16.13.0.3. The expenses referred to in subparagraph a of subparagraph 1 of the second paragraph of section 16.13.0.2 are, subject to the third paragraph, the expenses that are incurred in the period described in the second paragraph by an eligible operator with a person with whom it is dealing at arm’s length, within the meaning of the Taxation Act (chapter I-3), and that are expenses mainly attributable to one or more minerals specified in the fourth paragraph and relating to(1) bulk sampling, the purpose of which is to determine the tenor, perform grinding tests and determine whether a separation process achieves minimum concentrations, in order to determine the optimal processing method for the mineral substance;
(2) the analysis of the stability and mechanical properties of the ore and host rock;
(3) tests on ore dilution;
(4) metallurgical grinding tests on core or bulk samples to determine the quality of the ore or the recovery rate;
(5) the carrying out of process studies, that is, detailed separation process flow sheets and implementation schedules to bring the ore to marketable product stage;
(6) the carrying out of studies to determine the type of ore to be processed, the type of process to be used and the economic potential of the finished product; or
(7) tests regarding hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes for the purpose of developing value-added products related to the ore.
The period to which the first paragraph refers is the period that begins immediately after the preliminary sampling and ends immediately before the time when it may reasonably be considered that the decision to bring a new mine for the mineral substance into production in reasonable commercial quantities has been made.
The critical and strategic mineral development expenses do not include(1) expenses relating to an old mine that has previously reached the reasonable commercial quantity production stage, that has been abandoned or that is in maintenance; or
(2) expenses referred to in subparagraph a of paragraph 1 of section 16.9.
The minerals to which the first paragraph refers are antimony, bismuth, cadmium, cesium, cobalt, copper, gallium, indium, lithium, magnesium, natural graphite, nickel, niobium, platinum group elements, rare earth elements, scandium, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, vanadium and zinc.
2021, c. 362021, c. 36, s. 421.