There are a number of important dates that must be disclosed when a Qualified Person (QP) is preparing a technical report for securities purposes. The dates are discussed in NI43-101 and the Form of the Technical Report, NI43-101F1.

• Effective date of the technical report
• Possible revision date of the report
• Effective date of mineral resources and mineral reserves
• Date of the personal inspection (site visit)
• Signature date of the date report (execution date)
• Date of the certificate of the QP
• Date of the consent of the QP

The effective date of the report is basically the cut-off date for the information that is included in the technical report. The effective date should be close to the signature date. If there is too long a period between these dates, the QP runs the risk of new material information becoming available and then the technical report would no longer be current. The effective date is disclosed on the title page of the report and on the signature page.

If a technical report needs to be revised to correct problems or disclosure deficiencies identified by the regulators, the QP will normally need to include a revision date on the title page of the report to distinguish the revised version from the original version. In these circumstances, the regulators will request that the original date of the report remain on the title page and the revised date will be below it. When a technical report must be revised, the QP must resign and date the signature page of the report and provide a new certificate and consent.

The effective date of the Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves estimate is the date when these estimates are current. This is usually the cutoff date for data to be included in the estimate. It may precede the effective date of the report by a considerable amount of time because of the amount of work required to complete a Mineral Resources or Mineral Reserves estimate.

The signature date of the report is the date that the report is actually signed by the QP. Part 5.2 of NI43- 101 refers to this as an execution date, while Item 24 of the Form NI43-101F1 refers to this date as the date of signature. The signature date goes on the signature page of the report, which is generally the last page.

The date of the most recent personal inspection is disclosed in the certificate of the QP, which is discussed in Section 8.1(1) of NI43-101. The QP must disclose in his/her certificate whether they visited the site or not. At least one of the QPs who is involved in the preparation of the technical report must visit the site. The most appropriate QP(s) must visit the site. For example, if the technical report describes an operating mine with a history of metallurgical recovery issues, we would expect the metallurgical engineer to visit the site. Often a QP has visited a particular property in the past and asks the regulators if a new site visit is necessary. If there has been new material information on the property, such as a drilling program, the QP must make a current site visit.

The certificate of the QP is actually a separate document from the technical report. Generally, when the report is first prepared, the certificate is included with the report and is dated at that time. However, if the technical report is still current, the issuer may need that technical report at a later time to support disclosure in another required filing. At that time, the QP will have to file a new certificate with the current date. Section 8.1(1)(i) of NI43-101 requires the QP to certify that, as of the date of the certificate, to the best of his/her knowledge, information, and belief, the technical report contains all scientific and technical information that is required to be disclosed to make the technical report not misleading.

The consent of the QP contains several dates. The QP must disclose the date of the document that he/she has read, the date of the technical report that supports the disclosure in the document, and the date when the QP signs the consent. When the filing of a technical report is triggered, the QP is required to provide a consent. Therefore, the date of the consent will depend on that timing.

About the Author

Deborah McCombe, executive vice president and consulting geologist, Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates Inc.