St. John’s – (TSX: ALS; OTCQX: ATUSF) Altius Minerals Corporation (“Altius” or the “Corporation”) reports attributable royalty revenue1 of approximately $16.3 million ($0.39 per share) for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. This compares to record quarterly revenues of $21.8 million ($0.51 per share) generated in the comparable quarter last year, and $17.5 million ($0.41 per share) in Q4 2019.
Base metal revenue contributed $6.6 million or 40% of total royalty revenue in the first quarter as compared to $7.6 million in the year ago comparable quarter and $6.5 million in the prior quarter. Chapada and 777 provided $4.1 million and $2.3 million respectively while Voisey’s Bay contributed approximately $0.1 million.
Potash revenue accounted for $4.4 million or 27% of total royalty revenue compared to $4.8 million in Q1 2019 and $2.9 million in the prior quarter, impacted by both weather related demand weakness and a rail strike.
Thermal coal revenue contributed $2.5 million or 15% of the total as compared to $3.3 million in the year ago comparable quarter and $3.5 million in the prior quarter, with the variances mainly attributable to planned mine sequencing activity at Sheerness.
Iron ore revenue of $1 million in the quarter accounted for approximately 6% of the total, which is considerably lower than the $4.2 million reported in Q1 2019 and $4.0 million reported in Q4 2019. The Corporation’s iron ore revenue stems from the pass through of royalties and equity dividends paid by the Iron Ore Company of Canada (‘IOC”) to Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation (“LIORC”). IOC did not declare an equity dividend in the first quarter as it chose to maintain additional cash on its balance sheet, in part reflective of additional planned sustaining and growth capital spending in 2020. The lower iron ore revenue also reflects a previously reported reduced shareholding in LIORC by the Corporation as it chose to increase the cash component of its balance sheet due to COVID-19 related uncertainties.
Metallurgical coal provided $0.6 million or 4% of the total royalty revenue, which compares to $1.2 million in Q1 2019 and $0.3 million in the prior quarter.

COVID-19 Related Production Impacts Update
As of today, Altius has noted COVID-19 related production suspensions or curtailments from mines that collectively contributed just over 2% (adjusted proportionately for partial production curtailments) of 2019 full year attributable royalty revenues.
Currently identified potential curtailments include the announced suspension of operations at Voisey’s Bay, which was originally expected to be 4 weeks as of March 17 but has been extended to up to three months; the suspension of ramp up activities at Gunnison as announced on March 26; and the slowdown of production at Cardinal River/Cheviot as part of the operator’s announcement on March 31 that its entire portfolio of metallurgical coal mines, including Cardinal River, is expected to operate at 80-85% of previously planned capacity for an initial two week period (while also noting that production rates at individual mines may vary more or less). In the case of Voisey’s Bay and Cardinal River the respective operators have noted that available stockpiles may be utilized to offset production losses.
All other mines subject to royalty appear to be operating at or near previously assumed production levels.

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