The Australian Government has introduced a consultation on plans to provide investors with a refundable tax offset for Greenfield mineral exploration costs incurred from July 1, 2014. Under the proposed program, a tax credit will be provided to Australian resident shareholders for eligible Greenfield exploration expenditure incurred in Australia.
The consultation document explains that “eligible exploration expenditures would be those incurred on activities that are deployed for the purpose of determining the existence, location, extent or quality of a new mineral resource in Australia. In broad terms, the intent of this definition is to encourage ‘grassroots’ exploration activities, or generative and early stage exploration for new mineral deposits.”
