AME presses Ottawa to honour exploration credit promise

The Association of Mineral Exploration (AME) is pressing Ottawa to expand Canadian Exploration Expense eligibility to cover project-advancement work, saying financing gaps are stalling critical-mineral projects after discovery.

In a July 17 letter to Finance and National Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne, the AME called for broader eligibility or a new project-advancement tax credit. More than 65 companies and groups signed the letter, including Newmont (NYSE, ASX: NEM), 1911 Gold (TSXV: AUMB; US-OTC: AUMBF), the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada and the Mining Association of Canada.

“If Canada wants more critical minerals, a more secure supply chain and greater economic resilience, we need to support the work that gets discoveries there,” AME president and CEO Todd Stone said a statement.

The request targets the costly technical work between discovery and construction, a stage AME says Ottawa’s tax rules do not adequately support.

Canada strong

The Liberals made expanding expense eligibility part of their 2025 Canada Strong campaign platform, billed as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to stand up to Donald Trump. The party pledged to include engineering, economic and feasibility studies for critical-mineral projects to attract and reduce the risk of investment.

The November budget added 12 minerals to the credit but left project-advancement work ineligible.

Project bottlenecks

Only one critical-mineral mine has entered commercial production since Canada launched its Critical Minerals Strategy in 2022, AME said. The group argues that many projects stall between discovery and construction even when the geology is strong.

“Project advancement is not optional or secondary work. It’s the stage that proves whether a discovery is technically sound, economically viable and ready to move toward construction,” Stone said.