Critical Minerals Research, Development, and Demonstration Program – Wave 2 (CMRDD2)

The Critical Minerals Research, Development, and Demonstration Program – Wave 2 (CMRDD2) offers contribution funding to advance technological solutions to improve the production of critical minerals at several stages, such as processing, downstream product manufacturing, and recycling.

This program aims to advance the commercial readiness of emerging processing technologies and to provide raw material inputs for use in batteries and permanent magnets, advanced manufacturing supply chains, semiconductors, information and communication technologies, and critical infrastructure value chains for commercialization.

The CMRDD2 seeks to validate the feasibility, viability, and reproducibility of processing technologies by conducting pilot demonstrations.

Funding Snapshot: Critical Minerals Research, Development, and Demonstration Program – Wave 2 (CMRDD2)

Funding Amount:

Canadian businesses that are eligible to receive grant funding through the CMRDD2 program can receive:

• 75% of eligible project costs up to $5M per project for for-profit recipients; and
• 100% of eligible project costs up to $5M per project for all other recipients.

Eligible Applicants:

• Legal entities validly incorporated or registered in Canada, including:
• For-profit and not-for-profit organizations such as, industry associations, and research associations; and
• Community groups.
• Academic institutions;
• Provincial, territorial, regional, and municipal governments and their departments and agencies; and
• Indigenous groups.

Eligible Projects:

For an eligible business to have their project approved, their innovative technology must meet the following criteria:

• Be at the technology readiness level (TRL) 6-7-8;
• Produce key critical minerals – the focus is on nickel, cobalt, lithium, graphite, manganese, vanadium, titanium, gallium, scandium, magnesium, tellurium, zinc, niobium, germanium, antimony, indium and cesium, and the specific rare earth elements of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, gadolinium, and terbium; and
• Focus on critical minerals processing, critical minerals inputs to manufacturing, and/or recycling. They also need to fall within one of the three priority focus areas:
• Clean technologies (focusing on zero-emission vehicles batteries);
• Advanced manufacturing (focusing on permanent magnets); and/or
• Information and communications technologies (focusing on semi-conductors).

Eligible Costs Categories:

If your business and project are both eligible to receive CMRDD2 funding, then the following expenses can be included towards your non-repayable grant funding:

• Salaries and benefits;
• Professional, scientific, technical, and contracting services;
• Training, workshops, and facility costs for seminars, conference room rentals, etc.;
• Travel expenditures;
• Capital expenditures;
• Overhead expenditures;
• , PST, or HST; and
• Other expenses.

Apply for Critical Minerals Research, Development, and Demonstration Program – Wave 2 (CMRDD2):

Businesses eligible to apply for the CMRDD2 grant must submit their application by September 29, 2023. Successful candidates will be notified on or before November 30, 2023. This program will include eligible project costs up until March 31, 2027.

Learn when to apply for Canadian government funding programs and find out when their application windows typically open and close by downloading our free When to Apply for Funding guide PDF.