Royal Gold (RGLD) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript

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DATE

May 7, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• President & Chief Executive Officer — William H. Heissenbuttel
• Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer — Martin Raffield
• Vice President & Chief Financial Officer — Paul K. Libner
• Vice President, Corporate Development — Daniel Breeze
• General Counsel & Corporate Secretary — Alistair Baker

TAKEAWAYS

• Revenue -- $469 million, representing a 143% increase, and a new quarterly record.
• Operating Cash Flow -- $294 million, up 115% year over year, reaching a record level.
• Net Income -- $281 million, increasing 148%; adjusted net income of $233 million, or $2.72 per share, up 80%.
• Gold Revenue Mix -- 71% of total, down from previous periods due to higher silver prices, not lower gold sales.
• Adjusted EBITDA Margin -- 83%, reflecting sustained low and stable cash G&A costs.
• Dividends Paid -- $40 million in the quarter, at the new annual rate of $1.90 per share.
• Revolver Repayment and Liquidity -- $300 million repaid on the revolver, raising total available liquidity to $1.1 billion.
• G&A Expense -- $17.5 million for the quarter, about $6.5 million above prior year, mainly from corporate costs linked to 2025 transactions.
• DD&A Expense -- $91 million, or $944 per GEO, primarily driven by higher carrying values for Kansanshi and Sandstorm Horizon interests.
• Tax Expense and Effective Rate -- $25 million tax expense, with an 8% effective tax rate impacted by a $33.7 million discrete benefit; normalized rate approximately 19.5%.
• Metal Price Increases -- Gold price up 70%, silver up 165%, copper up 38% compared to previous year.
• Stream Revenue -- $313 million, up 155% year over year, with notable gains from Pueblo Viejo, Zafranal, Rainy River, Mount Milligan, Antapaccay, Cobre Panama, Bissa, and Kansanshi.
• Royalty Revenue -- $156 million, rising 120%, on higher contributions from Peñasquito and Cortez legacy zone and CC Zone.
• Volume Sold -- 96,300 GEOs, including the first full quarter from Sandstorm Horizon interests.
• Bear Creek Restructuring -- Debt and equity interests converted into cash, Calibre Silver shares, and Corani and Mercedes mine royalties; Highlander Silver shares sold, aligning holdings with core business model.
• Accordion Feature Added -- $600 million increase to revolver capacity, for a potential total of $2 billion in non-dilutive capital.
• Share Repurchase Program -- New $500 million authorization, cited as an option to address periods of valuation disconnect; "we do not plan to use expanded revolver capacity to buy back shares."
• Record Portfolio Diversification -- No single asset contributed more than 12.5% of total revenue, reflecting increased diversification.
• New Quarterly Disclosure Policy -- Future quarters will feature press releases in the third full week after quarter end, providing revenue estimates from both stream and royalty segments for enhanced market transparency.
• Debt Repayments Post-Quarter -- $75 million paid in April, additional $100 million scheduled, bringing revolver to $425 million outstanding and $975 million available.
• Financial Commitments -- $100 million outstanding for Warintza acquisition ($50 million paid in April; remainder expected in May, pending conditions); ongoing obligation to fund 30% share of Hod Maden project costs.
• Peñasquito Outlook -- Transition from Phase 7 to Phase 8 will lower gold, lead, and zinc output and increase silver production in 2026; higher grades expected to begin in 2028.
• Greenstone Target Production -- Equinox guidance is 320,000 ounces gold per year for the next decade; opportunities identified to enhance output and incorporate higher-grade resources.
• Voisey's Bay Performance -- Record quarter at Long Harbour Refinery supported by new underground mines.
• Kansanshi S3 Update -- Throughput up, steadied at roughly 25% above design capacity; 2026 production guidance confirmed by First Quantum.
• Comacá Expansion -- 130,000-tonne copper concentrate expansion on schedule for 2028; pre-feasibility study underway for next phase to 200,000 tonnes.
• Wassa Investment -- Zijin Gold commits $1.2 billion, with half earmarked for overseas assets, including Wassa; projects covered by Royal Gold's stream agreement.
• Platreef Update -- Shaft 3 construction completed on time, Phase 2 concentrator on track for year-end completion; first Platreef revenue expected in the current quarter.
• Hod Maden Status -- SSR's strategic review of joint venture ongoing; Royal Gold expects low, non-significant near-term capital calls, but will continue to fund its 30% share.
• Solaris Project Advance -- Warintza EIA received technical approval; final permits anticipated by end of 2026, investment decision targeted for 2027.

