Canadian royalty group OR Royalties has agreed to acquire additional net smelter return (NSR) royalties over the construction-ready Spring Valley gold project in Nevada for $168-million in cash, consolidating its exposure to what is expected to become the state’s next large-scale, low-cost heap-leach gold operation.

The Montréal-based company will acquire Terraco Gold, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sailfish Royalty, which indirectly holds a portfolio of NSR royalties largely covering Spring Valley. 

Under the terms of the agreement, OR Royalties will acquire an effective 3% NSR royalty on the Schmidt claim block, which covers the majority of the acres included in Solidus Resources’ proposed openpit at Spring Valley, together with a 1% NSR on additional portions of the planned pit and a 0.5% NSR on a perimeter area. The deal also includes a 2% NSR royalty on the adjacent Moonlight property.

Following completion, and on a combined basis with its existing interests, OR Royalties will hold a 6% NSR over the Schmidt claims, a 4% NSR over the additional royalty areas and a 1% NSR over the perimeter royalty area, materially increasing its royalty coverage across the core of the deposit.

Spring Valley is owned by Solidus Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Waterton Gold, and is fully permitted, with a positive record of decision issued by the US Bureau of Land Management in July 2025. The project is now entering the construction phase, with first gold production targeted for the first half of 2028.

The deposit hosts mineral reserves of 3.88-million ounces of gold and is designed as a large-scale heap-leach operation with a mine life exceeding ten years. Average production is expected to exceed 300 000 oz/y, including about 348 000 oz/y over the first five years, at life-of-mine all-in sustaining costs of about $1 103/oz.

OR Royalties said the transaction was expected to add gold equivalent ounces above its recently released 2030 five-year outlook range of 120 000 oz to 135 000 oz, strengthening what it described as a peer-leading growth profile. The company added that the acquisition maintained its focus on precious metals, with the NSR royalties consisting entirely of gold assets in a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction.