Is it possible that the work will include blocking out ore for production?

This will not occur. The regulations say that the work cannot go beyond a normal delineation and sampling of a mineral deposit and cannot be done mainly for mining or mining preparation.

Is there any sort of activity that the Office of Minerals Exploration takes upon the application?
This is an application that is looked over to see if the information that has been asked for has been submitted. Otherwise, the applicant might be requested to provide the information they thought they missed. After the application has been completed, and if the facts go along with it, a field examination of the property might be carried out by the government, normally with the applicant, before they come to final decision. A government field examination is not carried out only by the request of the applicant.

If the application is approved, what happens next?
If the application is approved, the Office of Minerals Exploration will offer the person a contract. The contract consists of an agreement between the government and the operator. The exact details of the contract can change though depending on the specific project that is being carried out. Nonetheless the specific obligations and most important ones in every contract are that the government will give to the costs of the exploration work and that the operator is to perform the work and repay the government’s contribution with interest by loyalty on any production that is made from the property. The main elements of an exploration contract include, a full description of the land where the work is to be performed; a very specific statement of the work that is going to be carried out; a time limit, usually no more than two years, in which the work needs to be finished; a cost estimate; provisions for the contribution of the government to costs and to repayment with interest to the government in case there is production. The contract in addition comes with the standard provisions that have to do with non discrimination, eight hour laws, settlement of disputes, and rebate of wages.