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RISKS

• G&A expense rose by $6.5 million to $17.5 million due to costs recognized in the quarter from 2025 transactions; management expects full-year G&A may finish near the high end of the $50 million-$60 million range previously guided.
• Peñasquito mine production is expected to decline for gold, lead, and zinc during transition from Phase 7 to Phase 8, potentially lowering related revenue next year; higher grades are not anticipated until 2028.
• Royal Gold has limited visibility into net profit interests (NPIs) for assets such as Antamina, as noted by management: "NPIs are impossible to estimate" for future quarters.
• Hod Maden capital allocation remains uncertain pending SSR’s strategic review, with near-term spending expected to be "relatively low," but the project’s financial trajectory unclear until partners conclude the review.

SUMMARY

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) reported record revenue, earnings, and cash flow, driven by higher production volumes, portfolio additions, and surging prices for gold, silver, and copper. The company enhanced liquidity by repaying $300 million of revolver debt and securing a new $600 million accordion feature, increasing potential revolver capacity to $2 billion for future opportunities. Management launched a $500 million share repurchase authorization, emphasizing its use as a tactical response to market valuation disconnects, with no intention to fund repurchases via increased debt. Portfolio diversification improved, as no single asset exceeded 12.5% of quarterly revenue, and the segment mix shifted with higher silver contributions from strong pricing. The firm’s updated disclosure approach will provide earlier segment-level performance estimates each quarter, aiming for greater transparency. Debt repayments and careful capital management, including attention to non-core assets acquired from Sandstorm, position the company for flexibility in diverse market conditions.

• Management confirmed annual guidance remains unchanged and explicitly stated that five-year guidance will not be updated until new figures are issued for 2031 next year.
• CEO Heissenbuttel said, "We are not directly exposed to the price of diesel, to tariffs, or to inflation in general," highlighting the company's stable cost structure versus operating mining peers.
• In the transaction pipeline, management cited ongoing deal flow with opportunity sizes mainly in the $300 million-$400 million range, with flexibility for syndication and an expanding mix of gold and silver assets.
• Royal Gold successfully converted Bear Creek positions into more strategic royalty and cash holdings and continues efforts to rationalize other non-core Sandstorm assets.
• First revenue from Platreef is anticipated within the current quarter, offering a new income stream to the portfolio.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• GEO (Gold Equivalent Ounce): A standard unit converting different precious metal production streams to an equivalent gold basis, allowing aggregation of gold, silver, and, at times, copper volumes into a single comparable quantity.
• Accordion Feature: An optional extension within a credit facility that permits the borrower to increase the maximum available amount, typically without full renegotiation of original terms.
• DD&A (Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization): The non-cash accounting expense reflecting the use and reduction in value of mining interests and related intangible assets.
• PFS (Pre-Feasibility Study): A technical economic assessment of a mining project that defines initial estimates of production, capital costs, and viability before committing to full development.
• NPIs (Net Profit Interests): A type of royalty arrangement where the payment to the royalty holder is based on a share of the net profits from a mine, rather than on gross revenues.
• Stream/Streaming: A contractual agreement where Royal Gold makes an upfront payment to a mining operator in exchange for rights to purchase a portion of metal production—usually at a predetermined price—from a specific mine.
• Royalty: A financial interest that entitles the holder to a percentage of the revenue or metals produced from a mining property, typically without operating responsibilities or requirements to fund development.
• Accordion: A feature within a revolving credit facility that allows for an incremental increase in borrowing capacity up to a specified maximum.

Full Conference Call Transcript

William H. Heissenbuttel: Good morning, and thank you for joining the call. I will begin on slide four. 2025 was a transformational year for Royal Gold, Inc., and the benefits of last year's activity are clearly seen in this quarter's results, with materially higher records for revenue, operating cash flow, and earnings. Quarterly revenue was $469 million, operating cash flow was $294 million, and earnings were $281 million. These were increases of 143%, 115%, and 148%, respectively, over the first quarter of last year. After adjusting for unusual items, net income was $233 million, or $2.72 per share, an 80% increase over last year. Gold contributed 71% of total revenue for the quarter.

