Good morning! I'm your host, Joanne Jobin, and I'd like to welcome you to the Gold Royalty Informational Town Hall Forum. Today, we will focus on this morning's announcement by Gold Royalty regarding royalty and gold-linked loan to finance Aura's Borborema project in Brazil. Before we commence, just a reminder that if you do have any questions for the company, please place them into the Q&A tab at the top of your chat section. After the presentation, we will be delighted to moderate submitted questions from the audience. With us this morning is Gold Royalty team, led by CEO David Garofalo, who will make the intros to the team and take you through this milestone for the company. David, the stage is yours.
Well, good morning, or good afternoon, as the case may be. I'm delighted to be joined by my partners, John Griffith, our Chief Development Officer, Andrew Gubbels, our Chief Financial Officer, and Alex Still, our Director of Technical Services. As we announced in our press release yesterday evening, Gold Royalty is pleased to announce the acquisition of a 2% net smelter return royalty on Aura's Borborema gold project in Brazil, and a gold-linked loan Aura convertible into a further royalty in Borborema for a combined $31 million cash investment in the project. At the same time, we're pleased to announce that Queens Road Capital and the Taurus Mining Royalty Fund have agreed to make a combined $40 million strategic investment into Gold Royalty Corp through an unsecured five-year convertible debenture.
These transactions provide immediate cash flow per share growth, accelerating our transition to positive free cash flow less than three years after our IPO. It demonstrates our ability to make meaningful, value creative acquisitions, even in an environment of scarce capital for the gold sector, leveraging our deep network of our board and management, and that has delivered three meaningful acquisitions in 2023, including this Borborema, the Cozamin Royalty acquisition a little earlier this year, and the acquisition of a royalty portfolio from SOQUEM, another strategic investor in the company. Our strategy is steady growth and is strongly validated by two large experienced mining institutional investors in Queens Road and Taurus.
With Queens Road and Taurus, we add to an impressive roster of strategic shareholders, including Barrick and Newmont, who became our second biggest shareholder as a result of the acquisition of a royalty on i-80's Granite Creek mine in Nevada last year. SOQUEM, an arm of the Quebec government, who sold us their portfolio of precious metal royalties early this year. And of course, GoldMining, our founding shareholder, has not only retained their original shareholding, but have been opportunistically adding to their investment in Gold Royalty in the market since our IPO. This transaction is truly transformational for Gold Royalty. In Borborema, we have a royalty on a new long-life gold mine with an experienced and successful operator in Aura, in a jurisdiction we are very familiar with, and an asset that we think has significant upside potential, both geologically and operationally.
We invite in two new strategic investors in Queens Road and Taurus. It opens up new opportunities for us for continued accretive growth. So with that, I'd like to pass it on to John Griffith to talk about the acquisition and the rest of the team to walk through the particulars of the asset and the financing related to it. Thank you.
Thanks, Dave. I'd first like to draw the audience's attention to our cautionary statement, which can also be found on our website. Turning to slide 3, we're thrilled to be speaking to you today about a transaction that is strategic, innovative, and collaborative, demonstrating the efficacy of the combined experience of the board and management team. It is strategic, given the immediate impact on Gold Royalty's revenue, which we will discuss in greater detail. It is innovative, given the transaction structure affords low risk, near-term cash flows via pre-production and gold linked coupon payments, while simultaneously providing long-term exposure to Borborema's robust expected production profile and also significant exploration upside.
It is collaborative, given our partnership with a proven operator and miner in Brazil, with a high-quality management team, and also given our participation in a fully funded, high-quality project, which is permitted and under construction, with initial production expected in early 2025. The financing that Gold Royalty has secured echoes these strategic, innovative and collaborative sentiments. The $40 million unsecured convertible debenture financing as long-term strategic partners in Queens Road Capital, a leading source of capital to the global resource sector, and Taurus, also a leading global resource sector financier. We'll talk more about these strategic partnerships in due course, but I would highlight that this financing and the associated partnerships will support the continued accretive growth of the company. Proceeds will be used to partially fund the transaction and to partially reduce drawn borrowings under our credit facility, providing enhanced liquidity.
And finally, with regards to the timing of the transactions, they are subject to customary closing conditions and expected to close in December 2023. Turning to the next slide. Taking a closer look at the transaction structure, the first component is a $21 million royalty financing, which provides a 2% net smelter return, or NSR royalty, over the Borborema project. As mentioned, the risk to Gold Royalty associated with the timing and successful ramp-up of the Borborema project, is mitigated by Aura's commitment to make pre-production payments of 1,000 ounces per year, which will continue until the earlier of commercial production or 10 years.
