Franco-Nevada (TSX: FNV; NYSE: FNV) retains its position this year as the number one royalty and streaming company by market capitalisation. The gold-focused company generates revenue from various types of agreements, ranging from net smelter return royalties, streams, net profits interests, net royalty interests, working interests and other types of arrangements.
The company has a large and diverse portfolio of assets, including royalties and streams from 58 gold and gold-equivalent producing mines, 55 energy producing assets, 42 advanced stage gold and gold-equivalent assets, 224 exploration stage gold and gold-equivalent assets, and 27 exploration stage energy assets.
Franco-Nevada is focused on royalties and streams on gold, silver, and platinum group metals (PGMs), which combined generate around 89% of its revenue, with other mining and oil and natural gas assets accounting for the remaining 11%.
The company’s core assets include a gold and silver stream from First Quantum Minerals’ (TSX: FM) Cobre Panama mine in Panama; a gold and silver stream from Lundin Mining’s (TSX: LUN) Candelaria mine in Chile; a silver stream from Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.B; NYSE: TCK) Antamina mine in Peru; and a gold and silver stream from Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) Antapaccay mine in Peru.
In April, Franco-Nevada acquired 14.7% of Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) outstanding royalty debentures from the Brazilian Development Bank and the government of Brazil for $538 million. The debentures provide holders with life of mine net sales royalties on Vale’s northern and southeastern iron ore systems. The royalty covers 15,600 sq. km of mineral properties held by Vale in Brazil.
Last year, Franco-Nevada generated record revenue of $1.02 billion, 70% of which came from gold, 11% from silver, and 8% from PGMs. Its other mining assets made up 2% and its energy portfolio 9%.
Wheaton Precious Metals
Market cap: C$26.32 billion ($21.82 billion)
Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM; NYSE: WPM) retains its position this year as the second-largest precious metals streaming company by market capitalisation. The company has a highly diversified portfolio, with over 90% of its royalties and streams on assets in the Americas.
Wheaton has streaming agreements on 23 operating mines and eight in development, with around 33 years of mine life based on the assets’ proven and probable reserves. Nearly three-quarters of its assets fall in the lowest cost quartile.
In May the company reported record first-quarter revenue of $324.1 million, up 27.2% year-on-year. It also announced the first cobalt delivery from Vale ’s (NYSE: VALE) Voisey’s Bay mine in Newfoundland and Labrador, for which it has a 42.4% cobalt stream, and the first silver from Capstone Mining’s (TSX: CS) Cozamin mine in Mexico, where it is entitled to receive 50% of the silver production until 10 million oz. have been delivered, thereafter dropping to 33% of silver production for the life of the mine.
In March, Wheaton also acquired a precious metals stream from Capstone’s Santo Domingo project in Chile.
Last year, Wheaton generated record revenue of $1.1 billion, of which 60% came from gold, 36% from silver, and 4% from platinum group metal streams.
Osisko Gold Royalties
Market cap: C$2.94 billion ($2.44 billion)
Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX: OR; NYSE: OR) is focused on North America and has a portfolio of over 150 royalties, streams, and precious metal offtakes on 17 producing assets (primarily gold mines), 35 development stage projects, and 103 exploration stage projects.
The company’s flagship asset is a 5% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on the Canadian Malartic open-pit gold mine, Canada’s largest gold mine, located in Quebec. In February, the joint owners of the mine, Yamana Gold (TSX: YRI; NYSE: AUY; LSE: AUY) and Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM), approved the construction of the Odyssey underground mine project. The project will extend the mine life of Canadian Malartic from 2028 to at least 2039.
Osisko also owns a royalty on Newmont’s (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) Eleonore gold mine in James Bay, Quebec.
In addition to royalties, the company owns stakes in a number of mining companies, including Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) and Falco Resources (TSXV: FPC).
In November, Osisko launched Osisko Development (TSXV: ODV), a North American gold company primarily focused on developing the Cariboo underground gold mine in B.C.’s historical Cariboo mining district.
Labrador Iron Ore Royalty
Market cap: C$2.93 billion ($2.42 billion)
Labrador Iron Ore Royalty (TSX: LIF; US-OTC: LIFZF) owns directly and through its wholly-owned subsidiary Hollinger-Hanna, a 15.1% interest in Rio Tinto’s (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), which operates the Carol Lakemine near Labrador City in Newfoundland and Labrador, on lands leased by the company. IOC is a joint venture between Rio Tinto (58.7%), Mitsubishi (26.2%), and the Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Corporation (15.1%).
The company also receives a 7% overriding royalty on all iron ore products produced from the leased lands, sold, and shipped by IOC and a commission of 10¢ per tonne IOC’s sales of iron ore.
Sandstorm Gold
Market cap: C$2.03 billion ($1.67 billion)
Sandstorm Gold (TSX: SSL; NYSE-AM: SAND) has a portfolio of royalty assets on over 220 precious metal, base metal, and diamond assets, including 24 producing mines, 25 development stage projects, 19 projects at the advanced exploration stage, and 152 at the exploration stage. Fifty-eight percent of its portfolio is in North America, with 18% in South America, 9% in Africa, and 8% in Asia.
About 44% of these assets are owned by major mining companies and 43% by mid-tier companies. Those projects on which Sandstorm has royalties have an average all-in sustaining cost of less than $600 per ounce.
Sandstorm’s anchor asset is the Hod Maden gold-copper project in northeastern Turkey, operated by Turkish miner Lidya Madencilik. Sandstorm has a 30% interest and a 2% net smelter return royalty on the project, which, it said, is a multi-million-ounce discovery that is shaping up to be a high-grade, low-cost project with significant exploration upside. Once in production, Hod Maden is expected to more than double Sandstorm’s attributable production.
