![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791638411_159_indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re a junior mining company, you\u2019re predominantly focused on proving your assets, right? Like, you\u2019re trying hard to move from discovery to ultimately development when it becomes a mine,\u201d said Todd Stone, president of the Association for Mineral Exploration.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means you have to poke a lot of holes, you have to do a lot of engineering work, you have to do a lot of technical analysis and feasibility assessments and so forth, none of which institutional investors really want to invest in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stone said there\u2019s a part of a mine\u2019s life cycle \u2014 which the industry calls the \u201cvalley of death\u201d \u2014 when exploration projects get stalled because companies can\u2019t raise money to continue engineering, feasibility and technical studies.<\/p>\n
A report from Ernst & Young, commissioned by Stone\u2019s group, found 2,052 projects in Canada are currently in their early stages. Stone said that figure reflects the number of projects that have \u201cstalled.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report said expanding the tax credits to cover feasibility and economic viability studies could generate 14,000 to 34,000 jobs over 10 years, on top of the projected best-case scenario of 184,000 new jobs in the sector.<\/p>\n
The report suggested increased spending in the mining sector is projected to generate $68 billion in GDP over the next 10 years. The report said that projection could increase by anywhere from $5.2 billion to $12.2 billion if feasibility and viability studies were covered by government tax breaks.<\/p>\n
Provinces and territories largely use Ottawa\u2019s criteria to determine eligibility for their own mining tax credits.<\/p>\n
\u201cMajor mining projects across B.C. continue to face financing challenges in the late stages of permitting as they prepare for development,\u201d B.C. Mining Minister Jagrup Brar wrote in an August letter to federal Natural Resources Tim Hodgson and Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is \u2026 a time period of minimal news flow to the investment community, resulting in a lack of investor excitement in public markets. The \u2018valley of death\u2019 is a particularly difficult period for companies (especially single asset companies) to finance their projects, compounded by the breadth of technical studies that a modern mining project requires to proceed through regulatory processes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a media statement, Champagne\u2019s press secretary pointed out that the government expanded eligibility for the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit in its last budget to include 12 more critical minerals.<\/p>\n
Champagne\u2019s office also said the new Productivity Mega Deduction \u2014 which has been praised by the mining sector \u2014 will help companies expand their operations and invest in new equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis adds to the myriad other measures and billions more in supports the government has invested in the mining sector,\u201d spokesperson John Fragos wrote, adding the government\u2019s new measures cover 65 per cent of a mine\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n
Fragos also noted that the 2025 budget amended the Income Tax Act to state that expenses incurred to determine the quality of a mineral resource do not include expenses related to feasibility studies.<\/p>\n
Fragos said the mega deduction will still give junior mining companies significant breathing room in the early stages of development, and can be applied to equipment that can be used \u2014 and may be needed \u2014 later in the mine\u2019s life cycle.<\/p>\n
He said the government is trying to make it easier for projects to get approved in order to encourage investment in their early stages.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Hodgson declined to comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Canadian exploration expenses don\u2019t allow for economic assessments and feasibility studies to be put through, and those are a critical part of the process leading up to actual project approval and construction of a project,\u201d said Pierre Hebert, CEO of the Nunavut and N.W.T. Chamber of Mines.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need more than a drilling program to demonstrate project viability. You need those studies, and they can be very costly to produce. So having them eligible to expense will make a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hebert said while the mega deduction will go a long way to helping with construction costs to set up exploration camps, it won\u2019t help get companies through the \u201cvalley of death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact remains that those feasibility studies, in demonstrating the viability of a mining project that are absolutely a required part of the process, are not eligible,\u201d Hebert said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2026.<\/p>\n
Nick Murray, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen you\u2019re a junior mining company, you\u2019re predominantly focused on proving your assets, right? Like, you\u2019re trying hard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,20739,2465,2466,82],"class_list":["post-927802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-ottawa","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}