Tony Jensen was named chief executive officer at Denver's Royal Gold Inc. in July 2006. A veteran of the mining industry, Jensen, 46, easily slid into his new role - culminating in three major acquisitions over three months totaling nearly $125 million. Jensen's aggressive style was in keeping with the company's past growth strategy - a fact that led Fortune magazine to rank Royal Gold among the 100 fastest-growing small companies in the nation for consecutive years.

In fiscal 2006 ended June 30, 2006, the company logged a profit of $11.4 million on revenue of $28.4 million, comparable to the previous year's profit of $11.5 million on revenue of $25.3 million. Jensen's annual salary, excluding bonus, was $310,000.

Jensen says the company's cash flow benefits from a low-cost structure. The firm, with more than $700 million in stock value, employs only 14 people, and the CEO, CFO and treasurer share a secretary. Its simple business style - collecting royalties from gold-producing companies without having to deal with actual mining and production issues - makes it an ideal company to manage, Jensen says.

He recently spoke to Rocky Mountain News staff writer Gargi Chakrabarty on a range of topics:

1 How did you land the job?

I have a mining engineering degree from the School of Mines in South Dakota. I spent a number of my early years with Placer Dome (a mining company that recently got acquired by Barrick Gold). I joined Placer Dome in 1985 and left in 2003 after nearly 19 years. During that time I worked in operational and corporate settings, using engineering to management skills. Within the United States, I worked in Alaska and Montana. I spent four years in Santiago, Chile. I was very pleased with Placer Dome but was quite flattered when Royal Gold approached me. It was a tough decision to leave Placer Dome, but I do not regret it for a moment.

2 How would you describe Royal Gold's business?

It is a very efficient but simple business model. After 20 years or so in the mining industry, it is gratifying to manage such a business. We have 14 individuals in the company, and our market cap is more than $700 million. We do not have to worry on a daily basis about the operational aspects of mines or cost inflations. We have royalty stakes in mines, and rising gold prices make Royal Gold very profitable.

3 What business moves have you made in past months?

We have done three acquisitions in the last three months. We acquired a royalty in Nevada's Gold Hill deposit for $3.3 million and paid $100 million for a royalty stake in Minera Kennecott's Penasquito project in central Mexico. We also paid $20.5 million for a royalty share in the Pascua Lama project owned by Barrick Gold on the border between Argentina and Chile.

4 Royal Gold's assets are in South America and North America, but none in Colorado. Would you consider having a royalty stake in a local mine?

We'd enjoy having exposure in Colorado. One high-quality asset here is the gold mine at Cripple Creek and Victor. AngloGold owns a majority stake in that mine. I couldn't comment on any future business decisions. We will continue to build our assets in the Americas.

5 Do you think gold will touch $1,000 an ounce?

I don't have a specific price target. I like to look at the fundamentals. On the macroeconomic side, gold is becoming recognized as a currency hedge against the U.S. dollar. The dollar has been devaluing in currency, and rising gold price is a reflection of that devaluation. There is a lot of investment demand coming in to gold, along with jewelry demand. On the supply side, mine output has been off a bit and there are no new significant operations that could change the balance. At the same time, central banks are not selling gold as much as they did in the past. So with all these things going on, gold price will rise going forward.