Royal Gold has a long and celebrated history that began with our architect, Stanley Dempsey, whose vision and entrepreneurial spirit laid the foundation for our Business Model. Our success did not come as a stroke of luck, but rather a culmination of hard work and perseverance and the ability to reinvent and adapt ourselves to changing times.

Our story began in 1981, as Royal Resources Corporation, an oil and gas exploration and production company. After several good years, oil prices collapsed in 1986, and this led the company to shift its focus from oil and gas to gold. At the time, Mr. Dempsey was a director of Royal Resources and co-founder of Denver Mining Finance Corporation (DMFC), a merchant bank to mining companies. Later in 1986, Royal Resources acquired DMFC. The newly formed company was called Royal Gold.

Mr. Dempsey and his co-founding partner at DMFC, Edwin Peiker, were asked to manage the new company. Initially, Royal Gold had the goal of becoming a gold operating company and actively pursued the acquisition of gold producers and prospective exploration properties. But after a stock market pullback in 1987, Royal Gold refocused again, with the goal of becoming a minority owner of interests in significant gold properties operated by major mining firms.

It was this final approach that proved the most successful. With the eventual acquisition of our original cornerstone royalty on the Cortez Pipeline Mining Complex in Nevada, we established the high-margin business that we recognize today as Royal Gold. It was also through work on Cortez that Mr. Dempsey would meet and form a friendship with Tony Jensen, at one time the Mine General Manager at Cortez, who would eventually succeed him as CEO.

During the first years of this new strategy, we acquired existing royalties on mining projects. And, as the cash flow from these interests grew, we began providing financing to mining companies directly in return for new royalties and streams, which is the most recent iteration of our business.

Today, Royal Gold is a leading precious metals streaming and royalty company, owning interests on several of the world’s most attractive mines. Collectively managed by a team possessing a specialized skillset and extensive experience in the mining industry, we have built a reputation for quality, diligence and professionalism. Royal Gold has established itself as a partner of choice for mining operators and a positive contributor to the environment and local communities.