“Nevada’s Filthy Rich Royalties”

by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | February 5, 2008 5:31 am

Kind of seems like the folks at Stansberry are testing to see whether the term “Filthy Rich” works well in their email campaigns, this is the second one I’ve seen of late (the other was for “My British Uncle Albert’s Filthy Rich Retirement Secret…[1]”).

But that’s neither here nor there. We apparently have an opportunity to reap untold millions here — let’s investigate!

This is from the S&A Oil Report[2], by Matt Badiali[3] (we’ve seen a lot of him lately, too, thanks to the gold[4]-stocks.html" target="_blank">L-2 Indicator and the return of the oil[5]-discovery.html" target="_blank">Colorado Secret Oil Shale emails). A subscription will get you all kinds of info about this Nevada gold royalty investment, I’m sure, but perhaps reading on a bit further and indulging your favorite Gumshoe will get you started on your own … gratis, of course.

The letter includes the usual quotes from reputable news sources to let you know that this is not a scam to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge — in this instance … “I did manage to dig up a survey from The Washington Post, which reports, ‘No [opportunity of its kind] in the United States promises more future riches….’ ”

There’s plenty more info about royalty companies, and why royalties exist and can be bought — essentially, the way I see it, royalty companies largely exist to let big gold mine operators hedge. They sell those royalty rights to monetize some of their future earnings immediately and help pay some of the often gargantuan start up costs for the mines. I don’t really know if that’s the rationale behind all

In case that’s not enough to convince you (smart you!), let’s continue.

You’re probably aware that Nevada is one of hotspots for gold mining[6] in the US, and has been for many years. Apparently, there’s something about the state aside from all the gold in the ground, that gets people excited:

In Badiali’s words, “You see, the practice of allowing ordinary investors to own royalty stakes in lucrative mines dates back more than 150 years in Nevada. Back then, individual investors could buy royalty stakes in gold and silver[7]-filled land. They received royalties as the precious metals were produced. It was probably the safest and easiest way in America to get rich at the time….”

There’s an interesting little history lesson built into the letter about the changes to the mining industry and, apparently, to Nevada law:

“As big mining companies took over the industry, the practice of extending royalties to ordinary citizens ended. For most of the last 50 years, the only practical way to make money on lucrative mines has been to buy mining company stocks. These are the companies that explore for, or produce, gold, silver, or other precious metals.

“But the good news for investors like you and me is that all changed in 1990, when Stanley Dempsey – a clever geologist and lawyer from Nevada – uncovered a unique opportunity that makes it possible for Americans like you and me to again collect huge mining royalties, without taking big risks associated with ordinary mining stocks.

“What most people don’t know is that Dempsey personally found a way to get these shares listed and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. So you can buy and sell them – just like any regular stock.”

OK, so we’re dealing with Nevada mining royalty companies — companies that essentially invest in various mines and therefore collect a small percentage either of the ore that comes out or of the resulting income. That’s the good news.

The bad news is, there are quite a few of these companies. The Goldstrike mine is mentioned, and that’s in fact where the Washington Post quote came from, too, from an article that was written back in the mid-90s about the ridiculous giveaway that some of the mining finds on federal land represented (according to that article, Barrick essentially bought the mining rights to the land, which holds a multi-Billion-dollar pile of gold, for less than $10,000). That law, by the way, is under fairly steady debate in Congress and, if Nevada Senator Harry Reid can be bypassed, would likely change at some point and mean that U.S. miners would have to pay a royalty when mining on federal land, which might potentially cut the value of some of these royalty owners in the future. Maybe.

So, can we figure out which specific companies are being discussed here?

Not many clues are given, I’m afraid — Badiali describes two possible investments, but very briefly:

For example, this report details one of my favorite royalty mines right now – a mine located in an area geologists call, “a seemingly bottomless pit of gold.” This mine has paid out more than $102 MILLION in royalties since 2001. Don’t worry… I expect they’ll pay out another $100 MILLION over the next few years. It’s the perfect time to get in on this windfall.

