The Minerals Council welcomes the Coalition's commitment to reinstate the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive, a crucial initiative that has empowered small companies to discover new mineral deposits.
The JMEI has played a key role since 2018 in levelling the playing field between small and large explorers by helping smaller companies raise additional capital with a simple refundable tax credit on greenfield exploration expenditure.
Without warning, the Federal Government scrapped the JMEI in last month's Budget, undermining the industry's ability to viably explore for new deposits.
This was an incredibly disappointing decision that delivered a major blow to early-stage exploration, eroding investor confidence and threatening the long-term pipeline of critical mineral discoveries.
The reinstatement of the incentive is necessary to decrease the risk for junior explorers.
Australia's vibrant junior exploration sector plays a crucial role in the mining ecosystem by driving innovation, discovering new mineral deposits, and providing the foundation for future large-scale mining operations.
But importantly, the JMEI is also good fiscal management, generating additional investment in exploration which would not otherwise be undertaken.
A recent evaluation estimates that for every $1 of JMEI credit allocated, an additional $6.38 was invested via capital raisings, supporting $2.41 of greenfield exploration expenditure.
