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Critical Minerals Accelerator

The Critical Minerals (CM) Accelerator is a £25 million grant funding scheme, aimed at unlocking the commercialisation of innovation through the scaling up of innovative solutions for critical minerals, spanning extraction, processing and recycling and building on the UK’s strengths.

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Summary

The Critical Minerals (CM) Accelerator is a £25 million grant funding scheme, aimed at unlocking the commercialisation of innovation through the scaling up of innovative solutions for critical minerals, spanning extraction, processing and recycling and building on the UK’s strengths.

Funding will support projects across the UK for all minerals on the UK 2024 Criticality Assessment published as well as Critical Minerals technical annex by 2035. Successful projects should increase the security of supply of minerals, boost resilience, create jobs and growth. The CM Accelerator is part of the £50 million UK Critical Minerals Programme.

The CM Accelerator is focused on companies and projects at technology readiness levels (TRL) 6 to 8 which are close to commercialisation and that face significant barriers in proving unit economics and de-risking their processes. Projects supported will be at the pilot to pre-commercial or demonstrator to commercialisation stage of development.

The £25 million CM Accelerator grant scheme will support multiple projects through a competitive process. Our expectation is that all approved grants will sit within a range of £150,000 to £3 million. All projects funded under this scheme are expected to be delivered by March 2030.

Eligibility

The lead applicant must be a UK registered business with operations based in the UK and be committed to developing innovation and follow-on commercial activity within the UK.

Charities, not-for-profits, universities/academic institutions, research and technology organisations (RTOs) and public sector organisations may be included in the project team but not lead a project.

Objectives

The overarching objective of the CM Accelerator is to support research and development innovation (typically projects at minimum technology readiness level 6 to 8) in extraction, midstream processing and recycling (which currently do not qualify or are unable to attract support from public finance institutions and private finance) to increase validation, commercialisation prospects and scale up in the UK. This objective is underpinned by 3 strategic priorities:

1. Driving economic growth

  • support high-value manufacturing and growth-driving sectors, including clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and defence

  • support job creation, skills development, and regional economic growth

  • catalyse private sector investment and expansion across UK critical minerals value chains

2. Strengthening economic security

  • reduce vulnerabilities associated with concentrated global supply chains

  • build sovereign capability in a strategically critical sector

  • improve resilience against supply disruptions and external economic pressures

3․ Building domestic resilience

  • reduce reliance on overseas supply chains for critical minerals

  • develop domestic capability across critical minerals value chains

  • establish a sustainable ecosystem, spanning production, skills and innovation

  • promote a circular materials economy by enabling recycling, recovery, and reuse of critical minerals across products’ lifecycles

Dates

  • application stage opens – 5 August 2026

  • application stage closes – 30 September 2026

  • notification of application stage outcome – October 2026

  • interview stage – October/November 2026

  • funding decision – November/December 2026

  • grant funding period ends – 31 March 2030

How to apply

Application stage

The competition will begin with an 8 week application window. After this, BIST will shortlist applicants ahead of the interview stage.

The purpose of the application stage is to identify applicants who demonstrate a credible and relevant proposal aligned with the objectives of the Critical Minerals Accelerator. It will ensure that only those applicants with a sufficiently strong strategic fit, capability, and delivery potential are invited to progress to an interview.

You can submit your application on the Grants Hub.

Interview stage

This stage is only open to applicants successful at application stage.

The interview stage is designed to test:

  • the quality of the management team

  • the credibility of delivery plans

  • strategic fit to the scheme

  • the depth of commercial understanding.

Supporting information

More information about the scheme, including the scheme guidance, can be found on gov.uk.