Royal Gold is a precious metals company with royalty claims on gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc at mines in over 20 countries (12 in the Americas, most of the rest spread between Africa, Western Europe and Australia). Over half of the developmental properties it has interests in are producing however most (130 representing 70% of all properties) have not passed the exploration stage. Not all contracts are the same, some like the one it has with Thompson Creek Metals regarding a quarter of the gold produced at Mount Milligan lasts the length of the mine's life while others like Taparko in West Africa which ranges depending on the price of gold and the one in Pascua Lama (El Indio Gold Belt) where the 5.23% royalty is contingent on gold prices (must be higher than $800 an ounce) are structured differently; Most claims are between 1% and 5% but a few like Andacolo (75%) and Taparko (15%) are over 10%. It also has an interest in Osisko Mining's Malartic gold project within the abitibi gold belt (1.0-1.5%, will be Canada's largest when production begins in 2012).
The royalties are either bought (paid Thompson Creek Metals $311.5 million in October 2010 for a guaranteed, fixed share of gold production at Mount Milligan) or acquired through project financing arrangements. Similar to silver streaming companies, royalty companies are not exposed to the operational risks associated with mining.
Royal Gold's business has over a short period of time become more internationalized and diversified (in 2010 60% of revenue came from abroad compared to 44% the year before). In 2010 40% of revenue came from the USA compared to 79% in 2008; Canada down to 4% from 27% in 2008 however most assets in Canada are in the developmental phase while Africa nearly tripled to 29%.Royal Gold is one of the world's leading precious metals royalty companies. In the 2009 edition of the Fortune Small Business Magazine (FSB) it ranked 10th among the fastest growing small businesses in the United States, 79 spots higher than in 2008.Royal Gold reported record operating cash flow of $69.7 million during fiscal Q2 2017 as well as $107 million in revenue and earnings per share of $0.43.