This is lower than what we have seen over the past few quarters, but it was driven by very strong silver prices during the quarter and not weakness in gold revenue. Our adjusted EBITDA margin remained high at 83% for the quarter, reflecting our low and stable cash G&A. We paid dividends of $40 million to shareholders in the quarter at our new annual rate of $1.90 per share, and we repaid $300 million on the revolver during the quarter, raising our total available liquidity to $1.1 billion. During the quarter, we also completed the restructuring of the Bear Creek debt and equity investments.

In keeping with our strategy, we plan to rationalize non-core assets acquired through the Sandstorm transaction and, where possible, convert those into holdings that are more consistent with our royalty and streaming business. The Bear Creek restructuring was a multi-step transaction, and we were successful in converting those interests into cash, Calibre Silver shares, and royalties on the Corani project and Mercedes mine. We sold the Highlander shares during the quarter, leaving us with the royalty interest only, which is in line with our core business.

With respect to capital allocation, we provided an overview of our framework during our Investor Day in March, which is to reinvest in our business, maintain a strong balance sheet and liquidity, and pay a growing and sustainable dividend. We believe our outlook remains strong with healthy metal prices and good growth within the portfolio, but we also believe in being flexible and prepared for changing market conditions. With that in mind, we have added two new tools to keep us positioned to continue growing our per share metrics depending on circumstances. The first is a new $600 million accordion feature under our revolver. If exercised, this effectively increases the total revolver capacity to $2 billion.

We do not see a need to use this today, but we are in a healthy business development environment, and this additional source of non-dilutive capital may be helpful if more large transactions come to market. The second is the authorization by the Board of a $500 million share repurchase program. At times, we believe Royal Gold, Inc. shares trade at a discount to what we perceive to be a fair value, and putting this program in place now will allow us to act quickly if we see a significant disconnect between the market value of Royal Gold, Inc. shares and our view of that intrinsic value.

I want to be clear that we view these tools as ones that will be used separately and in different circumstances, and we do not plan to use expanded revolver capacity to buy back shares. We are putting both in place today to make sure we are positioned to respond to opportunities quickly and help us continue to execute our capital allocation strategy and grow per share value in any market environment. I will now turn the call over to Martin to discuss portfolio performance in the quarter.

Martin Raffield: Thanks, Bill. Turning to slide five, portfolio performance was solid for the quarter. Volume was 96,300 GEOs, with record revenue of $469 million, which included the first full quarter from the Sandstorm Horizon interests. Royalty revenue was up by 120% from the prior-year quarter, to $156 million. We saw very strong revenue from Peñasquito, and at Cortez from both the legacy zone and the CC Zone. Stream revenue was also up strongly by 155% from the prior year to $313 million. We saw higher contributions from all our stream interests with materially higher sales year-over-year from Pueblo Viejo, Zafranal, Rainy River, Mount Milligan, Antapaccay, Cobre Panama and Bissa, and a strong contribution from Kansanshi.

Metal sales are tracking well at this point compared to our 2026 guidance, although Q1 copper revenue was better than expected. This was led by strong performance at Antamina due to higher grade and lower deductions, and from Caserones and Chapada due to generally strong operating performance. I will now turn to slide six and give some high-level commentary on notable developments within the portfolio. I gave detailed updates on several assets during the Investor Day in March, so I will limit my comments to more recent developments. At Mount Milligan, Centerra reported that Q1 gold and copper were in line with the PFS mine plan and are on track to meet full-year guidance.

At Peñasquito, first quarter revenue was strong, but Newmont expects that the ramp-down of mining at Peñasco Phase 7 will lead to lower production of gold, lead, and zinc and higher silver in 2026 compared to last year. Newmont expects to increase processing of stockpiles during the transition from Phase 7 to Phase 8, with higher grades expected to begin in 2028. At Greenstone, Equinox completed a technical report which targets average gold production of 320,000 ounces per year over the next decade, based on a sustained milling capacity of 27,000 tons per day.