The royalty steps down to a 0.5% NSR, after 725,000 ounces of production, which is marginally below the anticipated production of 748,000 ounces of gold over an approximate 11-year mine life, as outlined in the Borborema feasibility study announced in August this year. Furthermore, Aura will retain the right to buy back the remaining royalty for $2.5 million after the earlier of 2.25 million ounces of production or the year 2050. Then finally, I'd highlight that the royalty is secured by a pledge of mineral rights. Turning to the $10 million gold-linked convertible loan.
Upon maturity or early redemption, Gold Royalty has the option to be repaid fully in cash, i.e., $10 million, or to be repaid $5 million in cash and retain an incremental 0.5% NSR over Borborema. This feature allowed Gold Royalty to extend additional capital to Borborema, while Aura works to unlock access to additional resources currently constrained under an existing paved road. If Aura is successful in relocating the road, the additional resources will enhance the mine life, and Gold Royalty will have the option to gain additional exposure to the project through this conversion feature. The coupon offers Gold Royalty exposure to gold, as it is determined based upon a quarterly 110 ounces of gold or equivalent to 440 ounces per year.
The loan matures in six years and does, as I mentioned, have an early prepayment mechanism exercisable after two years. If Aura elects the early repayment option, there is an incremental payment to be made to Gold Royalty, and Gold Royalty retains the conversion rights, potentially providing an increased royalty on the project at that time. If Gold Royalty exercises its conversion rights, the incremental royalty will be subject to the same buyback terms as already noted. An important added feature to the transaction structure is the ESG co-investment contribution. The idea is to facilitate investment in an ESG initiative that is incremental to any existing or regulatory initiatives, and is intended to promote enhanced social or environmental programs.
The way it will work is that Gold Royalty will, upon completion of the project, provide Aura a rebate of $30 per gold equivalent ounce, payable from their NSR royalty, up to a maximum of $300,000. At Gold Royalty, we believe that Aura, as owner and operator of Borborema, is best positioned to determine the most suitable program for the community and the environment. We will then work with Aura to agree that the program meets the intended requirements, and the rebate will become effective. We believe this is the most effective way to ensure that ESG funding is productive and efficiently implemented. Turning to slide 5. There are a number of moving pieces in the transaction structure, and so this slide seeks to graphically pull together the key elements in an illustrative manner.
I should highlight that the information on this page is based on Borborema's feasibility study, published in August this year, and information contained in our press release dated December 5, 2023. From Aura's perspective, in simplistic terms, the company will receive twenty-three million... sorry, I beg your pardon, $31 million in financing for Borborema. Gold Royalty will initially receive the coupon on the loan, payable in gold ounces, highlighted in the light gold-brown color on this chart. We will also receive pre-production payments, highlighted in black, until the earlier of project completion, which in this case is assumed to be partway through 2025 in this illustration. And I do highlight that these payments would continue for 10 years if completion isn't met.... Once the pre-production payments fall away, the 2% NSR kicks in, represented by the blue bars.
Finally, if Gold Royalty elects its conversion option under the loan, we will receive an incremental 0.5% NSR, illustrated by the dotted box. In this instance, we've assumed that Aura does not exercise the early repayment option for illustrative purposes only. I'd now like to hand over to Alastair Still to talk more specifically about the Borborema project. Alastair?
Thanks, John, and certainly important now to talk about project after we've heard about the transaction structure. The deposit and the company are both very solid, very very good, robust asset, which we've done significant due diligence on. What I would draw people's attention to is the resource statement for the company, which has over two million ounces in indicated category and resources, and a further almost 400,000 ounces inferred. Within that resource, there's a subset that's been converted to a reserve. The reserve is what was reported by Aura in their feasibility study in August, and that feasibility study only captures 812,000 ounces of the indicated resource, which was upgraded to a probable reserve.
What that necessarily implies is that there is another 1.265 million ounces in indicated category that will be converted to a reserve should Borborema, Aura be successful in completing a relocation of a road around the margin of the pit. This provides tremendous upside, from an exploration perspective, yet really no additional drilling is needed. It's really an engineering task and engagement with the community to move that road, which, Aura have already begun the process on. Furthermore, I would point out that when resources are converted to reserves, the inferred are not considered. So all 393,000 ounces that are inferred resources, those are not captured by the feasibility study, yet they're contained within the pit shell, and there's a very good opportunity for those to be mined during production.
The deposit itself is very well defined, very well understood. There's over 100,000 meters of drilling on it, so there's good confidence in the resource. It's a, it's a well-suited deposit or body for this type of open pit mining. It's a modest strip ratio. The average thickness is 30-35 meters, so there's good continuity, and it does go up to 50 meters thick in places. The deposit is open in all directions, and there is a potential for future underground, which Aura will look at in the future, as well as expansion along strike and further down dip as well.
