Expanded mineral exploration incentive drives increased investment

Expanded mineral exploration incentive drives increased investment in Saskatchewan, says Sask Gov’t

By Brian Zinchuk

Investment in Saskatchewan is growing as more mining companies are exploring for minerals in the province, thanks to the Ministry of Energy and Resources’ Targeted Mineral Exploration Incentive (TMEI), the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources said in a release on Aug. 22. It’s another in a series of announcements related to critical mineral development. In early August, there was an announcement on critical mineral incentives, with lithium and helium development notably targeted.

Twenty-eight exploration projects were approved earlier this year to receive funding from the TMEI, up from five projects last year. In an effort to meet its Critical Minerals Strategy goals, government increased the annual TMEI funding cap to $4 million from $750,000 and expanded eligibility to include all hard rock minerals in any region in the province.

“Saskatchewan is the best place in Canada to invest in mining and exploration due to our competitive exploration support programs, like the TMEI, our world-class critical minerals resources and our high-quality geoscience database,” Energy and Resources Minister Jim Reiter said. “The decision to expand this program was part of our government’s continued commitment to protecting and promoting Saskatchewan’s mining industry and attaining 15 per cent of all Canadian mineral exploration spending by 2030.”

The Ministry’s mineral exploration incentives, like the TMEI and the Saskatchewan Mineral Exploration Tax Credit, have put the province on course to attract nearly 11 per cent of projected national exploration spending in 2024, according to the . Up from eight per cent in 2022, this shows important progress on the province reaching its 2030 goal.

The 28 approved projects under the TMEI made $62.3 million in overall drill project expenditures, an important gain compared to the $9.8 million in expenditures from the previous year. One of those applicants who successfully used TMEI funding was Ramp Metals Inc., who is doing exploration work northwest of La Ronge.

“The impact of the TMEI on our company cannot be understated,” Exploration for Ramp Metals Vice President Garrett Smith said. “It significantly reduced the cost-per-meter of our inaugural drill program, which resulted in a new high-grade gold discovery in Saskatchewan.”

Ramp’s discovery highlights Saskatchewan’s significant unrealized gold potential. Despite exploration expenditure data showing relatively low investment in gold projects over the past decade, the recent strong price of gold on the world market has encouraged new investment. Gold is currently one of several emerging minerals in Saskatchewan that can help further diversify the province’s resource base, the government said.

The provincial government said Saskatchewan is well positioned to continue growing as a major global supplier of potash and uranium and is diversifying its exports through the production of helium and the development of other critical minerals, like lithium, copper and zinc. The province is also poised to become one of the world’s few rare earth elements processors with a first-of-its-kind in North America processing facility coming online next year.

For more information about incentives offered by the Ministry of Energy and Resources, Visit:
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/agriculture-natural-resources-and-industry/mineral-exploration-and-mining