RE:Hmmmm ...Thanks, kidl2. This looks to me like much more of a problem for the bigger streamers (SLW and FNV) than for Sandstorm, and even there the effect is probably very limited. The fact remains, as SLW's Smallwood stated, streaming deals are still much more like non-debt financing than debt: no fixed payments, no interest, companies don't start "paying" until they have more than adequate income (which limits the risk of default), etc. If a large mining company (big enough for the S&P to care about it) wants to do a deal, it isn't going to let this ruling stop them.
If anything, it could have a slight beneficial effect on Sandstorm. As NW said in the recent interview (thanks, thasis), the "perfect storm" is still ahead of us, as financing partners are starting to come back to the table, but options are still tight enough that the company can get very favorable terms for its part in the deal. Anything that limits partners' options further is bound to tip the tables more in Sandstorm's favor, provided it doesn't cut them out altogther.
I am expecting a small number of extremely lucrative deals in 2014, with - what's most important - very limited downside risk, because Sandstorm will have a lot of cash and will have had an unusually long time to evaluate streaming candidates. In addition, the company has built up a sizable stable of rights of first refusal and royalties that could easily turn into streams in a rebounding gold market.
BTW with regard to risk: I'm beginning to look at Oyu Tolgoi much differently, and not because the project seems to be moving forward, albeit haltingly. (As I've stated elsewhere, even if OT turns out to be a very profitable deal, as we all hope it will, I will still maintain that it was a poor bet based on the political reality at the time it was negotiated.) The reason is rather that it may well turn out to be a decisive turning point in management's investing strategy. Judging by virtually all of NW's comments on OT in the interim, the company got the message loud and clear from shareholders and that kind of high-risk/high reward deal is going to truly be a one-off. In that case, even if we sunk the whole 45 mil (and that's unlikely with Ann Mason as a backstop) it will be worth it in evaluating risk in future deals.