Equinox believes there is scope to further optimize production and increase throughput towards 30,000 tons per day and to incorporate higher-grade underground resources into the mine plan. At Voisey's Bay, Vale reported a record in Q1 at the Long Harbour Refinery supported by stable operations at the new underground mines. At Zhaojin, IGO expects gold production to be weighted towards the second half of the year as upgrades to ventilation and cooling infrastructure become fully operational. IGO also expects gold concentrate sales to be higher over the remainder of the year with drier conditions following the end of the rainy season.

At Kansanshi, First Quantum confirmed 2026 production guidance and reported that S3 throughput increased steadily during the quarter driven by higher operating time, strong utilization, and milling rates stabilizing approximately 25% above the design capacity. At Comacá, MMG reported that the expansion to 130,000 tonnes of copper per year remains on track for concentrate production in 2028, and work started on a PFS for the next expansion phase up to 200,000 tonnes of copper per year. At Wassa, Chifeng announced an investment agreement with a subsidiary of Zijin Mining. Zijin Gold will invest approximately $1.2 billion of new capital and take operating control. Approximately half of this amount is earmarked for investment in Chifeng's overseas operations, including Wassa.

Projects at Wassa identified for investment include infill drilling, expansion and upgrade of the existing processing plant, and further development outside Wassa mine, including construction of a decline at the Father Brown deposit, open pit development at Benso, and a new processing plant in the southern area. All of these are covered by our stream agreement. Zijin is one of the world's largest mining companies and we think this investment agreement is a positive development for the future of Wassa. At Platreef, Ivanhoe reported continued progress towards expanded production with Shaft 3 construction completed on schedule and the phase two concentrator on track for completion at the end of the year.

We expect to see our first revenue from Platreef in the current quarter. At Hod Maden, SSR reported on Tuesday that the strategic review of its Hod Maden joint venture ownership is continuing, and it intends to incur minimal capital costs at the project while that review is ongoing. We will continue to fund our 30% of project costs through this period, but we expect these to be relatively low and not significant compared to our expected cash flow. And finally, with respect to development projects, Solaris received technical approval of the Warintza EIA in April, and is targeting receipt of full permits by the end of 2026 and a final investment decision in 2027.

I will now turn the call over to Paul.

Paul K. Libner: Thanks, Martin. Turn to slide seven for an overview of the financial results for the quarter. For the discussion of slides seven and eight, I will be comparing the quarter ending 03/31/2026 to the prior-year quarter. Revenue for the quarter was up strongly by 143% to $469 million, which is a new record. The strong increase was driven by higher volumes from some of our largest legacy interests, new contributions from our latest portfolio additions, and increased metal prices. Metal price increases were significant: gold up 70%, silver up 165%, and copper up 38% over the prior year.

Gold remains our dominant revenue driver, but given the significantly higher increase in the silver price during the quarter, the split of our gold revenue decreased to 71%. Silver rose to 16%, as compared to the prior-year contributions of 75% and 12%, respectively. Copper revenue was approximately 10% and in line with last year. Turning to slide eight, I will provide more detail on certain financial line items for the quarter. G&A expense was $17.5 million, approximately $6.5 million higher than the prior year. The higher expense this period was mostly due to higher corporate costs.

These corporate costs included employee-related costs, legal, audit, and other minor costs that were attributable to the 2025 transactions but with the service or expense recognized in the first quarter. We expect that first quarter G&A costs, including non-cash compensation expense, will be the highest for the year, and our total G&A expense for the year will finish near the high end of the $50 million to $60 million range we provided on our last call. Our DD&A expense increased to $91 million from $33 million in the prior year. On a unit basis, this expense was $944 per GEO for the quarter, compared to $488 per GEO last year.

The overall expense is in line with our guidance and is mainly driven by the higher carrying values of the Kansanshi gold stream and the Sandstorm Horizon interests we acquired in 2025. These increases were partially offset by lower gold sales and depletion rates at Mount Milligan. We recognized a $14 million gain on the sale of marketable securities during the quarter, most of which was due to the sale of the Highlander Silver shares that Bill mentioned in his remarks. We have made substantial progress on divesting the equity positions we inherited from Sandstorm, and most of the remaining position is the block of Entrée Resources.

