Gold Royalty’s $70M BHP Brazil mine deal: cash-flow and grade lens for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Gold Royalty has agreed to buy BlackRock World Mining Trust’s royalty over BHP’s Pedra Branca copper-gold mine in Pará, Brazil, for $70 million cash, adding a 25% net smelter return on gold and 2% NSR on copper and other products across the Pedra Branca East and West deposits. The royalty generated about $7.9 million over the 12 months to 30 June, equivalent to roughly 2,800 gold-equivalent ounces at an average gold price of $2,811/oz, from ore grading 1.41–1.68% copper and 0.40–0.47 g/t gold. Gold Royalty will fully fund the deal via a $70 million bought equity financing of 17.5 million shares at $4.00, taking its portfolio to eight cash-flowing assets and over 250 royalty and streaming interests.
Technical Brief
- Pedra Branca forms part of the Carajás East copper operation in Água Azul do Norte, Pará, Brazil.
- OZ Minerals commissioned the Pedra Branca East underground mine in 2020 and achieved full production by 2022.
- BHP acquired Pedra Branca via its 2023 takeover of OZ Minerals and has since extended mine life.
- June 2025 reporting states 2.4 Mt measured at 1.68% Cu and 0.47 g/t Au.
- Indicated resources add 12 Mt at 1.41% Cu and 0.40 g/t Au, supporting sustained mill feed.
- Equity financing for the royalty purchase involves 17.5 million new GROY shares at $4.00 per share.
Our Take
With Pedra Branca’s measured and indicated copper grades of around 1.4–1.7% Cu, this BHP-operated asset sits at the higher-grade end of the copper stories in our mining database, which typically feature sub‑1% Cu for new Latin American developments.
The $7.9 million royalty expense over 12 months versus a $70 million purchase price implies Gold Royalty is paying a relatively short multiple of recent cash flow, signalling confidence in both mine life extension at Pedra Branca and further resource conversion in the Carajás district.
Adding a copper‑gold royalty in Pará gives Gold Royalty exposure to a region that appears less frequently in our 196‑story mining corpus than Andean copper belts, suggesting the company is deliberately diversifying jurisdictional risk away from more heavily scrutinised permitting environments.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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