IFRS 6 Exploration for and Evaluation of Mineral Resources

IFRS 6 specifies some aspects of the financial reporting for costs incurred for exploration for and evaluation of mineral resources (for example, minerals, oil, natural gas and similar non-regenerative resources), as well as the costs of determination of the technical feasibility and commercial viability of extracting the mineral resources.

IFRS 6:

• permits an entity to develop an accounting policy for exploration and evaluation assets without specifically considering the requirements of paragraphs 11–12 of IAS 8. Thus, an entity adopting IFRS 6 may continue to use the accounting policies applied immediately before adopting IFRS 6.
• requires entities recognising exploration and evaluation assets to perform an impairment test on those assets when facts and circumstances suggest that the carrying amount of the assets may exceed their recoverable amount.
• varies the recognition of impairment from that in IAS 36 but measures the impairment in accordance with that Standard once the impairment is identified.

In December 2004 the International Accounting Standards Board issued IFRS 6 Exploration for and Evaluation of Mineral Resources.

Other Standards have made minor consequential amendments to IFRS 6, including Amendments to References to the Conceptual Framework in IFRS Standards (issued March 2018) and IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements (issued April 2024).