Royal Gold Strikes Multi-Billion-Dollar Deals to Acquire Sandstorm Gold and Horizon Copper

Sponsored:

Monday, July 7, 2025

The mining sector saw major acquisition activity this morning, with two companies being scooped up in a multi-billion-dollar deal. The news pushed shares of the acquiring company lower, while both acquired companies saw sharp gains.

Royal Gold, Inc. (Nasdaq: RGLD) made waves this morning when the company announced agreements to acquire Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (TSX: SSL) (NYSE: SAND) for approximately $3.5 billion in stock and Horizon Copper Corp. (TSX-Venture: HCU) (OTCQB: HNCUF) for about $196 million in cash, aiming to expand its scale, diversification, and growth potential as a leading North American gold-focused streaming and royalty company. 

The Sandstorm deal offers a 21% premium over its 20-day average share price, while the Horizon acquisition offers an 85% premium, with both transactions expected to strengthen Royal Gold’s portfolio of precious metal stream and royalty interests and support continued reinvestment and growth.

Royal Gold expects its acquisitions of Sandstorm Gold and Horizon Copper to deliver immediate and meaningful revenue growth by adding 40 producing assets and boosting 2025 gold-equivalent ounce production by ~26%, while achieving an 87% precious metals revenue mix with 75% from gold.

The combined portfolio will be highly diversified with 80 producing assets, minimal single-asset concentration, and strong long-term growth potential through 47 development projects and 266 exploration-stage interests, many in stable jurisdictions like Canada and the U.S.

Shares of RGLD dropped sharply on the news, falling 8.61% to $164.34. Meanwhile, shares of the acquirees moved higher: SSL rose 5.48% to $13.87, with its U.S. counterpart, SAND, gaining 5.56% to $10.165. Shares of micro-cap HCU surged 67.67% to $1.945, while its U.S.-listed symbol jumped 69.95% to $1.431.

Sponsored: