The M&E Dispatch // 121

This edition is sponsored by Idle Iron

Hello Everyone,

PM Mark Carney just dropped his first federal budget, and for anyone in mining or energy, this isn’t business as usual, it’s a complete rewire of how Ottawa plans to run the country’s resource economy.

The short version: $280 billion in new spending over five years, a national minerals stockpile, faster approvals, and enough tax incentives to make a CFO feel loved for the first time in years.

Critical Minerals Just Got a Security Clearance

For the first time in Canadian history, critical minerals are now officially classified as a matter of national security under the Defence Production Act.
That’s not symbolic, it means Ottawa can now fast-track projects, guarantee offtakes, and fund mines directly, the same way it would fund tanks or aircraft.

Canada’s already started building a stockpile, beginning with graphite from Nouveau Monde and scandium from Rio Tinto. Another $443 million is going toward securing domestic supplies of copper, lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earths.

If you’re in the business of digging, refining, or moving any of those, this is the moment to start checking what programs you qualify for before someone else does.

The $2 Billion Sovereign Fund

The Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund is small by mining standards but mighty in intent.
It gives Ottawa the power to take equity stakes, backstop loans, and guarantee purchase contracts for projects that might otherwise stall.

In other words, if you’re a legitimate operator with a viable critical minerals project and not just a PowerPoint deck in a hotel ballroom, the government might literally become your business partner.

That signal alone could unlock multiples of private investment.

Infrastructure Gets Its Turn

A recurring theme in Canada’s resource story is “great geology, shame about the road.”

Budget 2025 puts $371 million into a new First and Last Mile fund to fix exactly that. It folds in existing programs and expands them to cover up to $1.5 billion by 2030, focusing on the roads, power, and port connections needed to get near-term projects into production.

If your project could realistically go live in the next four years, it’s time to sharpen those infrastructure maps.

Tax Credits Worth Reading Twice

30% Critical Mineral Exploration Credit (CMETC): Expanded to 27 minerals, including tungsten, tin, and molybdenum.
Clean Tech Manufacturing Credit (CTM ITC): Polymetallic mines now qualify if critical minerals make up at least half of total value.
Super-Deduction: Immediate 100% write-off for new processing and manufacturing facilities used before 2030.

Combined, these measures make Canada one of the most tax-advantaged places in the G7 for building anything related to mining, energy, or processing.

If there’s one place in this budget where you can feel the hand of a former central banker, it’s here, quiet, technical, but powerful.

Oil & Gas: The Cap with Conditions

Ottawa’s infamous emissions cap isn’t gone, but it now comes with a clear exit plan: once carbon markets function, methane regulations are enforced, and carbon capture scales up, the cap “will no longer be required.”

That’s not exactly a love letter to Alberta, but it’s a step toward détente. The CCUS tax credit has also been extended through 2035, giving major projects like Pathways Alliance a path to certainty.

In short: if you can prove your emissions math works, Ottawa’s willing to keep you at the table.

LNG Gets Its Incentives Back

Liquefied natural gas projects, the clean ones, anyway, just got a boost.
Top-performing facilities will now qualify for accelerated write-offs, up to 50% for liquefaction equipment.

It’s a small but clear acknowledgment that LNG still has a role to play in the energy transition, particularly for exports to Asia where coal remains the default.

Fewer Lawyers, More Clarity

Remember those “greenwashing” amendments that made everyone afraid to talk about their environmental performance?
Gone.

Ottawa’s scrapping the parts of the Competition Act that required companies to defend every claim with international certifications that didn’t really exist.
You can now talk about emissions reductions without feeling like you’re about to be sued by the planet.

Infrastructure, Exports, and R&D

Beyond mining and energy, the budget sets aside $115 billion for infrastructure and $10 billion in fresh capital for the Canada Infrastructure Bank, now allowed to invest in pipelines, minerals, and AI.

Export Development Canada gets a higher ceiling too, tasked with helping double non-U.S. exports within ten years.
If you’ve been trying to break into European or Asian markets, EDC’s new mandate is built for you.

And yes, the SR&ED tax credit has been expanded, small and mid-sized firms can now claim up to $6 million in R&D expenses, with faster approval and AI-assisted reviews.

The Fine Print

Carney’s government still needs Parliament to pass this, and they don’t have a majority.
The budget runs a $78.3 billion deficit and proposes cutting 40,000 federal jobs, both of which will generate the kind of political noise that drowns out spreadsheets.

But make no mistake: this is a generational budget for mining and energy. It rewrites how Canada funds, builds, and exports its resources.

// The Dirt

🔥 Top 3 Headlines to Watch

Focus Graphite Receives Conditional Funding of up to $14.1M to Advance Canada’s First Electrothermal Fluidized Purification Demonstration Plant

The post Focus Graphite Receives Conditional Funding of up to $14.1M to Advance Canada’s First Electrothermal Fluidized Purification Demo...

The M&E Dispatch // 121

Critical Minerals Just Got a Security Clearance

The $2 Billion Sovereign Fund

Infrastructure Gets Its Turn

Tax Credits Worth Reading Twice

Oil & Gas: The Cap with Conditions

LNG Gets Its Incentives Back

Fewer Lawyers, More Clarity

Infrastructure, Exports, and R&D

The Fine Print

// The Dirt

🔥 Top 3 Headlines to Watch

Focus Graphite Receives Conditional Funding of up to $14.1M to Advance Canada’s First Electrothermal Fluidized Purification Demonstration Plant

Mason Resources Highlights Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Groundbreaking Announcements

Manganese X Energy Commends New Brunswick’s Vision for Comprehensive Minerals’ Strategy

🛠 Exploration & Development Highlights

CanAlaska Expands West McArthur Pike Zone Footprint To 500 Metres Strike Length

Klondike Gold Reports Phase 1 Drill Results Including 5.20 g/t Au over 3 metres

Midland et SOQUEM annoncent de nouveaux résultats jusqu’à 27,60% Cu et 0,88 g/t Au sur la zone de cuivre, or et Éléments de Terre Rare de Malaco Mountain dans la Fosse du Labrador

Klondike Gold Reports Phase 1 Drill Results Including 5.20 g/t Au over 3 metres

CanAlaska Expands West McArthur Pike Zone Footprint To 500 Metres Strike Length

💰 Financings & Market Moves

Focus Graphite Receives Conditional Funding of up to $14.1M to Advance Canada’s First Electrothermal Fluidized Purification Demonstration Plant

Mason Resources Highlights Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Groundbreaking Announcements

Manganese X Energy Commends New Brunswick’s Vision for Comprehensive Minerals’ Strategy

Klondike Gold Reports Phase 1 Drill Results Including 5.20 g/t Au over 3 metres

CanAlaska Expands West McArthur Pike Zone Footprint To 500 Metres Strike Length

🧬 Corporate & Policy

Focus Graphite Receives Conditional Funding of up to $14.1M to Advance Canada’s First Electrothermal Fluidized Purification Demonstration Plant

Mason Resources Highlights Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Groundbreaking Announcements

Manganese X Energy Commends New Brunswick’s Vision for Comprehensive Minerals’ Strategy

Klondike Gold Reports Phase 1 Drill Results Including 5.20 g/t Au over 3 metres

CanAlaska Expands West McArthur Pike Zone Footprint To 500 Metres Strike Length

// The Hustle

- Lee

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