Royal Gold, Inc. (RGLD) is a precious metals royalty company engaged in the acquisition and management of precious metals royalty interests. The company’s portfolio provides investors with a unique opportunity to capture value in the precious metals sector without incurring many of the risks associated with mining operations such as capital costs, operating costs, and environmental liabilities. Royal owns a large portfolio of active, developing and exploration-style royalties located in some of the world’s most prolific gold regions.

The company recently announced the closing of its acquisition of the royalty portfolio from Barrick Gold Corporation effective October 1, 2008. Consideration to Barrick for the transaction was approximately $150M net cash and a restructuring of Royal Gold’s royalty positions at Barrick’s Cortez Pipeline Mining Complex in Nevada. The cash portion of the purchase price for the transaction was paid from Royal’s cash on hand, and the agreement to acquire Barrick’s portfolio was initially announced on July 31, 2008.

The royalty portfolio consists of royalties on 72 properties, including 8 producing royalties, 2 development stage properties, 19 evaluation stage properties, and 43 exploration projects. Approximately 75% of the portfolio consists of precious metals royalties. As a result of the transaction, Royal Gold now holds a total of 22 producing royalties, 6 development stage properties, 27 evaluation stage properties and 64 exploration projects.

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