Canadian miner Goldcorp may sell royalties portfolio

By Nicole Mordant

VANCOUVER, July 27 (Reuters) - Goldcorp Inc is looking to sell royalties it owns on a number of mining projects it has sold in recent years, its chief executive said on Thursday, as the Canadian gold miner nears the end of a series of non-core asset sales.

Goldcorp, which is the world's fourth-biggest gold miner by market value, has sold $500 million of non-core assets in Mexico and Guatemala this year, investing the funds into its pipeline of bigger mine development projects.

The sale of the royalties could realize about $50 million, CEO David Garofalo said in an interview following the company's second-quarter earnings.

Royalties give the owner the right to receive a percentage of revenue or profits from a mining operation. Demand for royalties has increased in the mining sector in recent years as new entrants try to mimic the strong financial performance of royalty companies such as Franco-Nevada Inc.

Goldcorp owns royalties on a number of non-producing assets, including the Camino Rojo gold project in Mexico, which it sold to Orla Mining in June, and the Cerro Blanco gold-silver project in Guatemala, which it sold to Bluestone Resources in January.

Goldcorp is still deciding whether to sell the royalties as a package or separately, depending on what garners the highest price, Garofalo said.

The Vancouver-based company is now "pretty much done" with non-core asset sales, he said. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)