International Royalty Corporation reports first quarter results

DENVER, CO, May. 16 /PRNewswire/ --

DENVER, CO, May 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - International Royalty Corporation (the "Company") today reported its first quarter 2008 financial results. All figures are in United States dollars unless noted otherwise.

Financial Highlights

Royalty revenues increased from $10,178,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2007 to $10,283,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2008. Increases from the Company's Southern Cross gold royalty of $159,000 and the second royalty payment received on the Meekatharra royalty of $43,000 more than offset the decrease in gross revenues from the Voisey's Bay royalty from $9,705,000 in the quarter ended March 31, 2007 to $9,598,000 for the same period in 2008. The Voisey's Bay royalty payment during the quarter ended March 31, 2008 was based on total contained nickel in concentrate of approximately 38.0 million pounds compared to approximately 27.0 million pounds for the quarter ended March 31, 2007. The increase in paid production was partially offset by a decrease in the average price of nickel during the quarter from $16.59 per pound in the quarter ended March 31, 2007 to $12.38 per pound in the same quarter in 2008. The increase in production was also offset during the quarter by an adjustment to deductions from the net smelter return by the operator of the mine, Vale Inco.

Net earnings during the quarter were $2.4 million, or $0.03 per share, compared to $2.2 million, or $0.03 in the same quarter in 2007.

Cash flow from operations was $6.4 million during the quarter or $0.08 per share, compared to $5.0 million or $0.08 per share in the first quarter of 2007.

Developments on Existing Royalties

In the fourth quarter of 2007, Mercator Gold Plc began gold production at its Meekatharra operations in Western Australia at an expected initial rate of 120,000 ounces of gold per year. Production began in the Yaloginda project area, where the Company owns a 0.045% net smelter return royalty and is expected to expand into the Paddy's Flat project area in 2009, with a royalty rate of 1.5%. Production in the Yaloginda project area for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 totalled 11,000 ounces. St. Barbara Limited has announced the expected start of production at its Gwalia Deeps underground project in the third quarter of 2008 at an initial annual rate of 100,000 ounces of gold and ramping up to 200,000 ounces per year within 18 months. The Company holds a 1.5% net smelter return royalty on Gwalia Deeps. Inmet Mining Corporation ("Inmet") is currently constructing the mine at its Las Cruces copper project in Spain and expects production to begin in the fourth quarter of 2008 with a projected annual average production rate over 15 years of 142 million pounds of copper. The Company holds a 1.5% net smelter return royalty on Las Cruces. Zinifex Limited ("Zinifex") is expected to begin production on the Avebury nickel project in Tasmania, Australia in the second quarter of 2008. The Company will hold a 2.0% net smelter return royalty on Avebury. The agreement to purchase this royalty was made during the fourth quarter of 2007 but closing has been deferred pending approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board ("FIRB") and upon resolution of outstanding rights of first refusal on two other royalties acquired in the same transaction. On February 26, 2008, the Company received approval from FIRB. In May 2008, all rights of first refusal lapsed and the Company expects to proceed to closing in late May 2008. In early 2009 production is expected to begin at Wega Mining's Inata gold project (Belahouro) in Burkina Faso, West Africa on which the Company holds a 2.5% net smelter return royalty. Belahouro is expected to produce 144,000 ounces in the first year of operation. Summary of Financial Information: ($ thousands, except per share data) (unaudited) Three months ended March 31 ------------------------- 2008 2007 ------------ -----------

Statement of Operations

Royalty revenues $10,283

$10,178

Earnings from operations 2,800

4,033

Earnings before income taxes 3,248

3,275

Net earnings 2,411

2,165

Basic and diluted earnings from operations

per share 0.04

0.06

Basic and diluted earnings before income

taxes per share 0.04

0.05

Basic and diluted earnings per share 0.03

0.03

Statement of Cash Flows

Cash provided by operating activities 6,397 4,966 March December 31, 2008 31, 2007 ------------ ----------- Balance Sheet Total assets $384,450 $384,482 Shareholders' equity 296,891 295,679

