Royal Gold, Inc. acquires and manages precious metal streams, royalties, and similar interests.
The company seeks to acquire existing stream and royalty interests or to finance projects that are in production, development or in the exploration stage in exchange for stream or royalty interests.
The company’s review process may include, for example, engaging consultants and advisors to analyze an opportunity; analysis of financial, legal (including corporate governance) and technical (including...
Royal Gold, Inc. acquires and manages precious metal streams, royalties, and similar interests.
The company seeks to acquire existing stream and royalty interests or to finance projects that are in production, development or in the exploration stage in exchange for stream or royalty interests.
The company’s review process may include, for example, engaging consultants and advisors to analyze an opportunity; analysis of financial, legal (including corporate governance) and technical (including environmental issues concerning air, water and biodiversity and social impacts) and other confidential information regarding an opportunity; submission of indications of interest and term sheets; participation in preliminary discussions and negotiations; and involvement as a bidder in competitive processes.
Segments
The company operates through two segments:
Acquisition and Management of Stream Interests
As of December 31, 2024, the company owned nine stream interests, which are on seven production stage properties and two development stage properties. Stream interests accounted for 67% and 69% of the company’s total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2024.
Acquisition and Management of Royalty Interests
As of December 31, 2024, the company owned royalty interests on 35 production stage properties, 16 development stage properties and 115 exploration stage properties, of which we consider 50 to be evaluation stage projects. The company uses evaluation stage to describe exploration stage properties that contain mineral resources and on which operators are engaged in the search for reserves.
Principal Properties
As of December 31, 2024, the company determined that four of its stream and royalty interests are material to its business or financial condition: Andacollo, Cortez, Mount Milligan, and Pueblo Viejo. The company sometimes refer to these properties as its material, or principal, properties. In making this determination, management considers primarily the relative contribution of estimated future revenue and, to a lesser extent, historical revenue to the company’s portfolio from each property.
Operations
The company owns a large portfolio of stream and royalty interests on properties at various stages of review and development.
Approximately 83% of the company’s revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024, came from properties outside of the United States, and most of its operators are organized outside of the United States. The company’s material properties are located in Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.
As of December 31, 2024, the company owned stream interests on seven production stage properties and two development stage properties.
As of December 31, 2024, the company owned royalty interests on 35 production stage properties, 16 development stage properties, and 115 exploration stage properties, of which it considers 50 to be evaluation stage properties.
The company’s Principal Properties are all production stage properties. As such, each of the company’s Principal Properties has infrastructure and facilities appropriate to conduct mining and processing operations.
Andacollo is an open pit mine and milling operation located in central Chile, Coquimbo Region at 30.25°S latitude and 71.10°W longitude and is operated by Compañía Minera Teck Carmen de Andacollo (CMCA), a 90% owned subsidiary of Teck. The Andacollo mine is located in the foothills of the Andes Mountains approximately 2 kilometers (km) southwest of the town of Carmen de Andacollo, 55 km southeast from the regional capital of La Serena, and 350 km north of Santiago.
The mine property lies at the southern limit of the Atacama Desert at a mean elevation of 1,050 meters (m) above sea level.
The stream interest of the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, RGLD Gold AG (RGLD Gold), at Andacollo covers 1,225 exploitation mining concessions, including 1,174 concessions termed the Mining Properties and 51 concessions termed the Dayton Concessions. RGLD Gold’s interest also covers any additional claims held before the effective date of the stream agreement, as described below, or acquired after the effective date which are wholly or partially located within an approximately 1.5 km radius from the external boundary of the Mining Properties, any mining concessions held by CMCA or acquired following the effective date of the agreement which are wholly or partially located within approximately 1 km radius from certain boundaries laid out in the agreement, and any Dayton Concession held by CMCA as of the effective date of the agreement, or acquired after the effective date.
The Andacollo operation consists of an open pit mine, sulfide concentrator, and an inactive copper heap leach facility.
Mount Milligan is an open pit mine and is located within the Omenica Mining Division in North Central British Columbia, at 55.12°N latitude and 124.01°W longitude, approximately 155 km northwest of Prince George, 85 km north of Fort St. James, and 95 km west of Mackenzie.
At Mount Milligan, RGLD Gold’s stream interest covers Mining Lease 631503 and 110 mineral claims covering 51,078.2 hectares. Mount Milligan is a copper-gold porphyry deposit, consisting of two principal zones, the Main Zone and the Southern Star (SS) Zone. The Main Zone includes four contiguous sub-zones: MBX, WBX, DWBX and 66 (low-copper and high-gold grades, southeast of the MBX sub-zone).
The Pueblo Viejo mine is located in the province of Sánchez Ramírez, Dominican Republic, at 18.94°N latitude and 70.17°W longitude, approximately 100 km northwest of Santo Domingo, and is owned by a joint venture in which Barrick holds a 60% interest and is responsible for operations, and in which Newmont holds a 40% interest. At Pueblo Viejo, the company’s stream interest covers a Special Lease Agreement of Mining Rights (SLA), as amended in November 2009 and in October 2013. The Lease has a term of 25 years with one extension by right for 25 years and a second 25 year extension at the mutual agreement of Barrick and the Dominican state, allowing a possible total term of 75 years.
Pueblo Viejo is a production stage property consisting of a conventional open pit surface mine and a complex processing circuit designed to process refractory gold-silver ore through pressure oxidation. Barrick is ramping up production after completing a plant expansion project designed to increase throughput from 9 Mtpa to 14 Mtpa and allow the mine to maintain average annual gold production of approximately 800,000 ounces (100% basis, including the 40% interest not held by Barrick). Barrick is also working on a mine life extension that will extend the mine life to 2046.
Cortez is a series of large open pit and underground mines, utilizing mill and heap leach processing, which are operated by Nevada Gold Mines LLC (NGM), a joint venture between Barrick and Newmont with respect to their Nevada operations. The company refers to the Cortez property and its multiple mines and projects as the Cortez Complex, and the terms Cortez and Cortez Complex are used interchangeably.
Cortez is located in the high desert region of the Basin and Range physiographic province. At Cortez, NGM directly controls approximately 124,000 hectares of mineral rights with ownership of mining claims and fee lands. There are 10,869 claims consisting of: 10,012 unpatented lode claims; 575 unpatented mill-site claims; 129 patented lode claims; 125 patented mill-site claims; and 28 unpatented placer claims.
The company owns multiple royalty interests at the Cortez Complex. The Cortez Complex is a combination of open pit and underground mining operations and projects owned and operated by NGM.
The Cortez Complex comprises the Pipeline, Crossroads, Cortez Hills, Cortez Pits and Gold Acres open pit operations, the Cortez Hills and Goldrush underground mining operations, and the Fourmile and Robertson development projects. The Fourmile project is 100% owned by Barrick.
The Cortez property is situated along the Cortez/Battle Mountain trend. The principal gold deposits and mining operations are located in the southern portion of Crescent Valley, which was formed by basin and range extensional tectonism.
The Cortez Hills deposit consists of the Breccia Zone, Middle Zone, Lower Zone, Renegade Zone and the Pediment deposit. The maximum strike length of mineralization in the Cortez Hills deposit is approximately 1,300 m, and the maximum width is approximately 420 m.
History
Royal Gold, Inc. was founded in 1981. The company was incorporated in 1981.