DESIGNATED NEWS RELEASE
Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (“Sandstorm Gold Royalties”, “Sandstorm” or the “Company”) (NYSE: SAND, TSX: SSL) is pleased to announce that the Company sold approximately 17,400 attributable gold equivalent ounces1 and realized preliminary revenue2 of $31.0 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021, both representing a record for the Company. Preliminary cost of sales, excluding depletion2 for the three month period was $5.4 million resulting in cash operating margins1 of approximately $1,470 per attributable gold equivalent ounce1.
Normal Course Issuer Bid Renewal
The Company’s normal course issuer bid (“NCIB”) is being renewed after the existing NCIB expires on April 5, 2021. The current NCIB provides Sandstorm with the option to purchase up to 17.2 million of the Company’s common shares (“Common Shares”) from time to time when Sandstorm’s management believes that the Common Shares are undervalued by the market. Under the renewed NCIB, Sandstorm may purchase up to 19.1 million of its Common Shares, representing approximately 10% of the Company’s issued and outstanding Common Shares of 194,500,210 as of March 31, 2021, less those Common Shares held by the Company’s directors and senior officers. The Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) has accepted the Company’s notice that it intends to proceed with a NCIB in accordance with TSX rules. Purchases under the renewed NCIB may commence on April 7, 2021 and will terminate on the earlier of April 6, 2022, the date that Sandstorm completes its purchases pursuant to the NCIB as filed with the TSX, or the date of notice by Sandstorm of termination of the NCIB.
All purchases under the NCIB will be executed on the open market through the facilities of the TSX or alternative Canadian trading platforms and through the facilities of the NYSE or alternative trading platforms in the United States of America. Purchases will be made at the market price of the Common Shares at the time of acquisition and may be funded by Sandstorm’s working capital. Any Common Shares acquired by the Company under the NCIB will be cancelled. Sandstorm’s average daily trading volume on the TSX during the last six calendar months was 323,370 Common Shares. Under the rules of the TSX, subject to the Company’s ability to make block purchases, daily purchases on the TSX under the NCIB will not exceed 80,842 Common Shares, which represents 25% of the average daily trading volume on the TSX during the last six calendar months. The maximum number of Common Shares which can be purchased per day on the NYSE will be 25% of the average daily trading volume for the four calendar weeks preceding the date of purchase, subject to certain exceptions for block purchases.
The actual number of Common Shares that may be purchased and the timing of such purchases will be determined by the Company. Decisions regarding purchases will be based on market conditions, share price, best use of available cash, and other factors.
In the last twelve months, the Company has purchased 800,366 Common Shares pursuant to its NCIB at a weighted average price of C$7.94 per common share on the TSX and alternates and zero shares on the NYSE and alternates.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
Sandstorm filed its Form 40-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 with the Securities and Exchange Commission and it is available on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml. The Company’s 2020 Audited Financial Statements, along with its Form 40-F, are both available on the Company’s website at www.sandstormgold.com.
Shareholders may also receive copies of these documents, without charge, upon request to Sandstorm’s Investor Relations Department, Suite 1400, 400 Burrard St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 3A6 Canada or to info@sandstormgold.com.
Note 1
Sandstorm has included certain performance measures in this press release that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) including (i) attributable gold equivalent ounces and (ii) cash operating margin. The presentation of these non-IFRS measures is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Other companies may calculate these non-IFRS measures differently. Note these figures have not been audited and are subject to change. (i) As Sandstorm’s operations are primarily focused on precious metals, the Company presents attributable gold equivalent ounces as it believes that certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company’s performance in comparison to other mining companies in the precious metals mining industry who present results on a similar basis. The Company’s royalty and other commodity stream revenue is converted to an attributable gold equivalent ounce basis by dividing the royalty and other commodity stream revenue for that period by the average realized gold price per ounce from the Company’s gold streams for the same respective period. These attributable gold equivalent ounces when combined with the gold ounces sold from the Company’s gold streams equal total attributable gold equivalent ounces sold and may be subject to change. (ii) The Company presents cash operating margin as it believes that certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company’s performance in comparison to other companies in the precious metals mining industry who present results on a similar basis. Cash operating margin is calculated by subtracting cost of sales, excluding depletion from revenue and dividing this figure by attributable gold equivalent ounces sold ([$31.0 Million – $5.4 Million]/17,400 attributable gold equivalent ounces).
