The Critical Minerals First and Last Mile Fund (previously The Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund Program)
Natural Resources Canada
Program purpose (as reported by the department)
The purpose of the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF) is to support the development of clean energy and transportation infrastructure that will enable the development and expansion of priority critical mineral projects in Canada.
What the numbers say
- Half of the agreements with businesses are worth $1,276,033 or less.
- The largest recipient, MCILVENNA BAY OPERATING LTD, holds $20,000,000 (47% of the program's business funding in this data).
- The most recent agreement in the data started on 2026-05-20.
By fiscal year
By recipient province
Largest recipients
| Recipient | Agreements | Value | Latest start |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCILVENNA BAY OPERATING LTD | 1 | $20,000,000 | 2025-03-10 |
| FRONTIER LITHIUM RESOURCES INC | 2 | $6,033,152 | 2025-03-22 |
| E3 LITHIUM LTD. | 1 | $4,397,625 | 2025-03-19 |
| FPX NICKEL CORP. | 2 | $3,531,428 | 2025-09-16 |
| HUCKLEBERRY MINES LTD. | 2 | $1,939,754 | 2025-06-27 |
| FOCUS GRAPHITE INC | 1 | $1,378,700 | 2026-05-20 |
| CBAY MINERALS INC. | 1 | $1,276,033 | 2025-03-22 |
| DUMONT NICKEL LP | 1 | $1,049,500 | 2025-03-19 |
| CHAMPION IRON SERVICES INC | 1 | $949,131 | 2026-03-27 |
| DEFENSE METALS CORP. | 1 | $853,825 | 2026-02-05 |
| FNX MINING COMPANY INC | 1 | $735,584 | 2026-03-18 |
| FIREFLY METALS CANADA LIMITED | 1 | $613,775 | 2025-10-02 |
Recent agreements
| Start | Recipient | Project | Province | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-20 | FOCUS GRAPHITE INC | LAC KNIFE GRAPHITE MINE ACCESS ROAD AND HYDRO CONNECTION | ON | $1,378,700 |
| 2026-03-27 | CHAMPION IRON SERVICES INC | Kamistiatusset (Kami) Project Feasibility Study | QC | $949,131 |
| 2026-03-18 | FNX MINING COMPANY INC | Electrification of Victoria Critical Mineral Mine | ON | $735,584 |
| 2026-02-05 | DEFENSE METALS CORP. | Wicheeda REE Project | BC | $853,825 |
| 2025-10-02 | FIREFLY METALS CANADA LIMITED | Green Bay Power Assessment Project | NL | $613,775 |
| 2025-09-16 | FPX NICKEL CORP. | Baptiste Access Road | BC | $1,544,697 |
| 2025-09-16 | FPX NICKEL CORP. | Baptiste Powerline | BC | $1,986,731 |
| 2025-06-27 | HUCKLEBERRY MINES LTD. | Clean Energy Power Projects at Huckleberry Mine | BC | $899,601 |
| 2025-06-19 | HUCKLEBERRY MINES LTD. | Huckleberry Mine Alternate Copper Concentrate Haulage Concept | BC | $1,040,153 |
| 2025-03-22 | FRONTIER LITHIUM RESOURCES INC | All-Season Road Engineering and Design Project | ON | $2,826,808 |
| 2025-03-22 | CBAY MINERALS INC. | Corner Bay and Devlin Mine Road and Power Line Project | ON | $1,276,033 |
| 2025-03-22 | FRONTIER LITHIUM RESOURCES INC | PAK Clean Energy Project | ON | $3,206,344 |
| 2025-03-19 | E3 LITHIUM LTD. | Infrastructure Projects to Unlock Canada’s Largest Lithium Resource | AB | $4,397,625 |
| 2025-03-19 | DUMONT NICKEL LP | Engineering Study for 120kV Transmission Line to the Dumont Project | ON | $1,049,500 |
| 2025-03-10 | MCILVENNA BAY OPERATING LTD | McIlvenna Bay – Transmission line, substation, and battery electric vehicle (BEV) charging infrastructure implementation project. | BC | $20,000,000 |
Method & sources
Source: Government of Canada "Proactive Disclosure – Grants and Contributions" (Open Government Licence – Canada). We include agreements with for-profit recipients that started on or after April 1, 2021, and keep the latest amendment of each agreement, so values are the current agreement value, not money paid out. Departments report on their own schedule, so the most recent quarter is incomplete. Recipients are linked to company pages by exact name match. This is not an endorsement or an eligibility determination — check each program's official page.
Dataset on open.canada.ca · Search the official grants records