As we said during our Investor Day, we do not see this position as a core investment, but it may have some strategic value, and we are happy to hold it until there is more clarity on what may happen at Oyu Tolgoi between the Government of Mongolia, Rio Tinto, and Entrée. Interest and other expense increased to $13.2 million from $1.2 million, primarily due to higher average amounts outstanding on the revolving credit facility in the current quarter. Tax expense for the quarter was $25 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of 8%, compared to tax expense of $10 million in the prior year.

We recognized a $33.7 million discrete benefit during the quarter, and excluding this benefit, our effective tax rate was approximately 19.5%. We continue to expect our effective tax rate for the full year will range between 17%–22%. Net income for the quarter was $281 million, or $3.30 per share, which compares to $113 million, or $1.72 per share, in the prior year. The increase in net income was largely due to higher revenue and gains from the sale of marketable securities, offset by the higher cost of sales, DD&A, interest, and income tax expense.

After adjusting for the fair value changes in equity securities, the gain on sale of equity securities, and the discrete tax benefit, adjusted net income was a record $233 million, or $2.72 per share. Finally, our operating cash flow this quarter was a record $94 million, up significantly from $136 million in the prior year. The increase was primarily due to higher stream and royalty revenue, offset by higher income tax payments, cash G&A costs, and interest payments. In summary, it was a very strong financial quarter that reflects a significant increase in the scale of our business.

On that note, and recognizing the challenge of accurately estimating the quarterly performance of our larger portfolio, we will make a change to our disclosure heading into quarterly results. Starting with the next quarter, sometime during the third full week after each quarter end, we expect to issue a press release that will provide more detail on notable financial items, including revenue estimates from both our stream and royalty segments. We hope this provides further transparency to the market in the weeks leading up to the release of our full quarterly results. I will turn to slide nine and summarize our financial position. We have quickly rebuilt our liquidity.

At the end of March, we had total available liquidity of $1.1 billion between the available amounts on the revolver and $295 million of working capital. After quarter end, we continued our focus on debt servicing. In April, we made a $75 million repayment, and we intend to make an additional $100 million repayment next week. Upon next week's payment, we will have $425 million outstanding and $975 million available under the credit facility. As I said during our Investor Day, we expect to fully repay the outstanding balance by sometime in the fourth quarter, based on current metal prices and absent further significant acquisitions.

With respect to financial commitments, at the end of March, we had $100 million of funding outstanding for the Warintza acquisition. We made a $50 million payment in April upon technical approval of the EIA and expect to fund the remaining $50 million on the transaction closing date in May, subject to the satisfaction of outstanding conditions. The only other financial commitment is the funding of our share of any Hod Maden project cost during the year in order to maintain our 30% ownership interest. That concludes my comments on our financial performance for the quarter, and I will now turn the call back to Bill for closing comments.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Thanks, Paul. I wanted to close with a brief overview of our thoughts on our post-acquisition progress, changes in our business development environment, and capital allocation. At our Investor Day in March, we attempted to provide the market with both a sense for the scale and cash flow-generating ability of our expanded company as well as the diversification and growth prospects of the company. In the first quarter, we achieved record revenue, earnings, and cash flow, and no one asset contributed more than 12.5% of total revenue. While it is only one quarter of results, I think we are off to a good start. We are encouraged by events in our sector's investment opportunities.

Larger-scale investments like Kansanshi as well as the opening of new potential markets like Australia bode well for our business. Our reestablished accordion feature under our revolving credit facility positions us well to take advantage of attractive opportunities. And while we are now in the twenty-fifth year of paying a higher dividend to our shareholders, we have added another capital allocation tool—our share repurchase program—that allows us to act opportunistically in the event we see a valuation dislocation in our share price. Finally, at our Investor Day, we spoke of an investment in Royal Gold, Inc. as being one through all cycles, and I believe this is a time for our sector to be of interest to investors.

We are not directly exposed to the price of diesel, to tariffs, or to inflation in general. The flight to the shares of operating companies in a rising gold price environment within the last year always came with a downside risk of compressing margins, and the operators may start seeing margin compression in the coming quarters with higher energy costs. I hope our stable cost structure against the backdrop of gold price volatility highlights the strength of our business model and our attractiveness as a gold investment. Operator, that concludes our prepared remarks. I will now open the line for questions.