You can also see on this table here that the capital to construct the project is quite a modest number, and Aura is now fully funded with the financing they've secured and cash on hand to build this. And they are experienced operators building and operating mines. And if we move forward to the next slide, we can talk about Aura as an operator. Aura actually are well-suited in Central and South America. They have a strong pipeline of producing and development assets. They currently have four mines in operation, including the recently announced commercial production at the Almas deposit in Brazil. And I would point out that when Aura built this mine, it was built on budget and a total construction time of 16 months.
That's very important for us because Aura have established themselves as strong operators, and their presence in Brazil is very important for building Borborema. The Almas mine has come online just in the last couple of months. September fifteenth, it declared commercial production, and they're already looking at ways to optimize that and increase and expand production. So it's clear that the team is innovative and looking to grow their resources. They are a well-established producer, with a target of between 450,000 ounces per year by the end of 2025. So that illustrates how they're well suited to not only construct Borborema, but also operate it very efficiently as well. And on that, I will pass over to Andrew, please.
Thank you, Alastair. Okay, let me start off with our commitment to sustainability here. So our investment at Borborema marks the first opportunity for Gold Royalty to implement its ESG co-investment strategy. Now, this is something that we have had as part of our mandate on potential investments for new royalties, and this was the perfect opportunity to include our ESG co-investment strategy with Aura Minerals. So here, we will collaborate with Aura to provide ESG funding that will supplement or further enhance its existing sustainability programs. We're not funding what their existing commitments are for ESG. We're providing additional funding for Aura Minerals. And to facilitate this, Gold Royalty will take a small rebate of $30 per ounce, payable from the NSR royalty upon commercial production of the Borborema mine.
Not right at the outset of the pre-production payments, but once the mine has reached commercial production, and these funds will be allocated towards mutually agreed ESG programs. So through this innovative ESG co-investment strategy, Gold Royalty will not only help Aura Minerals build its Borborema project with its financing, it will also contribute to the communities surrounding the mine. Now, let me give you a snapshot of the Gold Royalty moving forward. With this investment in Borborema, Gold Royalty has continued to execute on its strategy of adding cash flow, quality cash flow-generating assets to its world-class growth portfolio.
With the Côté project also coming online in Q1 2024, and Canadian Malartic royalty expecting to grow next year, the addition of Borborema, with its pre-production and gold-linked loan coupon payments, and Cozamin, which was acquired earlier in 2023, it will contribute to a step change in GEOs and cash flows in the coming years, and really emphasize the free cash flow, operating free cash flow positivity of the company in 2024. Gold Royalty, as everyone knows, has had a world-class growth portfolio. It now has an established solid foundation of cash flow-generating assets and near cash flow assets to smooth its path towards becoming a leading diversified precious metals royalty company.
Now, as mentioned previously, to finance the Borborema investment, Gold Royalty will issue $40 million of convertible debentures in a private placement to strategic investors, with additional net proceeds used to reduce credit drawn on the company's secured revolving credit facility, thereby for the company going forward. This funding provides Gold Royalty with long-term unsecured capital, and gives us the support and flexibility to continue to grow the company. Importantly, Gold Royalty has aligned itself with strategic investors that are supportive of the company's long-stated growth strategy. Queens Road Capital will provide $30 million of funding to Gold Royalty. QRC has been an active finance partner for growth-oriented mining companies such as NexGen Energy, Los Andes Copper, and Adriatic Metals. Its investment in Gold Royalty is its first in the streaming and royalty sector.
Taurus Funds Management, via its Taurus Mining Royalty Fund, will provide $10 million of capital to Gold Royalty. Taurus is an established private financier in the mining sector, having successfully funded companies such as Terenga Gold and West African Resources, and recently acquired a royalty over to Taseko's Florence Copper Project for $50 million. Together, these investors are not only providing acquisition financing, they're also pledging their support for Gold Royalty management and validate the company's strategy and vision. Now I'll pass it back to David for concluding remarks.
Well, thanks very much, Andrew. We're delighted, as I said, to complete this transformative transaction with strategic investors, adding an asset that delivers double-digit rates of return with expansion potential, both geologically and also from an operational standpoint, that could further enhance the rate of return, providing full upside to the gold price, in an environment where the gold price is accelerating and catching a bid, if you will. We think that'll start to get reflected in the gold equities over the coming months and years. We're well positioned to enjoy the upside in the gold price, given the royalty model. With that, I'd be delighted to open it up for Q&A, and all of our management team that presented today is open to answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you, David. That was a great update. Thank you for your time today. We'll now moderate some Q&A that has been added. First question is: How should we treat the accounting of the pre-production payments? I assume this will not be treated as royalty revenue on the income statement, but will hit the cash flow statement.
