Sandstorm Gold Ltd. ("Sandstorm" or the "Company") (NYSE MKT: SAND, TSX: SSL) has released its results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2015 (all figures in U.S. dollars).

FOURTH QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
•Attributable gold equivalent ounces sold1 of 8,951 ounces (Q4 2014 - 10,424 ounces);
•Revenue of $9.9 million (Q4 2014 - $12.5 million);
•Average cash cost per attributable gold equivalent ounce of $258 resulting in cash operating margins1 of $844 per ounce (Q4 2014 - $308 per ounce and $890 per ounce respectively);
•Operating cash flow of $5.0 million (Q4 2014 - $8.9 million);
•Net loss of $25.0 million (Q4 2014 - Net income of $2.6 million);
•Entered into three agreements with Yamana Gold Inc. ("Yamana") that included a silver stream on the Cerro Moro project in Argentina ("Cerro Moro"), a copper stream on the Chapada mine in Brazil ("Chapada") and an early deposit gold stream on the Agua Rica project in Argentina; and
•Completed a $28.8 million equity financing and drew down $110 million on the available credit facility to fund the Yamana transaction. The proceeds from the equity financing and internally generated cash flow were used to reduce the balance on the credit facility to $83.5 million as of the end of the fourth quarter.

2015 HIGHLIGHTS
•Record attributable gold equivalent ounces sold of 45,146 ounces (FY 2014 – 44,821);
•Revenue of $52.7 million (FY 2014 - $56.5 million);
•Average cash cost per attributable gold equivalent ounce of $300 resulting in cash operating margins of $867 per ounce (FY 2014 - $321 per ounce and $939 per ounce respectively);
•Operating cash flow of $30.8 million (FY 2014 - $35.2 million);
•Net loss of $43.1 million (FY 2014 - $11.5 million);
•Acquired 30 new streams and royalties on assets in Canada, USA, South America and Africa adding $13 million to $15 million in estimated cash flow for 2016; and
•Subsequent to quarter end, the Company announced that it had agreed to acquire 55 royalties from Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”) and its affiliates.

“The 2015 year was marked by acquisition and growth for Sandstorm. The assets that we have added to the Company’s stream and royalty portfolio will contribute stable cash flow for many years to come, have provided meaningful asset diversification and a significant upgrade in terms of the strength and stability of our mining company counterparties,” said Sandstorm President & CEO, Nolan Watson. Mr. Watson added, “We intend to diligently pay down debt in 2016 while continuing to look for accretive opportunities to grow our portfolio of streams and royalties.”

OUTLOOK
Based on the Company’s existing gold streams and royalties, attributable gold equivalent production for 2016 is forecasted to be between 40,000 – 50,000 attributable gold equivalent ounces. The Company is forecasting attributable gold equivalent production of approximately 65,000 ounces per annum by 2020.

Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (“Sandstorm” or the “Company”) (NYSE MKT: SAND, TSX: SSL) is pleased to announce that the Company has sold approximately 11,000 attributable gold equivalent ounces1 during the first quarter of 2016. The attributable gold equivalent ounces were delivered to the Company from 19 producing mines, with approximately 70% of the ounces coming from operations run by major and mid-tier mining companies. It is expected that the Company will release its detailed financial results for the first quarter by mid-May 2016.

FINANCIAL RESULTS DISCUSSION

Precious metals accounted for 83% of the revenue generated during the fourth quarter with the remainder coming from diamonds and base metals.

The Company’s administrative costs and expenses increased by approximately $1 million when compared to the same periods in 2014 due to increased corporate activity. Sandstorm allocated a record of $200 million of capital during the 2015 year, resulting in 30 new streams and royalties being added to the portfolio, including four cash flowing assets.

The decreases in cash flow from operations and net income compared to 2014 are attributable to a combination of factors including a non-cash income tax expense related to taxable income previously attributed to its Barbadian subsidiary, a non-cash impairment charge relating to the Company´s mineral interests with respect to the Serra Pelada, Emigrant Springs, Mine Waste Solutions and Summit projects, a non-cash increase in depletion expense driven by an increase in attributable gold equivalent ounces sold, a non-cash loss on the revaluation of the Company´s investments, an increase in interest expense as the Company fully drew on its revolving credit facility in October 2015, as well as a number of other non-recurring items.

STREAMS & ROYALTIES: Q4 UPDATES

The Company’s revenue was generated by 15 producing mines during the fourth quarter of 2015. Of the gold equivalent ounces delivered to Sandstorm, 58% came from operations in Canada, 26% from the USA and Latin America and 16% from South America and other countries.

Three months ended Dec. 31, 2015 Year ended Dec. 31, 2015
Revenue (in millions)
Gold Equivalent Ounces Revenue (in millions) Gold Equivalent Ounces

Canada $ 5.7 5,200 $ 26.1 22,565
USA & Latin America $ 2.6 2,332 $ 13.4 11,610
South America & Other $ 1.6 1,419 $ 13.2 10,971
Total $ 9.9 8,951 $ 52.7 45,146

Canada
Gold equivalent ounces attributable to Canadian mines were 21% higher than Q4, 2014 due to the contribution from the Diavik mine royalty that was acquired in early 2015. Diavik is Canada’s largest diamond mine and is operated by Rio Tinto plc. The increases from Diavik were offset by decreases in gold equivalent ounces from the Bachelor Lake Mine in Quebec, operated by Metanor Resources Inc. (“Metanor”). The decline in production was primarily related to the mine experiencing lower feed grade driven by higher than expected dilution from some stopes. Metanor has been accessing and building out new stopes of higher grade material while focusing its exploration efforts on a new near-surface discovery called the Moroy Zone which has encountered encouraging results thus far.