Operator: We will now open the call for questions. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality, and if muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A. Our first question comes from Larry Liu with CIBC. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Hi, Bill, Paul, Martin, Alistair and team, thank you for taking my question. I guess my first question, I will start by asking about the guidance. I noticed within the press release you compared 2026 Q1 results to the full-year guidance, but there was no real mentioning of the five-year or the long-term guidance. Is that considered as a reiteration, or how should we look at it?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Yeah, Larry, thanks for the question. Updating the annual guidance is something we have done for a number of years and will continue to do throughout this fiscal year. When we gave the five-year guidance at our Investor Day, the one thing that we were very clear about was that we were giving it on that day, but we would not be updating it through the year, or really at any point. The next time that we are going to talk about a longer-term guidance number, it will be when we give five-year guidance for 2031 at some point next year. So the fact that we did not mention the 2030 guidance was on purpose.

It was intentional, and it just reflects our view that we are not going to update those figures.

Analyst: Yeah, for sure, Bill. That makes sense. And I think it leads well to my next question. I know within your guidance, you mentioned that the deferred silver ounces potentially at Pueblo Viejo are not included within your guidance. So can you remind us—kind of a three-part question here—what is the outstanding balance at this point, and what are some of the criteria under the agreement that need to be hit before these deliveries will contribute to Royal Gold, Inc.?

William H. Heissenbuttel: The criteria is recovery. What we need is for recovery—I think the number is 52.5%—recovery has to go above 52.5% for us to start clawing back some of those deferred ounces. As you may have seen in the technical report from PV, they are not expecting that for a number of years. And to keep tabulating the figure from quarter to quarter, when right now there is no expectation that we are going to see it anytime in the near term, it just was not deemed to be, if you will, material. If that turns around and the recovery goes up and we get some deferred ounces back, we will update the market on the balance.

But at this point, we are just going to let that number sit there and grow over time. There just does not seem any need to be talking about it.

Analyst: For sure. Sounds good. I guess moving on to another asset on that end. Bill, I know your commentary mentioned earlier that Hod Maden is considered one of the financial commitments outstanding at this point. But I realized from your financial statements there has been a cash call under the equity investment of $14.7 or $15 million this quarter. What kind of additional commitments do you have outstanding for the remainder of the year, and how should we look at it from a model perspective that way?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Well, maybe what I will do is turn it over to Paul to take you through the accounting first, and then maybe I will come back and talk about expectations. Paul, is that okay?

Paul K. Libner: Yeah, sure. Thanks, Larry, for the question. High level, you are right. The accounting for that Hod Maden joint venture is done under the equity method. There are two main items with this equity method accounting each quarter. And the first is what you already pointed out: the cash call for our portion of the ongoing development costs at Hod Maden. This quarter, we had a $14 million cash call, and so the equity method investment on our balance sheet would increase by that amount, and the offset, obviously, is the cash. For your benefit, that cash goes through the investing activities on the statement of cash flows.

The second piece each quarter is our 30% pickup of any losses in our equity investment in Hod Maden. This quarter, our portion of losses was just over $1 million—I think it was $1.3 million—and that does go through our P&L each quarter. So this quarter, $1.3 million went through the non-operating section of our income statement, and I believe it was in interest and other expense. And then the offset to that is a decrease to the equity investment that I mentioned on our balance sheet. If you are interested in some further light reading, our 10-Q and 10-K give a little bit more information on that, but that is really the high level for the accounting.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Thanks, Paul. And then, just for the question of what the number might be, I would say give us a little time. As you know, SSR has announced that they are trying to rationalize the investment. The spending is not going to be that high in the immediate term while the partners try to figure out the way forward there. I think they announced the strategic review in early March, so you would have had a couple months where there was really an effort to—SSR was sort of engaged in bringing this thing forward—and now I think things are just a little bit quieter.

So once this gets rationalized, I think we will be able to give you a better sense for what the spending is going to be this year.

Analyst: Perfect. Sounds good, Bill. I am glad I am a CPA; I understand everything that Paul just mentioned earlier. I promise I have one last question. It is not as technical. It is more focused on the revolving credit facility. I know, as you mentioned earlier as well, it increased by about $600 million this quarter. And just drawing on historical records as well, the last time you increased it is right before you did the Kansanshi stream as well as the Sandstorm Gold and Horizon Copper acquisition. What is the kind of read-through here? And you have done billion-dollar deals in the past. Is it time to see more billion-dollar deals coming from Royal Gold, Inc. again?

