Mineral exploration company, Taruga Minerals has snared a $900,000 allocation of exploration expenditure tax credits via the federal government’s ‘Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive’ scheme. The credits may be distributed to eligible shareholders as a tax offset or franking credit for the 2022 financial year.
Under the terms of the scheme, the allocation effectively means that Taruga will give up its right to claim $900,000 worth of exploration expenditure as a tax deduction against future profits.
The right to claim that tax deduction will now flow through on a pro-rata basis to investors that take stock in any Taruga capital raise that takes place in financial year 2022 after September the 1st.
The tax credits will apply to shareholders’ income tax assessment for the financial year ending 30 June 2022.
The federal government scheme is designed to encourage investors to support junior exploration companies who are seeking to make greenfield mineral discoveries that might become mines of the future.
The voluntary scheme, requiring companies to apply each year, allows junior mineral explorers to generate a tax incentive for distribution to investors.
Taruga’s exploration efforts have been turning heads at its 100 per cent owned Mt Craig tenure located in the G2 structural mineral corridor that also hosts BHP’s world-class Olympic Dam mine and OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill operations.
The company says Mt Craig contains more than 60 known copper showings and 32 historical small scale copper mines along a continuous 34-kilometre strike.
To date, Taruga has been focusing on the Wyacca prospect to the north of its tenure and the Morgan’s Creek prospect to the south.
Earlier this year Taruga announced a copper discovery at Wyacca when drilling returned 5 metres at 2.4 per cent copper from 17m, 11m at 1.5 per cent copper from 85m and 7m at 1.8 per cent copper from 87m.
A string of solid copper intercepts has followed with recent drilling growing the mineralised area to a hefty 2.1km long by 1.1km wide zone. Taruga says it has also identified multiple other mineralised trends within the Wyacca structural zone.
Curiously, recent drilling at Morgan’s Creek has unearthed multiple broad and high-grade rare earth element hits including 9m at 1,059 parts per million total rare earth oxide, or “TREO”.
Other critical battery metals such as lithium, scandium and vanadium were also intercepted adding plenty of additional interest to the Mt Craig tenure that was previously regarded as a copper play only.
Recent hits at Morgan’s Creek also include 29m going 501 ppm TREO from 22m and 15m at 0.16 per cent lithium oxide from just 6m.
Drilling also returned broad and shallow low-grade rare earth, copper and silver mineralisation including a 110m intercept at 276 ppm TREO from just 3m depth.
The company has wasted little time in getting the rods turning again with a 500m diamond drilling campaign at both Wyacca and Morgan’s Creek already underway.
Further diamond and reverse circulation drilling to test strike extensions and new targets is also planned at Mt Craig.
Taruga may be creeping onto a few radars as it continues to unearth the geological riches at its Mt Craig tenure. A flow through $900,000 in tax credits for distribution to eligible shareholders probably won’t hurt either.
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