Canada and UK: Critical Minerals Sustainability and Circularity

Receive up to $500K in Critical Minerals Funding.

The Critical Minerals Sustainability and Circularity program is a one-of-a-kind funding opportunity available to Canada and the United Kingdom. This program offers contribution funding in partnership with the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom to foster and support collaborative industrial R&D projects focused on developing innovative products, processes, or technology-based services in the area of critical minerals technologies.

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Critical Minerals Sustainability and Circularity

Amount of Funding

Up to 50% reimbursement for eligible Canadian SMEs to a maximum of $500,000 over 12-24 months.

Amount of Funding from the Canadian Government

Critical Minerals Sustainability and Circularity

Eligible Applicants

Applicants must form a project consortium and develop a collaborative R&D project that meets the following criteria:

  • Canadian SME applicants must:
    • Have 500 or fewer FTEs;
    • Have a differentiated and protectable technology with commercial potential in global markets; and
    • Have sufficient working capital and resources for multi-year R&D.
  • Preference may be given to SME applicants who have a minimum of 15 FTEs, have commercialized 1 or more products, and have greater than $500K in revenue
  • The project must include complementary technological contribution from a UK partner. UK organizations are subject to additional eligibility requirements.
Eligible Applicants for Canadian Government Funding

Critical Minerals Sustainability and Circularity

Eligible Activities

Projects must focus on innovative technologies that enable development of circular solutions for critical minerals (CM) and their supply chains. The project focus should be on the minerals and not on the end application performance. Projects must focus on 1 or more of the following themes:

  • Enhanced Circularity in Critical Minerals
    • Battery systems: improving recovery or efficiency of recovery from battery systems or from battery waste.
    • High-performance permanent magnet system: safe and economic identification, collection, sorting, separation, dismantling of rare earth element (REE) containing end-of-life products or novel and sustainable routes for processing of recovered REE materials.
  • More Sustainable Use of Critical Minerals
    • Processing and manufacturing: novel manufacturing methods and processes across the value chain to enhance circularity and sustainability of CM.
    • Reduction in use: novel approaches to reduce reliance on existing CM or complete substitution of critical minerals and systems.
  • Innovations in Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG) for Critical Minerals
    • Life cycle analysis and sustainability models for LCA of CM;
    • Measurement and accounting for embedded carbon, radioactivity and other environmental and societal impacts of REE; and
    • Provenance (e.g. material passports, digitization, traceability) of CM and systems.
Eligible Expenses for Canadian Government Funding

Critical Minerals Sustainability and Circularity

Program Deadline

  • Canadian registration deadline: December 15, 2023.
  • Canadian expression of interest deadline: January 12, 2024.
  • International consortium project proposal deadline: April 3, 2024.
Program Deadline for Canadian Government Funding
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