Franco-Nevada royalty over Côté Gold Mine

On May 27, 2025, Franco-Nevada Corporation ("Franco-Nevada") announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire an existing royalty package on the Côté Gold Mine in Ontario, consisting of a 7.5% gross margin royalty, from a private third party for total cash consideration of US$1.05 billion.

The Côté Gold Mine is one of the newest, large scale, and most modern gold mines to be built in Canada with an already extensive gold Mineral Resource base of more than 16 million ounces of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources and 4 million ounces of Inferred Mineral Resources. It is operated through an unincorporated joint venture by IAMGOLD Corporation ("IAMGOLD") and is owned by IAMGOLD (70%) and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. ("Sumitomo") (30%).

The royalty applies, on a 100% basis, to mineral production from the Chester 1, 2 & 3 claims which cover all of the Mineral Reserves and over 99.9% of current Mineral Resources on the Côté Gold Mine. Royalty deductions include cash operating costs and exclude all capital, exploration, depreciation and other non-cash costs.

For the acquisition, Franco-Nevada partnered with IAMGOLD and Sumitomo, which exclusively allowed Franco-Nevada access to conduct detailed due diligence. As part of these arrangements, concurrent with closing of the transaction, a new royalty agreement with IAMGOLD and Sumitomo will replace the existing royalty arrangements. The new royalty agreement will be registered on title and, among other things, provide for clarified audit and information rights. Further, as part of the partnership, IAMGOLD and Sumitomo will be granted an option, exercisable at their discretion, to buy down up to 50% of the royalty at Franco-Nevada's attributable cost in two equal tranches of 25%.

The acquisition is expected to close at the end of Q2 2025, with the effective date being the earlier of closing and July 1, 2025, providing Franco-Nevada an economic interest in the royalty from such date.

Further information can be found on Newswire Canada’s website.

Franco-Nevada is the leading gold-focused royalty and streaming company with the largest and most diversified portfolio of cash-flow producing assets. Its business model provides investors with gold price and exploration optionality while limiting exposure to cost inflation.

IAMGOLD is an intermediate gold producer and developer based in Canada with operating mines in North America and West Africa, including Côté Gold (Canada), Westwood (Canada) and Essakane (Burkina Faso).

Sumitomo Metal Mining dates back to 16th century copper mining and processing in Japan. It is an integrated producer covering from mineral resources development, smelting & refining, to the production of battery materials and functional materials.