neither MINFILE nor ARIS covers directly.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Searching ARIS only by property name. Property and claim names change. Use spatial searches, map sheets, MINFILE numbers, operators and adjacent claims.
• Copying historical assays without metadata. Record sample type, interval, preparation, analytical method, units, detection limits and QA/QC context.
• Assuming "no ARIS report" means "no work." Some work may be confidential, missing, filed under another property name, captured in older government publications or never submitted for assessment credit.
• Using resource language without date and standard. Historical inventories are useful exploration clues, but they are not automatically current mineral resources or reserves.

A complete B.C. desktop study normally extends well beyond MINFILE and ARIS. Depending on the project, the next layers may include:

• MapPlace 2 and BCGS digital geoscience data: integrated access to geology, mineral inventory, assessment-report locations, geochemistry, geophysics and downloadable spatial layers.
• Regional geochemical survey data: stream sediment, water, till, soil and related analytical datasets collected or compiled by government.
• Bedrock and surficial geology: published maps, digital compilations and explanatory notes at provincial and regional scales.
• Airborne and ground geophysics: government surveys and selected assessment-report products.
• Property File: historical private documents, correspondence, maps and reports acquired by the province that may never have entered ARIS.
• Mineral Titles Online and tenure datasets: current claims, ownership, events, expiry dates and administrative status.

Those sources deserve separate treatment. The key point here is that MINFILE provides the occurrence framework and ARIS provides much of the underlying industry evidence. Together, they are the most common first pass for understanding what has been found, what work has been done and where the historical record remains incomplete.

Prepared as an introductory industry resource. Verify current database records and original technical sources before making exploration, investment or tenure decisions.