Saskatchewan Critical Minerals Innovation Incentive (SCMII)

Program Description

A transferable Crown royalty and freehold production tax credit worth 25% of eligible capital and operating costs for pilot or commercial-scaling projects that deploy an innovation new to Saskatchewan's aluminum, cobalt, copper, gallium, helium, lithium, magnesium, natural graphite, nickel, rare earth elements or zinc industry. The innovation must be at minimum SCMII Technology Readiness Level 7 and the project must involve at least CAD$1 million in eligible costs. Per-project credits are capped at CAD$5 million (25% of CAD$20 million in recognized eligible costs). Because the credits are fully transferable through the province's IRIS system, a technology company that pays no Crown royalties can still earn credits and sell them to an oil, gas or helium royalty payer.

Eligibility Requirements

• Must be an incorporated corporate entity — the application form requires a copy of the company's Certificate of Incorporation, and the program defines the applicant as "the corporate entity that submits an application to the SCMII program"
• Project must be deployed in Saskatchewan
• Project must involve a qualifying material: aluminum, cobalt, copper, gallium, helium, lithium, magnesium, natural graphite, nickel, rare earth elements or zinc
• The innovation must be assessed at minimum SCMII Technology Readiness Level 7 (prototype ready for demonstration in an operational environment)
• The innovation must be either new to Saskatchewan's industry for that qualifying material with no equivalent in the Saskatchewan market, OR have an equivalent in Saskatchewan but be demonstrated at a significantly different commercial scale or under significantly different conditions that add novelty or new technical challenges
• The project must concern an activity whose aim is ONE of: improving recovery of a qualifying material; managing adverse environmental impacts; increasing value-added processing capacity; or commercializing production byproducts or waste for a qualifying material
• Project must involve a minimum investment of CAD$1 million in eligible capital and operating costs
• Project must not have become operational before the application is submitted — projects cannot be submitted retroactively
• Feasibility studies and exploration activities, including work to upgrade resource and reserve estimates, are not eligible projects
• Eligible costs must be incurred on or after April 1, 2024 (or on or after January 1, 2018 for helium or lithium projects)
• The application should include a Technology Supplier Letter from technology vendors and/or partners confirming the project deploys an eligible innovation
• An aggregated multi-site project may only combine components belonging to a single corporate entity — a parent and its subsidiaries count as one entity, but a partnership agreement between two standalone companies does not qualify
• Final eligible costs must be audited by a licensed Chartered Professional Accountant operating at arm's length from the applicant, issued as an Assurance Report under Canadian Auditing Standards (CAS) 805
• Applicants do NOT need to be a producer or a Crown royalty payer — credits are fully transferable to any corporate entity holding an IRIS Business Associate ID