Funding for early to mid-stage critical minerals projects with international partners

Mandatory form information

The portal will alert you to mandatory fields which haven't been completed and in some cases will alert you if the information you provide is invalid. It is essential you carefully check the accuracy of your application as your application may not proceed to assessment if it's not correctly completed.

Portal partners

You may invite other parties to assist with completing the online application, such as project partners. This is done through the application portal using the ‘Participants’ button on the ‘Application Summary’ page, accessed from the ‘My Applications’ screen.

Project Milestones

Milestones do not need to be sequential and can be undertaken in parallel. Milestones should however cover the entire project period with a milestone starting on the first day of the project and a milestone ending on the last day.

Saving your application

It's important to save your application regularly during the application process to prevent loss of information and valuable time. Ensure you save your application information within screens whilst entering information and again before continuing to a new screen. Moving your cursor on the page does not save the application.

Submission Confirmation

When your application is submitted, you'll see a screen confirming the submission which includes the submission time, date and a reference number. The status of your application in the portal will change from ‘draft’ to ‘submitted’.

Are state and territory governments eligible to apply for grants under this program?

No. Section 4.3 of the grant opportunity guidelines states that Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government bodies (including government business enterprises) are not eligible to apply for this program.

Are Aboriginal owned entities eligible to apply?

Yes, but all eligible entities must have an ABN/ACN, be non-income-tax-exempt and be registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Can an overseas entity apply as the lead applicant?

No, applications are submitted online and require applicants to be incorporated in Australia and be a trading corporation with an ABN/ACN.

Can an overseas supplier or customer be considered an international partner for the purposes of applying for the grant?

International partners need to take an active involvement in the project and ultimately must enter into a formal arrangement with the lead applicant prior to execution of the grant agreement (see section 8 of the grant opportunity guidelines for the specific requirements).

Is a feasibility study an eligible activity?

Yes – if the project activity falls between post-exploration and final investment decision stages and meets other eligibility criteria identified in the grant opportunity guidelines. It would need to be a new activity, or an activity not yet committed to, unless there is a clear indication that the grant will either accelerate or add additional components to the study. Note: You cannot claim eligible project expenditure prior to the agreed project start date listed in the grant agreement.

Would an early exploration project activity be eligible for this grant program?

No, if this is solely an early exploration activity then it would be out of scope. For an activity to be eligible it needs to occur between the post-exploration and final investment decision stages of a project. Note: a post exploration activity is defined as an activity relating to refining or developing a ‘known resource’ (see section 5.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines).

How do you define 'incur' in relation to eligible expenses prior to grant sign-off?

To be eligible, project expenditure but be incurred by the grantee between the project start date and end date as defined in the grant agreement (see section 5.2 of the grant opportunity guidelines). Projects can commence from the time a notification of a successful application is received, but the Commonwealth is not liable for any activities or incurred expenditure before the grant agreement is executed.

Can I claim overseas labour costs?

Yes, overseas labour costs are eligible. Overseas salaries are capped at AU$175,000/pa and will count towards the 10% overseas spending cap for the project. If the overseas staff are not direct employees of the lead applicant they should be claimed as contractors.

How are the costs of pre-existing plant & equipment used on the project treated?

The depreciated cost of an asset used directly on the project is considered an eligible expense where it occurs within the project period. The claimable depreciated value must be in accordance with Commissioner of Taxation’s rules. The running costs associated with the use of a pre-existing plant directly on the project is considered eligible expenditure where it is verifiable.

Can the international partner be a foreign government?

Yes, International partners may include foreign governments, state-owned enterprises, private sector and other commercial entities.

What evidence of a relationship with the international partner is required? Would it be a binding agreement or a letter of intent?

At the application stage, applications must provide evidence of the relationship with the International Partner, which may be a letter of support. The application must include the information about the relationship with the partner laid out in Section 8.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines. If the application is successful a formal arrangement must be in place with all parties prior to execution of the grant agreement.