So what can the Gumshoe tell you about that? Well, the “seemingly bottomless pit of gold” is the Carlin Trend in Nevada, which is an incredibly rich trove of “microscopic gold” — gold that you couldn’t find with as shovel but can extract with technology, so it has seen increased mining as technology has improved in the past 30 years. It’s apparently the Carlin Trend that has launched Nevada into the top tier of gold mining sites in the world.

But there are lots of companies plying the Carlin Trend. Arg.

I’ll also tell you about one of the biggest gold discoveries in recent years. This promising young gold mine goes online in late 2008 and is estimated to pay royalties for the next 17 years!

So, with that being the sum total of the specific clues, I can’t tell you exactly which of the royalty companies this is.

I can, however, venture some guesses and offer a couple suggestions for further research.

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My guess is that the favorite mine that has paid out over $100 million in royalties might well be the Goldstrike mine, the centerpiece of Barrick Gold’s work in Nevada and one of the largest gold mines in the world. It also encompasses a fair number of old mining claims and royalty owners, but one promising owner of royalties to part of the mine is Royal Gold (RGLD)[8]. Royal Gold could also, as a wild guess, fit the second mine’s clue, because one of their royalty positions is with the Penasquito mine in Mexico[9] that is one of the larger recent gold discoveries. It’s not in Nevada, of course, but I’m not sure I understand why the “Nevada” part is particularly important — big royalty firms like Royal Gold have pieces of mines all around the world, it’s not as though the idea of owning a royalty stream for a gold mine is at all unique to Nevada.

This is probably not really the stock Badiali is teasing here — if he visited Nevada, there’s a significant likelihood that he was interested in the smaller royalty owners, and Royal Gold is one of the bigger ones, and not one that pays a significant dividend as is teased in the ad.

If you want to look into royalty companies a little more, the ones I hear most about are International Royalty Corporation (ROY) — Seeking Alpha[10] article here; the aforementioned Royal Gold (RGLD), and Franco-Nevada (FNV in Toronto, don’t know of a pink sheet symbol yet) which just went public (again) after being owned by Newmont for many years.

Personally, I would hesitate to get involved in royalty companies that focus on one or two mines or that are very small. In this sector, my personal preference would be to stay away from the small caps and diversify — so with silver, for example, I’d probably go with Silver Wheaton (a similar big pure play royalty company), and for gold I’d probably go with Royal Gold or Franco-Nevada, which is a recent spinoff of Newmont’s royalty interests around the world (a large part of their portfolio came, in turn, from acquisitions of companies like Battle Mountain). This business is sort of like the mineral equivalent of being a venture capital investor, and for me the idea of having a big portfolio of diverse mining royalty assets is appealing.

Franco-Nevada, by the way, also has a much bigger piece of Goldstrike royalties than does Royal Gold, so if it’s that big mine you like then maybe Franco-Nevada’s your guy. Royal Gold bills itself as the largest “pure play” in this business, but Franco-Nevada might really deserve the crown more (still arguable, because Franco-Nevada has non-precious metal assets too, including oil and gas royalties). Both companies are right around a billion dollars in market cap. International Royalty is quite a bit smaller, and there are some smaller players like Allied Nevada (ANV), which just went public last year.

So … no get-rich-quick ideas for you today, but if you feel like proposing a different royalty owner who might be worth consideration I’m sure we’d all be interested to hear about it. I’d look at Royal Gold and Franco-Nevada before considering a small royalty company, but that’s just me.

And frankly, I’d probably go with the gold ETF for exposure to the yellow stuff before considering either of those … sometimes simplicity is your best friend. Royalty companies are built to perform well in boom times and have some cushion in bad times, but this probably isn’t the best place to look if you’re hoping for a stock that will quintuple in value on the back of a sexy new discovery.

I hope we can all become gazillionaires with some non-mineral stocks soon, these mining companies give me a headache.