Note 2
These figures have not been audited and are subject to change. As the Company has not yet finished its quarter-end close procedures, the anticipated financial information presented in this press release is preliminary, subject to final quarter-end closing adjustments, and may change materially.
Contact Information
For more information about Sandstorm Gold Royalties, please visit our website at www.sandstormgold.com or email us at info@sandstormgold.com.
Erfan Kazemi
Chief Financial Officer
604 689 0234
Kim Bergen
Capital Markets
604 628 1164
About Sandstorm Gold
Sandstorm is a gold royalty company that provides upfront financing to gold mining companies that are looking for capital and in return, receives the right to a percentage of the gold produced from a mine, for the life of the mine. Sandstorm has acquired a portfolio of 200 royalties, of which 24 of the underlying mines are producing. Sandstorm plans to grow and diversify its low cost production profile through the acquisition of additional gold royalties. For more information visit: www.sandstormgold.com.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS TO U.S. SECURITYHOLDERS
The financial information included or incorporated by reference in this press release or the documents referenced herein has been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, which differs from US generally accepted accounting principles (“US GAAP”) in certain material respects, and thus are not directly comparable to financial statements prepared in accordance with US GAAP.
Information contained or referenced in this press release or in the documents referenced herein concerning the properties, technical information and operations of Sandstorm has been prepared in accordance with requirements and standards under securities laws, which differ from the requirements of US securities laws. The terms “mineral resource”, “measured mineral resource”, “indicated mineral resource” and “inferred mineral resource” used in this or in the documents incorporated by reference herein are mining terms as defined in accordance with NI 43-101 under guidelines set out in the Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Council on 11 December 2005. While the terms “mineral resource”, “measured mineral resource”, “indicated mineral resource” and “inferred mineral resource” are recognized and required by securities laws other than the requirements of US securities laws, they are not recognized by the SEC. Disclosure of contained ounces are or may be permitted disclosure under regulations applicable to Sandstorm; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report resources as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit of production measures. As such, certain information contained in this document or in the documents incorporated by reference herein concerning descriptions of mineralization and mineral resources under these standards may not be comparable to similar information made public by US companies subject to reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This press release contains “forward-looking statements”, within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Sandstorm. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the future price of gold, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, the offer and sale of Common Shares under the at-the-market equity program (the “ATM Program”), including the timing and amounts thereof, the use of any proceeds from the ATM Program, and statements with respect to Sandstorm’s proposed NCIB and the number of Common Shares that may be purchased under the NCIB. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “plans”, or similar terminology.
Forward-looking statements are made based upon certain assumptions and other important factors that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performances or achievements of Sandstorm to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which Sandstorm will operate in the future, including the price of gold and anticipated costs. Certain important factors that could cause actual results, performances or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, amongst others, changes in business plans and strategies, market conditions, share price, best use of available cash, gold and other commodity price volatility, discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical recoveries, mining operational and development risks relating to the parties which produce the gold or other commodity Sandstorm will purchase, regulatory restrictions, activities by governmental authorities (including changes in taxation), currency fluctuations, the global economic climate, dilution, share price volatility and competition.
Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Sandstorm to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the impact of general business and economic conditions, the absence of control over mining operations from which Sandstorm will purchase gold, other commodities or receive royalties from, and risks related to those mining operations, including risks related to international operations, government and environmental regulation, actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, risks in the marketability of minerals, fluctuations in the price of gold and other commodities, fluctuation in foreign exchange rates and interest rates, stock market volatility, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled “Risks to Sandstorm” in Sandstorm’s annual report for the financial year ended December 31, 2020 and the section entitled “Risk Factors” contained in the Company’s annual information form dated March 30, 2021 available at www.sedar.com. Although Sandstorm has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Sandstorm does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are contained or incorporated by reference, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.