Osisko Gold Royalties (OR)

For David Grenville (Gren) Thomas, the big score was the discovery of Diavik by his Aber Resources more than 20 years ago.

Thomas and his partners headed north and got to work in the early days of the staking rush following Chuck Fipke’s 1991 discovery of diamonds in the Northwest Territories. It took a few years, but in 1994 and 1995, Aber discovered the kimberlite pipes that became Diavik, Canada’s second diamond mine. Diavik, still producing, is a joint venture between 60% owner Rio Tinto (RIO*US) and Aber successor Dominion Diamond (DDC) (40%).

Sean Roosen wasted no time establishing a gold royalty powerhouse, Osisko Gold Royalties (OR), last year after selling his Osisko Mining and its Malartic gold mine in Quebec to a Yamana Gold (YRI)/Agnico Eagle (AEM) consortium for $3.9 billion.

The Osisko Gold Royalties chairman and CEO added another prize royalty with the friendly takeover of Quebec-focused Virginia Mines. That deal gave Osisko a 2-3.5% NSR on Goldcorp's Eleonore mine in Quebec, which recently went into commercial production.