Mr. David Cole reports

EMX OPTIONS THE TRENCH GOLD PROJECT IN NEVADA, USA TO RIDGELINE MINERALS FOR PRE-PRODUCTION AND RETAINED ROYALTY INTERESTS

EMX Royalty Corp. has executed an exploration and option agreement with Ridgeline Minerals Corp., by its wholly owned subsidiary Bronco Creek Exploration Inc., for the Trench oxide gold project, located in Eureka county, Nevada. The agreement provides EMX with cash and share payments over a five-year option term, as well as a 3-per-cent net smelter return royalty and annual advanced royalty payments upon exercise of the option, along with certain milestone payments.

The Trench project is an oxide gold, Carlin-type system in central Nevada, approximately 30 kilometres southwest of Carlin, Nev. The area was previously explored in the 1990s by several groups with surface trenching and limited drilling (results unknown). Anomalous, widespread gold mineralization is hosted within a sequence of Ordovician to Pennsylvanian-Permian age stratigraphy cut by a series of Tertiary dikes. Mineralization along the dike contacts was the focus of most of the historical work, but EMX's fieldwork has highlighted significant silicification within the Ordovician section, a largely unreactive siliciclastic sequence that hosts highly anomalous pathfinder geochemistry and gold mineralization. These Ordovician rocks are an additional prospective target that appears to have been largely overlooked by previous workers and may represent leakage of mineralizing fluids through the sedimentary sequence that includes favourable Carlin-type host rocks at depth.

EMX identified the Trench project through a regional geochemical sampling program and follow-up mapping and sampling that highlighted anomalous areas beyond the historical trenching. EMX acquired the project through the staking of open ground and now has converted its interest into annual preproduction payments and a retained royalty interest. The project serves as another example of expanding EMX's royalty portfolio at a nominal cost while providing near-term cash flow, as well as a royalty interest that covers future exploration and development upside optionality. The Trench agreement is the fourth agreement with Ridgeline, which continues to assemble and advance prospective projects in Nevada.

Commercial term overview (note: all dollar amounts in U.S. dollars): Pursuant to the agreement, Ridgeline can earn a 100-per-cent interest in the project by: (a) making an execution payment of 250,000 shares of Ridgeline; (b) making option payments totalling $650,000; and (c) completing $500,000 in exploration expenditures over the five-year option term.

Upon Ridgeline's option exercise and earn-in, EMX will retain a 3-per-cent net smelter return royalty interest on the project. Ridgeline may buy back up to a total of 1 per cent of the royalty by first completing an initial 0.5-per-cent royalty buyback for a payment of $1.5-million to the company prior to the third anniversary of the option exercise. If the first buyback is completed, then the remaining 0.5 per cent of the royalty buyback can be purchased any time thereafter for a payment of $2-million to the company. Ridgeline will also make annual advance royalty payments of $50,000 that cease upon commencement of commercial production. In addition, Ridgeline will make project milestone payments consisting of: (a) $250,000 upon announcement of an initial resource; (b) $500,000 upon completion of the earlier of a preliminary economic analysis, prefeasibility or feasibility study; and (c) $1-million upon a positive development decision.

Michael P. Sheehan, CPG, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, an employee of the company, has reviewed, verified and approved the disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release.

About EMX Royalty Corp.

EMX is a precious and base metal royalty company. EMX's investors are provided with discovery, development and commodity price optionality, while limiting exposure to risks inherent to operating companies. The company's common shares are listed on the NYSE American exchange and TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol EMX.

About Ridgeline Minerals Corp.

Ridgeline Minerals is a discovery-focused precious and base metal explorer with a proven management team and a 200-square-kilometre exploration portfolio across seven projects in Nevada, United States. The company is a hybrid explorer with a mix of 100-per-cent-owned exploration assets (Big Blue, Atlas, Bell Creek and Coyote), as well as two earn-in exploration agreements with Nevada Gold Mines at its Swift and Black Ridge projects and a third earn-in agreement with South32 at its Selena project.

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