International Royalty completes Rio Tinto Australian royalty acquisitions
Mon Jul 14, 10:59 AMAMEX:ROY
TSX:IRC
DENVER, CO, July 14 /CNW Telbec/ - International Royalty Corporation (AMEX: ROY, TSX: IRC) (the "Company" or "IRC") today announced the closing of the Australian royalties from IRC's December 2007 acquisition of the Rio Tinto royalty portfolio, following receipt of the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval and the expiration of all existing first rights of refusals. These first rights of refusal existed on the Bell Creek and Merlin Orbit royalties. Completion of this transaction brings IRC's total royalty count to approximately 80 royalties. Selected details on the acquired Australian royalties are shown below.
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Name Location Operator Commo- Rate and Project
dity Type Stage
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Avebury Tasmania OZ Minerals Ltd. Ni 2.0% NSR Development
(Zinifex Ltd.)
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Bell Creek Queensland Metallica Ni AU$1.00/ Feasibility
Minerals Ltd. $2.00
per tonne
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Westmoreland Queensland Laramide U 1.0% NSR Feasibility
Resources Ltd.
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Melba Flats Tasmania OZ Minerals Ltd. Ni, 2.0% NSR Exploration
(Zinifex Ltd.) Cu,
Co,
PGMs
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Merlin Northern North Diamonds 1.0% GOR Exploration
Orbit Territories Australian
Diamonds Ltd.
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Furthermore, a number of IRC development stage royalties are progressing
toward production, as set out below.
Mercator Gold PLC's Meekatharra operation achieved commerical gold
production in October 2007 and continues to ramp up to a production rate of
120,000 ounces of gold per year(1). IRC holds variable royalty interests on
this mine.
The 2.0% NSR Avebury royalty is expected to become IRC's next producing
royalty. According to the operator, this project is scheduled to begin
production in the third quarter of 2008(2), with IRC expecting to receive its
first royalty payments in the fourth quarter.
Other IRC royalties coming into production within the next 12 months
include the Las Cruces (4Q 2008)(3), Gwalia Deeps (4Q 2008)(4), and Belahouro
projects (1Q 2009)(5). In addition, the Legacy Sand project continues to
increase production and is expected to ramp up to full production by the end
of 2009. At today's spot prices(6), successful commissioning of these projects
could generate cumulative annual revenues of approximately US$19 million.
IRC's remaining development-stage royalty is a sliding-scale royalty on the
Chilean portion of Barrick Gold's Pascua-Lama gold project. Barrick has stated
that Pascua production is expected to start three years after mine
construction.(7)
(1) Mercator Gold PLC press release, August 9, 2007
(2) Zinifex Ltd. Investor presentation,
http://www.zinifex.com/common/files/INV_SP_2008_Merrill_Lynch_Mining_Conferenc
e.pdf
(3)
http://www.inmetmining.com/ouroperations/development/LasCruces/default.aspx
(4) St Barbara Ltd March 08 Quarterly Report, April 23, 2008
(5) Goldbelt Resources Ltd. news release October 4, 2007
(6) For purposes of illustration, assumes US$9.35/lb Ni, US$3.70/lb Cu,
US$40.00/lb Co and US$925/oz Au. Individual contributions to
projected revenue include, Avebury: US$2.5 million/year, Las Cruces:
US$8.2 million/year, Meekatharra: US$1.7 million/year, Gwalia Deeps:
US$2.8 million per year and Belahouro: US$3.9 million/year.
(7)
http://www.barrick.com/CorporateResponsibility/KeyTopics/PascuaLama/PascuaLama
brQA/default.aspx
International Royalty Corporation
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International Royalty Corporation (IRC) is a global, diversified mineral royalty company. Key assets in IRC's portfolio of approximately 80 royalties include an effective 2.7% NSR royalty on the Voisey's Bay mine, a 0.47%-3.15% sliding-scale NSR royalty on the Pascua gold project in Chile, a 1.5% NSR royalty on the Las Cruces copper project in Spain and a 1.5% NSR royalty on more than 3.0 million acres of gold lands in Western Australia. IRC is senior listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: IRC.TO) as well as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX: ROY ).
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
INTERNATIONAL ROYALTY CORPORATION
Douglas B. Silver
Chairman and CEO
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
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Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements, such as statements that describe IRC's expectations as to royalty revenue from the Meekatharra project and the production start dates for the Pascua-Lama, Gwalia Deeps, Avebury, Las Cruces and Belahouro projects on which IRC has royalties. Financial information contained in this press release is unaudited. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate", or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Since forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact and address future events, conditions and expectations, forward-looking statements by their nature inherently involve unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors well beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements depending on, among others, such key factors as the ability of the mine operators to finance and successfully place their projects into production. IRC's forward-looking statements in this release regarding royalty revenue, ongoing production and royalties, anticipated production and the anticipated timing of the start of production on several of the projects on which it has royalties is based on certain assumptions. Such assumptions include, but are not limited to, the validity of statements made by the project operators in the public domain, and their ability to finance, construct and successfully operate these properties. The forward-looking statements included in this release represent IRC's views as of the date of this release. While IRC anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause IRC's views to change, IRC specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements unless required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing IRC's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this release. Although IRC has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.
ContactsJack PerkinsDirector of Investor Relations
(303) 991-9500 Douglas B. Silver
Chairman and CEO
(303) 799-9020 info@internationalroyalty.com www.internationalroyalty.com Renmark Financial Communications Inc.: Barbara Komorowski: bkomorowski@ renmarkfinancial.com Jen Power: jpower@renmarkfinancial.com
(514) 939-3989
Fax: (514) 939-3717 www.renmarkfinancial.com
