Royal Gold Inc. said Monday it will acquire Canadian peer Sandstorm Gold Ltd. in an all-stock transaction that values Sandstorm at about $3.5 billion. The Denver-based royalty company will issue 0.0625 of one Royal Gold share for every Sandstorm share, representing a premium of roughly 17% to Sandstorm’s last New York close. In a separate move, Royal Gold agreed to buy Horizon Copper Corp. for roughly $196 million in cash, bringing the total outlay for the two deals to about $3.7 billion. The combination adds royalty interests in more than 40 producing mines, boosting Royal Gold’s expected output this year by 65,000–80,000 gold-equivalent ounces. Once completed, the enlarged group would derive about 75% of revenue from gold, with 41% of production located in the United States and Canada. Royal Gold shareholders are slated to own about 77% of the combined company, while Sandstorm investors would hold the remaining 23%. Management said the transactions enlarge the company’s scale and diversify its asset base at a time when bullion prices have climbed to record highs, spurring consolidation across the metals-streaming industry. Sandstorm shares rose roughly 10% in early U.S. trading after the announcement, while Royal Gold slipped about 8%. Both takeovers require shareholder and regulatory approval and are expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.