What's the JMEI program and the 34 participating ASX junior explorers

The FY23 list has been released for the Australian government's Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive program.

The JMEI program was introduced in 2018 as an initiative to incentivise investment into small cap, greenfield exploration companies based in Australia.

Eligible companies can transfer tax losses into 'exploration credits' which can be distributed among investors as refundable tax offsets or additional franking credits as opposed for holding onto these losses for years until they begin receiving mining income.

In May, the Australian Government announced it will invest a further $100m over four years to extend the JMEI program.

The ATO allocates the credits on a first-come, first-serve basis until the cap is reached.

JMEI Juniors

There are a total of 34 participating ASX-listed juniors for FY22-23.

Here are the companies with quotas worth more than $1m. You can see a full list (plus historical quotas) here.

Source: Australian Government | Table: Market Index

A glance at last FY21-22

The JMEI list from FY21-22 includes 34 companies. Some of which have become pretty high-profile names in the battery metals space such as:

• Chalice Mining (ASX: CHN)

• Core Lithium (ASX: CXO)

• Jindalee Resources (ASX: JRL)

• Minotaur Exploration (ASX: MCR)

Though, most participating juniors are names that investors have never heard of and/or very thinly traded.

JMEI participation isn't necessarily an ingredient for success, with the average FY21-22 company up an average 16.5% year-to-date (as at 3 August 2022) but the median sits at -23.5%.