OPERATIONS, SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND RECENTLY ADOPTED AND RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS	6 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
OPERATIONS, SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND RECENTLY ADOPTED AND RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS
OPERATIONS, SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND RECENTLY ADOPTED AND RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS	1. OPERATIONS, SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND RECENTLY ADOPTED AND RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS Royal Gold, Inc. (“Royal Gold”, the “Company”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), together with its subsidiaries, is engaged in the business of acquiring and managing metal streams, royalties and similar interests. We seek to acquire existing stream and royalty interests or to finance mining projects that are in production or in the development stage in exchange for stream or royalty interests. A metal stream is a purchase agreement that provides, in exchange for an upfront deposit payment, the right to purchase all or a portion of one or more metals produced from a mine at a price determined for the life of the transaction by the purchase agreement. A royalty is a non-operating interest in a mining project that provides the right to revenue or metals produced from the project after deducting contractually specified costs, if any. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for annual financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments which are of a normal recurring nature considered necessary for a fair presentation of our interim financial statements have been included in this Form 10-Q. Operating results for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019. These interim unaudited financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 9, 2018 (“Fiscal 2018 10-K”). Recently Adopted Accounting Standards Revenue Recognition On July 1, 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Codification 606 - Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”) using the modified retrospective method of transition. Under this transition approach, we applied ASC 606 to all existing contracts for which all (or substantially all) of the revenue attributable to a contract had not been recognized under legacy revenue guidance. The guidance of ASC 606 will also be applied to any new contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2018. ASC 606 supersedes nearly all of the existing revenue recognition guidance under U.S. GAAP and sets out a five-step revenue recognition framework to recognize revenue upon the transfer of control of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled for those goods or services. For the three and six months ended December 31, 2018, there was no impact to our reported revenue, operating costs and expenses or net income attributable to Royal Gold common stockholders as a result of adopting ASC 606, as compared to legacy revenue guidance under U.S. GAAP. In addition, no cumulative catch-up adjustment to accumulated losses was required on July 1, 2018 as a result of adopting ASC 606. Please refer to Note 4 for additional discussion. Recognition and Measurement of Financial Instruments On July 1, 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-01 – Financial Instrument, which is guidance on the recognition and measurement of financial instruments. The amended guidance requires, among other things, that equity securities previously classified as available-for-sale be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income rather than other comprehensive income (loss) as required under previous guidance. Upon adoption, the Company recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment in Accumulated losses of $1.2 million. The decrease in fair value of our equity securities was approximately $3.6 million and $5.1 million for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018, respectively, and is included in Fair value change of marketable equity securities on our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). The carrying value of the Company’s equity securities as of December 31, 2018 and June 30, 2018 was $17.7 million and $19.2 million, respectively, and is included in Other assets on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. As of December 31, 2018, the Company owns 809,744 common shares of Contango Ore, Inc. (“CORE”) and 3,597,823 common shares of Rubicon Minerals Corporation. Recently Issued Accounting Standards Leases In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) which requires recognition of right-of-use assets and lease payment liabilities on the balance sheet by lessees for virtually all leases currently classified as operating leases. Under ASU 2016-02, companies are permitted to make a policy election to not recognize lease assets or liabilities when the term of the lease is less than twelve months. The new guidance is effective for the Company’s fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the transition effort and impact, if any, this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements and footnote disclosures.

1. OPERATIONS, SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND RECENTLY ADOPTED AND RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

Royal Gold, Inc. (“Royal Gold”, the “Company”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), together with its subsidiaries, is engaged in the business of acquiring and managing metal streams, royalties and similar interests. We seek to acquire existing stream and royalty interests or to finance mining projects that are in production or in the development stage in exchange for stream or royalty interests. A metal stream is a purchase agreement that provides, in exchange for an upfront deposit payment, the right to purchase all or a portion of one or more metals produced from a mine at a price determined for the life of the transaction by the purchase agreement. A royalty is a non-operating interest in a mining project that provides the right to revenue or metals produced from the project after deducting contractually specified costs, if any.

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for annual financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments which are of a normal recurring nature considered necessary for a fair presentation of our interim financial statements have been included in this Form 10-Q. Operating results for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019. These interim unaudited financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 9, 2018 (“Fiscal 2018 10-K”).

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

Revenue Recognition

On July 1, 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Codification 606 - Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”) using the modified retrospective method of transition. Under this transition approach, we applied ASC 606 to all existing contracts for which all (or substantially all) of the revenue attributable to a contract had not been recognized under legacy revenue guidance. The guidance of ASC 606 will also be applied to any new contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2018.

ASC 606 supersedes nearly all of the existing revenue recognition guidance under U.S. GAAP and sets out a five-step revenue recognition framework to recognize revenue upon the transfer of control of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled for those goods or services.

For the three and six months ended December 31, 2018, there was no impact to our reported revenue, operating costs and expenses or net income attributable to Royal Gold common stockholders as a result of adopting ASC 606, as compared to legacy revenue guidance under U.S. GAAP. In addition, no cumulative catch-up adjustment to accumulated losses was required on July 1, 2018 as a result of adopting ASC 606. Please refer to Note 4 for additional discussion.

Recognition and Measurement of Financial Instruments

On July 1, 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-01 – Financial Instrument, which is guidance on the recognition and measurement of financial instruments. The amended guidance requires, among other things, that equity securities previously classified as available-for-sale be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income rather than other comprehensive income (loss) as required under previous guidance. Upon adoption, the Company recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment in Accumulated losses of $1.2 million. The decrease in fair value of our equity securities was approximately $3.6 million and $5.1 million for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018, respectively, and is included in Fair value change of marketable equity securities on our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). The carrying value of the Company’s equity securities as of December 31, 2018 and June 30, 2018 was $17.7 million and $19.2 million, respectively, and is included in Other assets on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. As of December 31, 2018, the Company owns 809,744 common shares of Contango Ore, Inc. (“CORE”) and 3,597,823 common shares of Rubicon Minerals Corporation.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

Leases

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) which requires recognition of right-of-use assets and lease payment liabilities on the balance sheet by lessees for virtually all leases currently classified as operating leases. Under ASU 2016-02, companies are permitted to make a policy election to not recognize lease assets or liabilities when the term of the lease is less than twelve months. The new guidance is effective for the Company’s fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the transition effort and impact, if any, this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements and footnote disclosures.