I can take that. The pre-production revenue and the loan, the revenue from the gold -linked loan will be included in our adjusted revenue. It will hit the cash flow statement. That is correct. It will be considered revenue in terms of our accounting. So it will be cash coming to the company. But again, based on some of the accounting rules, you may not see it on the revenue line. Rest assured, it is cash flow, and you will see it in our adjusted total revenue, non-IFRS figures.
Excellent. Next question regards NAV. What price relative to NAV did Gold Royalty pay for this?
... Yeah, we're expecting, at current gold prices, a very strong double-digit rate of return, well in excess of the cost of capital of the financing, the strategic pricing we did with Queens Road Capital and, with Taurus.
Excellent. Next question: What does the balance sheet look like post this deal?
The acquisition of the royalty and the extension of the Gold-Linked Loan to Aura is $31 million. We're raising $40 million in total. At the moment, we do have circa $17.5 million or so of debt outstanding. We will use excess proceeds above the purchase price to repay the certain amounts outstanding on the credit facility, net of certain transaction-related expenses. Pro forma for the transaction, we should expect to see total debt outstanding on the credit facility somewhere around the $10 million mark. Pro forma for the transaction, and then, of course, we'll have the $40 million in convertibles. We will have additional credit available under that facility, given that we paid down, we'll pay down a certain amount of the debt outstanding.
Excellent. Obviously, rates have gone up, but what would you say is the IRR of this royalty deal relative to the cost of financing and shares? What discount rate did you use on this?
Yeah, I'll just highlight earlier, we're expecting comfortably in the double-digit rates of return on this opportunity. It really depends on your gold price assumption, because this is very much gold oriented. It's geared to the gold price.
Mm-hmm.
But at current gold prices, we're comfortably in the double-digit territory, well in excess of the cost of capital from the debenture.
All right, next question: Was this a competitive transaction? What has been the deal environment like outside of this? Would these two new partners be willing to fund additional deals if they come up, and are they attractive?
I'll start, and I know John will have some things to interject, but this was a bilateral process. As virtually all of the deals that we've done since our IPO have been, is leveraging relationships. We have a very strong relationship with Dundee Corporation, who were formerly joint venture partners on the Borborema project, which they converted into an NSR since then. And they were responsible for raising the capital from Santander on the project financing and from us on the royalty. And so we've had a strong relationship. I've had a strong relationship with the principals at Dundee Corporation for decades, and that relationship led to this opportunity. So John, you can answer the rest of the question.
Yeah. No, thanks, Dave. It's a very active market. I think in what I would describe as the sub-$100 million environment for those seeking to raise capital, there is no shortage of opportunities. And I think we've used this phrase before, but we're in a perpetual state of due diligence, so not just on this transaction, but on other opportunities. So certainly no, you know, no peace for the wicked, so to speak, in terms of the corporate development team. But I also think that having the strategic alignments with Queens Road Capital and Taurus will certainly enhance our ability to remain very competitive in this marketplace.
Thank you, John. Next question. This is impressive. Were you able to get this done in this sort of environment? And is your small size helping? I would think this is too small for the large guys to bother with.
Yeah, I mean, I think the interesting thing is we've seen the large companies do transactions of this size and in fact, in some instances, even smaller. So I think it's about being nimble. As we've always articulated, the benefit of having the experience of the board and management team and advisory board is really what helps us punch above our weight and be able to come up with a competitive solution, creative solution, to a very exciting project development opportunity. So, you know, I think it's a great example of, you know, keeping the team small and lean, but being able to continue to grow.
As David mentioned, you know, we have 240 million, I beg your pardon, 240 royalties, and we could manage a portfolio significantly larger without having to increase the size of our team. And I think, you know, the transaction itself was really a collaborative effort across, you know, board talent, and management talent to get this done.
I can imagine it was no easy feat, and quite a nice Christmas present. Congratulations, team. This is a real milestone for you. It doesn't look like we have any other questions, so we will end the town hall at this time. Thank you, gentlemen, for again a great update. David, do you have any closing words before we sign off?
You know, all I would say is, please, if you have any other detailed question, we remain at your disposal. You, you know how to reach us. Many of us just have our first initial, last name, @goldroyalty.com. If you want to reach out by email or info email or 1-800 number, we're always glad to hear from you and answer any questions you might have on this or our business in general. With that, I hope everybody has a lovely holiday.
Thank you, David. Before we sign off, please ensure that you fill in the short questionnaire at the end of the presentation. This helps us and the company communicate more effectively with you in the future. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you on the next town hall forum. Goodbye, everyone.