Claim Renewal Paperwork Feature — Staker Tier

Date: 2026-04-08

Feature: Auto-generate renewal paperwork and email to customer

The Pain Point

BC sends zero notice before claim forfeiture. From the BC MMINISTRY's own page:

> *"Failure to maintain a claim results in automatic forfeiture at the end (midnight) of the expiry date; there is no notice to the claim holder prior to forfeiture."*

This means:

A prospector with 10 claims needs to manually track 10 expiry dates
Missing one = losing the claim, possibly forever
Renewal requires calculating hectares x $/ha, determining if work or cash-in-lieu, filling out forms
BC MTO (Mineral Titles Online) requires Business BCeID + Free Miner Certificate

One missed expiry on a good claim can cost $10,000+ in lost ground value.

Renewal Cost Reference (from BC MMINISTRY, June 2025)

### Mineral Claims

Anniversary Year	Work (per ha)	Cash-in-Lieu (per ha)
Years 1-2	$5/ha	$10/ha
Years 3-4	$10/ha	$20/ha
Years 5-6	$15/ha	$30/ha
Years 7+	$20/ha	$40/ha

### Placer Claims

Type	Cost per ha
Work	$20/ha
Cash-in-lieu	$40/ha

Note: Minimum claim size = ~16.5 ha (1 cell). Most mineral claims = 16.5-500 ha.

What We Auto-Generate

For each expiring claim, we generate an email package containing:

### 1. Renewal Summary Email

Subject: [ACTION REQUIRED] 3 claims expiring in 60 days — renewal packages ready

Body:

List of claims with tenure ID, name, hectares, expiry date, renewal cost
Clearly show which are mineral vs. placer
Calculate total renewal cost for all claims combined
Cash-in-lieu vs. work option clearly compared
Big CTA: "Review & Sign Your Paperwork" button

### 2. MTO Registration Prep Sheet (PDF attachment or inline HTML)

For each claim:

```

TENURE ID: [from DB]

CLAIM NAME: [from DB]

HECTARES: [from DB]

EXPIRY DATE: [from DB]

ANNIVERSARY YEAR: [calculated]

RENEWAL OPTION: [work or CIL — recommend based on their history]

WORK OPTION COST: $[calculated]

CASH-IN-LIEU COST: $[calculated]

RECOMMENDED: [work or CIL with reasoning]

MTO STEPS:

1. Log into MTO: https://mtonline.gov.bc.ca

2. Navigate to: Mineral Claim > Maintenance > Register Work [or CIL]

3. Enter tenure ID: [X]

4. Select anniversary year

5. Enter work type and description [or payment amount]

6. Attach work report [for work option]

7. Submit before: [expiry date]

```

### 3. Work Report Template (for work option)

If they did actual work (geological mapping, sampling, etc.), we pre-fill:

Work type codes from BC MMINISTRY list
Date range of work
Description template
Estimated cost breakdown

Alert Timeline

Days Before Expiry	Action
90 days	First email: "Claims expiring in 90 days. Review your options."
60 days	Second email: Full renewal package with paperwork
30 days	Third email: URGENT — "30 days to renew. Click here to review paperwork."
7 days	Final SMS/Discord: "URGENT — [Claim Name] expires in 7 days. Submit now."
Expired	Email: "Your claim has expired. Here are your options."

What We CAN and CANNOT Do

### CAN Do

Pull claim data from our claims.db (tenure ID, area, expiry date, owner)
Calculate renewal costs automatically from BC fee schedule
Generate pre-filled MTO registration prep sheets
Email the paperwork package to the customer for review
Track which customers have completed renewals
Remind customers via email + SMS (if subscribed)

### CANNOT Do (legal limitation)

Submit to MTO on behalf of the customer — requires their BCeID + FMC login
Pre-authorize payments from their account
Sign documents on their behalf

### CAN Do as Premium Add-On ($50/claim)

Chris reviews their paperwork and submits via MTO on their behalf
Requires customer to email Chris their BCeID credentials OR be present on a screen share
Risk: BCeID credentials are sensitive — use screen-share approach only
This is a concierge service, not automated

Implementation

### Database Changes

```sql

ALTER TABLE customers ADD COLUMN auto_renewal_enabled BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE;

ALTER TABLE customers ADD COLUMN preferred_renewal_method TEXT DEFAULT 'work'; -- 'work' or 'cil'

ALTER TABLE customers ADD COLUMN renewal_email TEXT; -- override email if different from account email

ALTER TABLE customers ADD COLUMN last_renewal_reminder TEXT; -- ISO date

```

### New Tables

```sql

CREATE TABLE renewal_alerts (

id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,

tenure_id TEXT,

customer_token TEXT,

expiry_date TEXT,

hectares REAL,

claim_type TEXT, -- 'mineral' or 'placer'

anniversary_year INTEGER,

work_cost REAL,

cil_cost REAL,

alert_90_sent INTEGER DEFAULT 0,

alert_60_sent INTEGER DEFAULT 0,

alert_30_sent INTEGER DEFAULT 0,

alert_7_sent INTEGER DEFAULT 0,

renewed INTEGER DEFAULT 0,

renewed_date TEXT

);

```

### New Script: renewal_checker.py

Runs daily:

1. Query claims.db for claims with expiry within 90 days

2. Match to customers who have registered those claims in their watchlist

3. Generate renewal alerts

4. Send emails on schedule (90/60/30/7 days)

5. Log sent alerts to renewal_alerts table

### Email Template

Use Python stdlib smtplib or a transactional email service. For simplicity:

SendGrid or AWS SES for reliable delivery
Or use existing Discord webhook as fallback (less professional)

### Cron Job

Add: renewal_checker.py runs daily at 9:00 AM local time

Pricing Implication

Staker ($30/mo) includes:

Claim expiry calendar (dashboard)
Adjacent claim alerts
FN engagement summaries
90/60/30/7-day renewal reminder emails with pre-filled paperwork

Staker+ ($50/mo — NEW):

Everything in Staker
Chris submits MTO renewal on your behalf (concierge)
You just review and confirm the email package, Chris handles the rest

What Customers Actually Need to Submit to MTO

For cash-in-lieu renewal (simpler):

1. Tenure ID

2. Payment amount (we calculate)

3. Payment method: credit card or PAC credits

For work renewal (cheaper but more work):

1. Tenure ID

2. Work type (geological, geophysical, drilling, etc.)

3. Work description

4. Work cost breakdown

5. Work report (PDF, following BC MMINISTRY guidelines)

6. Exploration permit number (if applicable)

Our paperwork package pre-fills items 1-4 for both options. Customer needs to attach their work report.

Critical Workflow: Work Report Generation

The most valuable automation for work renewals: generate the work report template.

If a customer did geological mapping, sampling, or surveying, we can:

1. Ask them to input what work they did (simple form on their dashboard)

2. Auto-generate a BC MMINISTRY-compliant work report template

3. They fill in the technical details

4. They attach to MTO submission

This saves a prospector hours of form work.

Competitive Landscape

ClaimGuards (US-focused, BLM system) — not applicable to BC
BC MMINISTRY — no auto-reminder service
Mining lawyers/consultants — charge $200-500 for renewal filing service
Our advantage: We already have the claim data. We know the expiry dates. We can generate the paperwork automatically.

At $30/mo, if we prevent one missed expiry on a single claim, we've paid for years of subscription.

Next Steps

1. Add auto_renewal_enabled column to customers.json

2. Build renewal_checker.py script

3. Build email template library

4. Test with Chris's own claims first

5. Add to customer onboarding flow

6. Cron: daily at 9 AM

7. Track: open rates, renewal completion rates