The application requests information on Foreign Affiliations. Given the project has an international project partner, should we include both our affiliations and those of the international partner in the application form?

Yes. You should declare all known affiliations for both the lead partner and all project partners, including the international partner. Further information is included in Section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines.

Who are the priority partner countries?

The Critical Minerals Strategy outlines Australia’s bilateral agreements in the Critical Minerals sector. Existing bilateral agreements are outlined in Appendix A of the Critical Minerals Strategy.

Can we add extra attachments to application, not just what was asked for? e.g. letters of support.

No, we require only mandatory attachments and noting that there is a 20MB collective total limit for all attachments. Any additional attachments that are not requested will not be considered as part of the application.

Will the department provide a template for the formal agreement between our company and the International Partner if our project is successful?

No. Given the expected variety in the types of projects and international partner relationships the department will not be providing the template agreement. The grant opportunity guidelines have been adjusted to reflect this. The partner agreement must outline how ownership of intellectual property will be managed amongst project partners.

With regard to the mandatory attachments, will these be assessed in relation to the current maturity of the business?

Yes, we accept proposed plans as well as developed/implemented plans, taking into account the current maturity of the business who is applying for the program.

Is the department expecting individual plans covering gender equality and First Nations engagement or can this be covered in one plan as significant overlap?

These can be covered in one plan/document.

Is there weighting given to the criterion points for the purpose of the 50% score requirement?

Applications are assessed out of 100 points. These 100 points are distributed between Assessment Criteria 1-3 (which are allocated 40, 40, and 20 points respectively). Additionally, as per Section 6 of the grant opportunity guidelines, projects must score at least 50% against each assessment criterion (i.e. 20, 20, and 10 points) to be considered for funding.

What are the programs intended objectives and outcomes?

The grant opportunity guidelines refer to ‘supporting the implementation of the Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030’ and projects are expected to demonstrate alignment with this strategy.

How do the assessment rounds work? If I miss the first assessment round what are the timeframes for an outcome?

You can submit an application at any time while the grant opportunity remains open. The first assessment round will occur in April 2024 and your application must be submitted by 13 March 2024 to be considered in that round. The Assessment Committee meets every 4 months after that and the assessment process timeframe is approximately 4 weeks.

If my application is unsuccessful can I reapply?

Yes. Unsuccessful applicants can reapply while the program remains open. Your new application should include details of new or additional information to address the weaknesses that prevented your previous application from being successful.

The grant opportunity guidelines indicate that applications need to score at least 50% against each assessment criterion to be recommended for funding. Does this mean I will be awarded funding if I pass all of the merit criteria?

No, not necessarily. Applications will also be assessed on the extent to which it provides value with relevant money, as listed in Section 9.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines. The ‘value with relevant money’ is assessed based on the grant proposal representing an efficient, effective, economical, and ethical use of public resources.

If successful what are the reporting requirements to ensure compliance with the original grant application? For example, monthly or quarterly reports?

The sample grant agreement provides an example of the reporting requirements (page 26) which are expected to be provided quarterly.

What percentage of the grant funding will be paid on signature of the grant agreement?

This depends on the project activities, the negotiated milestones on each individual successful application and the Government’s financial year budget allocations to the program.

Are there any implications for R&D tax credits if a project receives funding through this programme for a project that also undertakes R&D?

We suggest grantees seek independent financial advice on the tax credit implications and to review the ATO “clawback of recoupment amounts” guidance online.

What would the likely outcome be if the company’s expenditure comes in under budget and falls below the minimum $4m expenditure. For example, we apply for the minimum grant of $2m, we achieve the stated outcomes however our company expenditure is only $1,870,000 but our expenditure qualifies for 50% back?

We work with the grantee by staying in touch with them throughout the grant period. We require progress reports on the project, so we understand how budgets are tracking. Therefore, we wouldn’t have this sort of situation come as a surprise. Additionally, there is a negotiation period between awarding the grant with the applicant where we negotiate the progress payments. We also retain 5% of the grant funding until after the project is completed.