William H. Heissenbuttel: I would not read through anything. Yeah, we just established we had the accordion, and then we actually exercised it in very short order, but I would not read anything into it. I think it is just a reflection—and you have seen some large transactions in our sector—there seem to be more of them, more opportunities. And we love the revolving credit. We think our business is great in terms of being able to service debt. It is non-dilutive, and we just want to be ready. As I have said before, even though gold has come off, it is still at a level where every GEO you buy is probably more expensive than it was five years ago.

So it is just being prepared. That is the only read-through I would ask you to take from it.

Analyst: For sure. And thanks again, Bill, Paul, Martin, and Alistair, and team for taking my questions today.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Daniel Major with UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Hi. Thanks so much for the questions. The first question is on the buyback option and how we should think about that relative to the balance sheet. Is there kind of a level of net cash or net debt that we should be thinking about that increases the probability of buybacks? And is the emphasis of the buyback ultimately to kind of normalize the share count from the Sandstorm deal?

William H. Heissenbuttel: No. It is not to try to normalize the share count relative to the Sandstorm deal. And I would not take it as a net cash trigger—if we have got excess liquidity, that is something we are going to turn to. This is about what we see as a value dislocation. And I will really take you back to November, December, where I think the view amongst everybody on our management team was we just should not be trading at these levels. We are very undervalued, and I quite frankly wish we had the program in place back then.

This is kind of a reaction to that, where if, from a valuation multiple perspective—and that is where it starts—we think there is a dislocation, we may very well use the program. But at the same time, you have to understand we have other priorities as well. We have to balance with that. One, we still have debt outstanding. We would love to pay off the debt. That may remain a priority. And again, to the extent the business development pipeline looks healthy, we may want to retain that liquidity. So we are not looking at it going, okay, for this valuation multiple, we are automatically going to go out and use the buyback program.

It is really a balance of priorities, and it is what we would view as a real dislocation in value.

Alistair Baker: Okay.

Analyst: So it is sort of an option in the capital allocation tool chest. Okay. Just a second question, just a specific one. When would you expect to make the second payment of—I think it is 11,100 ounces—or, sorry, receive the second payment from the Mount Milligan cost support program? Wherever that falls.

William H. Heissenbuttel: That is a good question. I cannot answer it. Dan, do you recall when we expect Greenstone to hit the next target? Is it later this year?

Daniel Breeze: Yeah, Bill. Hi, Daniel. Thanks for the question. And we were just looking at the results from Equinox overnight, and based on what we are seeing from their production and guidance, it looks like it will be sometime in Q3 of this year.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Okay. Perfect. Thank you.

Analyst: That is useful. And then just last question, just a general one on the pipeline and what you are seeing in terms of potential opportunities. Obviously, we have seen some consolidation in precious metal pricing, but as you say, still at a good level. Any high-level insights on what you are seeing in the pipeline?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Dan Breeze, I might have you keep going and cover that subject.

Daniel Breeze: Happy to, Bill. Look, Daniel, we certainly like what we see in the pipeline right now. And I think as we look at the market, the volatility, the geopolitical risk that we are seeing across the board right now, it does not seem to be slowing interest from counterparties to consider deals, at least currently. And, obviously, we have seen a number of deals already this year. So it looks pretty good to us, and very much like previous quarters.

I think the deals that we have seen announced this year are kind of like what we see in the pipeline right now: those arbitrage opportunities, the base metal producers looking to sell into a good market with the non-core precious metals that they hold. I think there is more interest now given the Antamina-Wheaton deal that we saw. I think that stimulated interest from base metal companies to consider monetizing those byproducts. And certainly, in our deal flow last year, we saw that from First Quantum and Solaris over their assets that we were able to stream as well. So we like that. The third-party royalty market looks pretty healthy as well.

And then new project development—all of it looks pretty good. And, again, we are still in that $300 million–$400 million size. I think that is still a good range to think about for deals.

Analyst: Great. Thanks a lot.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Thanks for the questions.

Operator: Our next question comes from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotiabank. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Everybody, thank you for taking my question.