Want to keep up with the Gumshoe? Click here to subscribe now — free email alerts.[11]

Endnotes:
  1. My British Uncle Albert’s Filthy Rich Retirement Secret…: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/2007/11/commonwealth-shares-profiting-from.html
  2. Oil Report: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/oil-report/
  3. Matt Badiali: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/matt-badiali/
  4. gold: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/2008/01/l-2-indicator-best-for-a%20href=
  5. oil: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/2007/05/us-govts-secret-colorado-a%20href=
  6. gold mining: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/gold-mining/
  7. silver: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/silver/
  8. Royal Gold (RGLD): https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/rgld/
  9. Mexico: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/mexico/
  10. Seeking Alpha: http://seekingalpha.com/article/32846-international-royalty-corporation-capitalize-on-the-commodities-boom
  11. Click here to subscribe now — free email alerts.: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/free-stuff

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32 responses to ““Nevada’s Filthy Rich Royalties””

  1. DOC Lee says:

    I know these are simple questions and in some cases folks may say “what an idiot”. However, if they were to ask me the best way to prevent food born illness outside of washing hands, or some other question in my expertise, I’m sure I would roll my eyes as well. So, the best question is one asked.

    I have no experience with investing anything ever. My next question is is there any minimal amount or is that left to the brokers to set?

    Who do you reccomend for a first time investor? My wife owns several stocks, but I never bought any.

  2. brenda says:

    Doc, I’m not allowed to give you personal advice. If I were to begin investing from 0 today I would start with broad mutual funds or ETFs. All individual stocks, these included, are much riskier than diversified funds.

    Online brokers generally let you buy any number of shares you like, but with smaller investments the commission becomes a significant percentage of your investment.

  3. Lilly says:

    Stansberry et al are under indictment by the SEC for fraudulent online investment newsletters.

  4. Mike M says:

    Apparently Anglo-Swiss Resources just tapped one of their mines and found potentially $5 billion worth of gold. Speculation of course but the stock is trading at 25 cents a share and will be going up soon after this announcment.

  5. James says:

    I’m working a not so great paying job right now. Would it be wise for me to invest $1,000 in Franco Nevada? I realize the risk but how exactly do the returns work? Once you sell, you get the cut of royalties? Most of the things i’ve read sound too good to be true. I need answers.

  6. brenda says:

    James, neither I nor the newsletter writers can give you individual advice. I can tell you that royalties are payments that go TO Franco-Nevada from the mine operators, shareholders don’t get royalties directly. Franco-Nevada has announced that they plan to pay a modest dividend of about 1.5% based on the amount of cash flow they get from the royalty-generating investment they’ve made in gold mines and other resource extraction activities.

  7. Tony V says:

    I recently bought the Oil Report for $49 to see if it would compliment several other utility and oil newsletters I receive now. The “Nevada Royalties” report was included and I was intrigued. However the report states having a “program” for these royalties that will make you “rich” but give no clue whatever as to what that “program” is. He touts Royal Gold and International Royalty that pay no dividend. Royal Gold is paying out a quarterly dividend of .26 a quarter. This was in stark contrast to the teaser ad that I saw for a “Mr. Wilkes” who was receiving payouts each month from January to September (no year noted) of amounts ranging from $293 to a $12,000 single payout. My calculations figured a person would need an investment of roughly $94,000 at $29.00 per share (RGLD’ s price earlier this week) to receive the monthly payout enjoyed by Mr. Wilkes as shown in that teaser advertisement. The Jan. payout would mean that Mr. Wilkes needed to own 3271 shares of RGLD, but still leaves a huge question unanswered: the Sept.12th payout of $12,899.46. Any thoughts on the validity of the monthly payouts in the teaser ad? By the way they provide two examples in the ad with similar dollar results.

  8. Rod D says:

    For those interested in monthly income, instead of mining royalties, consider Algonquin Power Income Fund (APF-UN.TO), trades on the Toronto Exchange, available through most U.S. discount brokers, has paid $.92 per year (but paid monthly) dividend since 2001 and has an current annual yield of about 13%. Why like mining – it generates hydroelectric power, wind farm power, burns solid waste to generate power and operates 17 water utilities in the U.S…..all more stable than mining!

  9. Malcolm Thorpe says:

    Remember that quote from Mark Twain, “A Gold Mine is just an hole in the ground with a fool on top”.

  10. cash back says:

    any update on these gold royalty plans? I just got the email today, is this an update?

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