Franco-Nevada plans to expand gold business in Australia, CEO says

A selection of gold bars and one-ounce gold coins arranged.

Franco-Nevada, a Canadian company that invests in gold mines in exchange for their royalties or a portion of their output, plans to expand its business in Australia, CEO Paul Brink said on Thursday.

Brink said Franco-Nevada has recently made two hires in the resource-rich state of Western Australia and would like to find some junior goldmine developers to back.

“The reason that we are hiring is our plan is to focus more on Australia,” he told a mining event in Melbourne.

Australia is one of the world’s largest producers of gold.

The commodity is set to become the country’s second most valuable resource export this financial year after prices surged to record highs.

Brink said U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies had been critical to the current rally. Gold surged past the US$4,000 an ounce level for the first time on Wednesday and is up 54 per cent year-to-date.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne and Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kim Coghill)