Royal Gold acquires Great Bear Royalties for $152.2m

Precious metals stream and royalty company Royal Gold has acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Great Bear Royalties (GBR) for a consideration of about $152.2 million.

The US-based precious metals stream and royalty company has made the acquisition through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, International Royalty Corporation (IRC) and 1370553 B.C. (Newco).

Each Great Bear Royalties common share was purchased by Newco for a price of C$6.65 ($5.09).

The acquisition will allow Royal Gold to gain the 2% net smelter return royalty of Great Bear Royalties on the whole of the Great Bear Project in the Red Lake district of Ontario, Canada. The gold project is indirectly owned and operated by Kinross Gold.

The royalty covers all metals extracted from contiguous claims covering 9,140 hectares.

Bill Heissenbuttel — Royal Gold President and CEO said: “The acquisition provides Royal Gold exposure to Canada’s newest major gold discovery, the Great Bear Project, and furthers our strategic objective of acquiring quality, long lived assets with excellent operators in favorable jurisdictions.”