Two other Canadian projects that had positive exploration results during the quarter were Kirkland Lake Gold Inc.’s HM Claim and Lake Shore Gold Corp.’s (“Lake Shore”) 144 Gap Deposit, both located in Ontario. After completing a drill program at the 144 target, Lake Shore released an initial resource estimate that was announced in February 2016. Subsequent to the resource estimate, Tahoe Resources Inc. announced its intention to acquire Lake Shore. Sandstorm holds a 1% net smelter returns (“NSR”) royalty on Lake Shore’s 144 Gap Deposit and the currently producing Thunder Creek mine.

As part of the Teck Royalty Package completed subsequent to year-end, 22 Canadian royalty assets were added to the Sandstorm portfolio including a 2% NSR on the development stage Hackett River project in the Northwest Territories, owned by Glencore plc.

USA & Latin America

Gold equivalent ounces from the USA and Latin America increased to make up 26% of the ounces sold in the fourth quarter. The increase was driven primarily by a 31% increase in gold ounces from the Santa Elena Mine in Mexico (“Santa Elena”) compared to Q4 2014. Santa Elena is operated by First Majestic Silver Corp. (“First Majestic”) and since First Majestic acquired Santa Elena in October 2015, there has been an improvement in the mining of underground stopes leading to increases in production at the mine.

South America & Other

The attributable ounces coming from operations in South America and other countries declined by more than 50% compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. The decrease is largely attributed to an 84% decrease in gold ounces sold from the Aurizona mine in Brazil as Luna Gold Corp. (“Luna”) finished processing ore from a stockpile and ceased mining operations. Luna has initiated a pre-feasibility study for the restart of the Aurizona mine.

The Company expects its proportion of attributable gold equivalent ounces from South America to increase during 2016, as the silver and copper streams with Yamana on assets in Chile and Brazil are contributing to production totals.

True Gold Mining Inc. recently announced that they had begun leaching ore at the Karma Mine in Burkina Faso, Africa (“Karma”). Sandstorm has a gold stream on the Karma project and expects to receive 5,000 ounces of gold per year for five years beginning in 2017, and will then receive 1.625% of the gold thereafter. Production from Karma will represent Sandstorm’s first material production from an African asset.

CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT

Sandstorm completed 30 new stream and royalty acquisitions during the 2015 year, upgrading the asset quality of the Company’s portfolio to include a number of low cost, economically robust assets with significant exploration upside. The transactions also provided Sandstorm with immediate cash flow and have improved the Company’s counterparty profile such that over 80% of Sandstorm’s cash flow is expected to come from operations run by major and mid-tier mining companies by 2019. Some of the key stream and royalty acquisitions that were completed during the fourth quarter and subsequent to year-end are discussed below.

Yamana Silver Streams: On October 27, 2015, Sandstorm acquired a silver stream on the Cerro Moro development-stage project in Argentina. The Cerro Moro stream includes interim silver deliveries from the currently producing Minera Florida mine in Chile and the Chapada mine. Yamana anticipates that construction on Cerro Moro will begin in 2016.

Chapada Copper Stream: On October 27, 2015, Sandstorm acquired a copper stream on the producing Chapada Mine in Brazil. Sandstorm expects to receive 3.9 million pounds of copper per year from the Chapada stream for approximately 10 years, at which point the stream percentage will drop down from 4.2% to 1.5% over time.

The Cerro Moro silver streams and Chapada copper stream are expected to contribute $8 million to $10 million of cash flow to the Company annually starting in 2016, increasing to $20 million annually by 2019.

Teck Royalty Package: On January 19, 2016, the Company announced that it had agreed to acquire 55 royalties from Teck and its affiliates for total consideration of up to $19.0 million. The royalty package is expected to generate cash flow in 2016 of $1.0 million to $2.0 million, growing to $10 million to over $15 million in cash flow per year.

Altogether, Sandstorm currently owns 132 streams and royalties, of which 19 of the underlying mines are producing.

OTHER

Corporate Governance

In accordance with Sandstorm´s ongoing commitment to corporate governance best practices, the Company engaged Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS") as an advisor. ISS is a global leader in corporate governance and based on their recommendations, Sandstorm has implemented a new clawback policy and anti-hedging policy and has amended its stock option and restricted share plans in order to conform to best practices. In addition, Sandstorm´s lead independent director David DeWitt has been appointed as non-executive Chairman of the Company with Nolan Watson remaining as President and CEO.

Normal Course Issuer Bid

The Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) has accepted the Company’s notice that it intends to proceed with a normal course issuer bid (“NCIB”) in accordance with TSX rules. Under the NCIB, Sandstorm may purchase up to 6,896,539 of its common shares, representing 5% of the Company’s issued and outstanding common shares of 137,930,795 as of March 15, 2016.

Purchases under the NCIB may commence on April 4, 2016 and will terminate on the earlier of April 3, 2017, 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 (if eligible) and will be made at the market price of the common shares at the time of acquisition. These purchases will be funded by Sandstorm’s working capital and 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 196,845 commons shares. Daily purchases will not exceed 49,211 common shares, subject to the Company’s ability to make block purchases under the rules of the TSX. The Company has purchased 518,123 common shares pursuant to a NCIB in the last twelve months at a weighted average price of C$4.017 per common share.

The NCIB provides Sandstorm with the option to purchase the Company’s common shares from time to time when Sandstorm’s management believes that the common shares are undervalued by the market.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, no shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

For more information visit: www.sandstormgold.com