Altius Minerals Corporation (ALS:TSX) (ATUSF: OTCQX) (“Altius” or the “Corporation”) expects to report Q2 2022 annual attributable royalty revenue of $28.2 million, which compares to $21.9 million of attributable royalty revenue recorded in Q2 2021 and represents a new quarterly record for the Corporation.

Royalty Revenue Summary

Summary of attributable royalty revenue
(in thousands of Canadian dollars)
      Q2 2022       Q1 2022       Q2 2021
Potash      

$ 11,450

     

$ 9,903

     

$ 4,516

Base & battery metals      

8,353

     

9,960

     

9,394

Iron ore (1)      

2,871

     

1,437

     

5,029

Thermal (electrical) coal      

4,520

     

3,113

     

2,140

Renewable energy and other      

982

     

1,079

     

827

Attributable royalty revenue      

$ 28,176

     

$ 25,492

     

$ 21,906

See non-GAAP financial measures section of our MD&A for definition and reconciliation of attributable royalty revenue
(1) Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation dividends received

Potash portfolio revenue during the quarter was $11.5 million, which compares to $4.5 million in the comparable quarter of 2021, reflecting significantly higher average realized prices as well as price reconciliation adjustments of $0.9 million related to 2021 sales. On a year-to-date basis, potash revenue of $21.4 million exceeds the $19.3 million revenue reported for the full year 2021.

During the quarter both operators of the mines comprising the Corporation’s potash royalty portfolio signalled intentions to incrementally increase production rates over the next few years through debottlenecking and growth investments in response to projected global supply deficits for the key fertilizer component.

Base and battery metal (primarily copper) revenue of $8.4 million for the quarter compares to $9.4 million reported for the second quarter of 2021 due to reduced attributable production volumes.

Mine production at the 777 mine ended during the quarter upon the depletion of reserves, with small royalty payments expected for the balance of this year related to residual processing and sales. Adventus Mining and Salazar Resources reported during the quarter that they have received technical approval of their Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, a Certificate of Technical Feasibility for the construction of tailings and waste rock facilities, and a preliminary commitment with regard to an Investment Protection Agreement for the Curipamba - El Domo copper-gold project in Ecuador, which is subject to an Altius NSR royalty. Lundin Mining reported that it continues to aggressively advance its new high-grade Saúva discovery, which is located 15 km north of current mining operations at Chapada on lands subject to Altius’s copper streaming agreement. Vale also announced that it continues to advance development of the Eastern Deeps nickel-copper cobalt mine at Voisey’s Bay with initial production targeted for later this year.

Iron ore revenue in the form of dividends from Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp. (LIORC) was $2.9 million compared to $5.0 million in Q2 2021 due to higher sustaining and growth capital spending and lower declared dividends by the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). LIORC serves as a pass-through vehicle for IOC production-based royalty revenues and equity dividends. In the second quarter of 2022, Altius purchased additional shares of LIORC to hold approximately 3.2 million shares at the dividend record date.

Thermal (electrical) coal revenue of $4.5 million during the current quarter compared to $2.1 million during the second quarter of last year. The current quarter revenue included approximately $1.6 million as an adjustment to royalties received during 2021 and Q1 2022 that mainly relates to inflation-based rate escalation provisions of the Genesee royalty agreement.

Renewable energy and other royalty revenue included approximately $0.8 million related to the Corporation’s 59% interest in Altius Renewable Royalties Corp. (ARR:TSX), compared to $0.06 million in the same quarter last year.

AngloGold Ashanti continued an aggressive delineation and exploration focussed program at its new Silicon Project gold discovery in Nevada, while Altius indicated during the quarter that it is considering various strategic alternatives for its NSR royalty interest in the project.

Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast Details

Additional details relating to individual royalty performances and asset level developments will be provided with the release of full financial results, which will occur on August 8, 2022 after the close of market with a conference call to follow on August 9, 2022.

Date: August 9, 2022
Time: 9:00 AM ET
Toll Free Dial-In Number: +1 (888) 440-2151
International Dial-In Number: +1 (438) 803-0555
Conference Call Title and ID: Altius Q2 2022 Results, ID 6430950
Webcast Link: Q2 2022 Financial Results

Non‐GAAP financial measures

  1. Attributable royalty revenue is a non‐GAAP financial measure. Management uses non-GAAP financial measures to monitor the financial performance of the Corporation and its operating segments and believes these measures enable investors and analysts to compare the Corporation’s financial performance with its competitors and/or evaluate the results of its underlying business. These measures are intended to provide additional information, not to replace International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) measures, and do not have a standard definition under IFRS and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. As these measures do not have a standardized meaning, they may not be comparable to similar measures provided by other companies. Further information on the composition and usefulness of each non-GAAP financial measure, including reconciliation to their most directly comparable IFRS measures, is included in the non-GAAP financial measures section of our MD&A. which are available at https://www.altiusminerals.com

About Altius

Altius’s strategy is to create per share growth through a diversified portfolio of royalty assets that relate to long life, high margin operations. This strategy further provides shareholders with exposures that are well aligned with sustainability-related global growth trends including the electricity generation transition from fossil fuel to renewables, transportation electrification, reduced emissions from steelmaking and increasing agricultural yield requirements. These macro-trends each hold the potential to cause increased demand for many of Altius’s commodity exposures including copper, renewable based electricity, several key battery metals (lithium, nickel and cobalt), clean iron ore, and potash. In addition, Altius runs a successful Project Generation business that originates mineral projects for sale to developers in exchange for equity positions and royalties. Altius has 47,764,588 common shares issued and outstanding that are listed on Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange. It is included in each of the S&P/TSX Small Cap, the S&P/TSX Global Mining, and the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats indices.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward‐looking information. The statements are based on reasonable assumptions and expectations of management and Altius provides no assurance that actual events will meet management's expectations. In certain cases, forward‐looking information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimates", "expects", "may", "shall", "will", or "would". Although Altius believes the expectations expressed in such forward‐looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Altius does not undertake to update any forward-looking information contained herein except in accordance with securities regulation.