Market cap: C$993.25 million ($823.32 million)
Maverix Metals (TSX: MMX; NYSE-AM: MMX) is a gold-focused precious metal streaming company. Created in 2016, the company now has a portfolio of 115 royalties and streams across 18 countries, of which 13 are paying and 19 are in the advanced stage.
Maverix’s assets include royalties and streams on projects held by four major miners. These include 51 royalties on projects owned by Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM), 24 royalties from Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC), 11 royalties and two streams from Pan American Silver (TSX: PAAS; NASDAQ: PAAS); and 11 royalties from Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI).
About 53% of Maverix’s assets are in the U.S., with 30% in Australia, 9% in Canada, and 5% in Mexico.
Major shareholders in the company include Newmont (30%), Pan American Silver (18%), Kinross Gold (8%). Management and insiders hold 8%.
Altius Minerals
Market cap: C$764.85 million ($633.99 million)
Altius Minerals (TSX: ALS; US-OTC: ATUSF) holds royalty interests on 13 producing assets throughout the Americas. In Canada, these assets include a 4% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) 777 copper-zinc mine in Manitoba, five potash mines owned by Nutrien (TSX: NTR, NYSE: NTR), and a number of coal mines in Western Canada, as well as a 0.3% NSR royalty on Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt mine in Labrador.
The company also holds a 3.7% stream on Lundin Mining’s (TSX: LUN) Chapada open-pit copper-gold mine in Brazil’s Goias state and a royalty on Excelsior Mining’s (TSX: MIN) Gunnison copper mine in Arizona.
Last year, Altius, through its majority-owned subsidiary Altius Renewable Royalties (TSX: ARR), formed a joint venture with Apollo Infrastructure Funds to accelerate the growth of its renewable energy royalty business.
Nomad Royalty
Market cap: C$590.2 million ($489.2 million)
Nomad Royalty (TSX: NSR; US-OTC; NSRXF) joins the top ten list for the first time. The company holds a portfolio of 14 royalty, stream, and gold loan assets, of which six are on producing mines. The company is focused on precious metals, with 80% of its cash flow generated from gold assets.
Nomads’ royalties include a 1% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on Equinox Gold’s (TSX: EQX; NYSE: EQX) Riacho dos Machados producing mine in Brazil, and a 2% NSR royalty from oxides and a 2% NSR royalty from sulphides on the Sucura zone at Lundin Mining’s (TSX: LUN) Chapada copper mine in Brazil. It also has royalties on advanced exploration stage projects, including a 1% NSR royalty on Troilus Gold’s (TSX: TLG; US-OTC; SKREF) Troilus gold project in Canada.
In May, the company acquired a 0.28% NSR royalty on the producing Caserones copper mine in Chile, operated by Minera Lumina Copper Chile, which is indirectly owned by JX Nippon Mining and Metals.
Nomad’s major shareholders include Orion Mine Finance, which holds a 70.2% interest and Yamana Gold (TSX: YRI; NYSE: AU; LSE: AUY) with a 7.8% stake. Management and insiders hold 2.3%.
Last year Nomad generated revenue of $26.8 million, of which 77% came from its gold assets and 23% from its silver assets.
Market cap: C$481.26 million ($398.92 million)
Metalla Royalty and Streaming (TSXV: MTA; NYSE-AM: MTA) has a portfolio of gold and silver royalties on over 60 assets, including five producing mines, 23 development stage projects, and 41 exploration stage projects.
The company’s producing assets include a gold and silver royalty on Pan American Silver’s (TSX: PAAS; NASDAQ: PAAS) Joaquin and COSE mines in Argentina and a gold royalty on Coeur Mining’s (NYSE: CDE) Wharf mine in the U.S. Its development stage assets include a gold and silver royalty on Agnico Eagle Mines’ (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) El Realto project in Mexico and a gold royalty on Moneta Porcupine’s Garrison project in Canada. Exploration stage assets include a gold royalty on Yamana Gold’s (TSX: YRI; NYSE: AUY; LSE: AUY) Camflo Norwest property in Canada and a gold royalty on Newcrest Mining’s (TSX: NCM; ASX: NCM) Fortuity 89 property in Canada.
On June 17, Metalla acquired an existing 1.35% net smelter return royalty on the northern portion of the Cote gold project and all of the Gosselin project, which are owned by Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG) and Sumitomo Metal Mining.
EMX Royalty
Market cap: C$354.80 million ($294.10 million)
EMX Royalty (TSXV: EMX; NYSE-AM: EMX) is focused on precious, base, and battery metal assets and holds a diversified portfolio of royalty properties and early-stage exploration projects on five continents.
The company’s portfolio includes 60 royalties in the U.S. and Canada, 17 in Scandinavia, 20 in South America and the Caribbean, six in Turkey, three in Serbia, and two in Australia.
In February, EMX signed option agreements on five battery metal projects, including three nickel-copper-PGE-cobalt-projects in Norway and two in Sweden with Martin Laboratories EMG Ltd. (MLE), a private company in the U.K. The agreement with MLE provides EMX with a potential 5% equity interest in MLE, a 2.5% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on each project, and other considerations, including advanced annual royalties and milestone payments.
In addition, EMX has strategic investments including a 19.9% interest in Rawhide Acquisition Holding’s Rawhide gold-silver mining operation in Nevada and net smelter royalty interests on 18 properties in northern Chile operated by Revelo Resources (TSXV: RVL).
For more data from MiningIntelligence go to: https://www.miningintelligence.com/
(This article first appeared in The Northern Miner)
