The carrying amounts of non-current assets are tested for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. If there are indicators of impairment, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment. An impairment loss is recognized for the amount by which the asset’s carrying amount exceeds its recoverable amount and is recorded as an expense in profit or loss.
The recoverable amount is the higher of an asset’s “fair value less costs to sell” for the asset’s highest and best use, and “value-in-use”. Where the asset does not generate cash flows that are independent from other assets, the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs is determined. “Fair value less costs to sell” is the price that would be received to sell an asset in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date less incremental costs directly attributable to disposal of the asset, excluding financing costs and income tax expenses. For mining assets this would generally be determined based on the present value of the estimated future cash flows arising from the continued development, use or eventual disposal of the asset. In assessing these cash flows and discounting them to the present value, assumptions used are those that an independent market participant would consider appropriate. In assessing “value-in-use”, the estimated future cash flows expected to arise from the continuing use of the assets in their present form and from their disposal are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and risks specific to the asset.
For the purposes of impairment testing, mineral property interests are allocated to cash-generating units to which the exploration or development activity relates. Where an impairment loss subsequently reverses, the carrying amount of the asset (or cash-generating unit) is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount, but so that the increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined had no impairment loss been recognized for the asset (or cash-generating unit) in prior periods. A reversal of an impairment loss is recognized immediately in profit or loss.