Question

Santa Fe purchased the rights to extract turquoise on a tract of land over a five-year period. Santa Fe paid $429,000 for extraction rights. A geologist estimates that Santa Fe will recover 6,500 pounds of turquoise. During the current year, Santa Fe extracted 1,950 pounds of turquoise, which it sold for $277,000. What is Santa Fe's cost depletion expense for the current year?
A) $85,800B) $128,700
C) $156,440
D) $429,000
E) None of these

Answer 1

Answer:

Option B $128700

Explanation:

The amortization can be calculated using the following formula:

Amortization for the Year = Assets Value * (Turquoise Extracted / Total Turquoise)

Amortization for the Year = $429,000 * (1950/6,500) = $128,700

The method used is depletioning method because it seems that the company will extract all of the turquoise within the 3.33 year time (6500/1950), which is within the 5 years duration for which the right to extract the turquoise is purchaseed. Otherwise the straigth line method would had be used here.