Exploration
Mineral Exploration Assets
Franco-Nevada owns royalty interests in an extensive list of exploration stage mineral properties. Besides the 131 gold exploration stage royalty interests referred to under “Gold Royalties – Exploration Gold Royalties” above, Franco-Nevada has 2 PGM exploration stage royalties and 19 other minerals exploration stage royalty interests. Exploration stage royalties are speculative and unlikely to generate royalty cash flow in the next five years. While some of these royalty interests are associated with properties that have production, reserves or resources, Franco-Nevada’s exploration stage property interests are estimated to be either outside known resources or the royalty requires more than currently known reserves or resources to become payable. A good portion of the properties are inactive and may not see activity again. Some of the properties are in proximity to operating or advance projects discussed above. Franco-Nevada has not visited or audited its full list of exploration stage royalties and has relied on operator reports, public disclosures and title searches to determine which properties are in good standing. It is possible some properties may have lapsed or some AMR revenue may be uncollectable.
Oil & Gas Interests
Franco-Nevada’s Oil & Gas Interests include producing and non-producing lands located in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Canadian Arctic. Producing lands include Crown, freehold, unitized and non-unitized oil and natural gas production. The properties contain long-life, low-decline reserves, include interests in frontier areas (see “Arctic Gas, NWT and Nunavut”) and are operated by experienced operators, including, among others, Cenovus Energy Inc., Apache Corporation, Talisman Energy Inc. (“Talisman”), Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (“CNRL”) and Suncor Energy Inc. (“Suncor”).