Government Funding for Research And Development in Canadian Mining Sector

The Ontario Centres of Excellence and the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation have recently partnered with the Mining sector and NSERC to provide $2 million in Canadian Government funding for university and industry based transformative research & development projects in productivity, energy, water and waste related to Ontario’s Mining Industry and its Value Chain. This is the Industry Academia Collaboration Program (IACP).

OCE-CEMI-NSERC Mining Manufacturing Program Business Funding Grants Benefits

These small business funding grants will act as a catalyst to companies and researchers in the non-mining sectors to participate in the initiative, which will allow for cross-sector expertise and the collaboration of new methods. The majority of the Ontario government funding will be handled through the participating university partners. Any participating company will have full access to researchers, the results of the research and development projects and the graduates. Research projects should focus on one of the areas below:

• Transformative productivity improvements for the mining and related sectors
• Management of energy for the mining and related sectors
• Management of water for the mining and related sectors
• Waste management for the mining and related sectors

Canadian Government Grants Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for up to $400K per project, you must possess a firm offer of an academic appointment at an NSERC-eligible Canadian university. The appointment can be tenured, tenured-track or lifetime professor position, or a term contract position of no less than three years. Additionally, colleges and not-for-profit research organizations can act as co-investigators. This grant funding for business can go towards salaries and benefits not paid by public institutions, equipment, materials and supplies, project management and travel.

A project that delivers high impact for the contributing research dollars may be funded for a Total Project Cash Value of $400k + $80k industry in kind from local Universities. The contributions would allocated as follows: Industry cash $80K (minimum) + OCE $80K + CEMI $80K + NSERC $160K.

Important Funding for Small Business Application Dates

• June 28^th: One-day Partnership Forum at the Royal York in Toronto to learn more about the needs of the mining sector and to network with potential academic and industry project collaborators and OCE, CEMI and NSERC staff. To register, please visit the Mining Partnership Forum page.
• July 27^th: Expression of Interests are submitted to OCE-CEMI through OCE’s online system. All application details can be found on the forms and visit the Collaborative Research and Development Grants page.
• September 7^th: First draft due to NSERC CRD Program
• October 5^th: Full proposals due to NSERC CRD Program

Canadian Government Funding Application Support

If you are a company interested in learning more about this program and other small business funding grants opportunities, please contact our Canadian Government Funding Expert or attend on of our Free 60 Minute Small Business Funding Workshops. For recent updates on other government funding mechanisms available to your business, follow us on Twitter.