Payable production and revenues on the Company's royalties and average metal prices received were as follows:

Production and revenue (unaudited)

Payable Revenue Production (1) (thousands) Quarter Ended Quarter Ended March 31, March 31, ----------------- ----------------- Mine Commodity Royalty 2008 2007 2008 2007 ----------------------------------- ----------------- ----------------- Williams Gold 0.25% NSR 38 64 $ 87 $ 102 Southern Cross Gold 1.5% NSR 36 38 529 370 Meekatharra Gold 0.45% NSR 11 - 43 - Voisey's Bay 9,598 9,705 Nickel 2.7% NSR 37,956 27,005 Copper 2.7% NSR 33,857 12,618 Cobalt 2.7% NSR 1,570 1,095 (1) Gold is in thousands of ounces; nickel, copper and cobalt are in thousands of contained pounds in concentrate. Silver ounces are converted to gold ounce equivalents by dividing silver revenue by the average price of gold during the period. Average metal prices realized (in US$) (unaudited) Quarter Ended March 31, 2008 2007 ------------------------ Gold, per ounce 976 648 Nickel, per pound (1) 12.38 16.59 Copper, per pound (1) 2.65 2.38 Cobalt, per pound (1) 45.95 25.18

(1) Before transportation, smelting and refining costs.

Complete financial results are available on SEDAR and on the Company's website at www.internationalroyalty.com.

IRC invites you to participate in its conference call to discuss the first quarter results.

The Company will host this conference call Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 1:00pm EDT, 11:00am MDT.

To participate in the conference call, please dial (647) 427-3411 or toll free (888) 241-0326, conference ID 4577 5640. To ensure your participation, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call.

Replay archive: Please dial 1-888-566-0885, passcode 4577 5640. The conference call will be replayed from Tuesday, May 20, 2008 3:00pm EDT to Friday, June 20, 2008 11:59pm EDT.

International Royalty Corporation

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International Royalty Corporation (IRC) is a global mineral royalty company. IRC holds over 80 royalties including an effective 2.7% NSR on the Voisey's Bay mine, a sliding-scale NSR on the Pascua gold project, and a 1.5% NSR on more than 3.0 million acres of gold lands in Western Australia. IRC is senior listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as well as the American Stock Exchange . On behalf of the Board of Directors, INTERNATIONAL ROYALTY CORPORATION Douglas B. Silver Chairman and CEO Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements --------------------------------------------------------- Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements, such as statements that describe IRC's expectations as to royalty revenue from the Meekatharra project and the production start dates for the Gwalia Deeps, Las Cruces and Belahouro projects on which IRC has royalties, other forward-looking statements include the production start date at Avebury and the Company's completion of the acquisition of the Avebury Royalty. Financial information contained in this press release is unaudited. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate", or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Since forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact and address future events, conditions and expectations, forward-looking statements by their nature inherently involve unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors well beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements depending on, among others, such key factors as the ability of the mine operators to finance and successfully place their projects into production. IRC's forward-looking statements in this release regarding royalty revenue, ongoing production and royalties, anticipated production and the anticipated timing of the start of production on several of the projects on which it has royalties is based on certain assumptions. Such assumptions include, but are not limited to, the validity of statements made by the project operators in the public domain, and their ability to finance, construct and successfully operate these properties. Statements with respect to Meekatharra, Gwalia Deeps, Las Cruces, Abebury and Belahouro come from the following sources: Mercator Gold PLC press release 8/9/07, Mercator Gold PLC press release 2/26/08, St Barbara Ltd. Press release 2/7/07, http://www.inmetmining.com/Theme/Inmet/files/pdf/2008_Q1_Las%20Cruces%20Section.pdf, www.allegiance-mining.com.au, Goldbelt Resources Ltd. Press release 10/4/07, The forward-looking statements included in this release represent IRC's views as of the date of this release. While IRC anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause IRC's views to change, IRC specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements unless required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing IRC's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this release. Although IRC has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.