Tanya Jakusconek: Paul, I am not an accountant, so I am going to start with that. I just want to simplistically understand how I should be thinking of it. So there are really two components to this Hod Maden that I need to understand. One is something that will go through the income statement, which seems to be something in the $1.5 million expense per quarter. And then there is the second component, which is the capital calls that go through the cash flow, and that depends on the capital outlay that is required from the joint venture and your 30% interest. Is that how I should think of it?

Paul K. Libner: That is correct, Tanya. Thanks for the question. I am happy to give you a bit more color there too on the pickup of the losses in the joint venture—the 30% pickup. I will just tell you that over the average of the last four or five quarters, those losses have ranged between about $600,000 and $700,000. So if that is another guide for you, this quarter was $1.3 million, but if you factor that in, I would say over the last four or five quarters, it has been $100,000 to $700,000. And you are correct.

That does go through the P&L, and that will show up in the non-operating section, and I believe we include it within interest and other expense.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Okay.

Tanya Jakusconek: And then whatever the cash call is—if it is this million a month—then your 30% of that will go through the cash flow statement.

Paul K. Libner: Correct, as an investing activity, so not operating cash flow. And then the offset is the increase of that equity investment on the balance sheet.

Tanya Jakusconek: Okay.

Alistair Baker: Okay.

Tanya Jakusconek: Alright, that is clear. Thank you for that. And we will wait. I think the guidance had been about $15 million a month. Is that what you are thinking within your projections until otherwise noticed?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Tanya, I do not even know if it will be that. Again, as in my response to the other question, just give us a bit of time to sort out the strategic review by SSR.

Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. Alright. So then my second question, I do not know who wants to take this one, but I think Paul again. You mentioned we are going to—I think—the second or third week after the quarter—I forgot what you mentioned—we will be getting some additional information ahead of the full financials. You mentioned revenue. Did I hear streams both from the royalties and streams themselves broken up in GEOs? Is that what we are going to get? I did not understand what exactly we are getting.

Paul K. Libner: Hey, Tanya. Yes. You may recall that we previously had provided the metal stream sales release shortly after the quarter end. So, really, you are going to get a bolt-on to that. It will include the stream sales information, but we will also provide a dollar range of the royalty segment as well. As you may appreciate, we do have to estimate some of these, and so this release will hopefully tie all this together for you from both segment standpoints.

Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. So GEOs from stream, and then the royalty segment.

Paul K. Libner: Correct.

Daniel Breeze: Okay.

Tanya Jakusconek: Got it. And with that, I know we had initially spoken about 48/52 first half/second half performance. But I think I had been originally thinking that we were supposed to have a Q1 similar to Q4, which had been about 91,000 GEOs, and you came in at 97. Should I be thinking that we are probably more equal for the next three quarters?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Paul, you want to take that one?

Paul K. Libner: Yeah. I think as of right now, the 48/52 is still what we are guiding to. We did have a few royalties this quarter and streams that had better-than-expected production, but I think you can expect the 48/52 for the rest of the year and maintaining that guidance that we provided earlier as well.

Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. If someone wants to take on the share buyback—and maybe Bill, this is for you if I could—and then someone to take my final question on the transaction environment. So just on the buyback, you have mentioned a few times that you see a valuation disconnect with the market. When you think of a valuation disconnect, are you looking at it—let us say your NAV versus where you see your NAV versus where the share price is trading? What valuation metrics are you using to see that or clarifying that discount?

William H. Heissenbuttel: I think you are going down the right road. It starts with P/NAV and price to cash flow, and looking at others in our sector. That, I think, is where the analysis starts. But, again, as I mentioned, that is not an automatic trigger to either do something or not do something. There are other priorities that we have to manage in that process. But it is definitely valuation multiples where we will start the analysis.

Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. So you would see—and I am saying that because I am trying to understand whether your price to NAV or price to cash flow is at a certain spread versus peers, and that is where you look at it and say, okay, that is disconnecting. If we have the cash flow, we have the cash, let us buy back shares.

William H. Heissenbuttel: That is where it starts. But it is also: do we have debt to pay down? Do we have new investments we want that should be put in before?

Tanya Jakusconek: For sure. If we have the cash, all else being equal.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Okay.

Tanya Jakusconek: Thank you for that. And then just my last question, and you gave us a little bit of a flavor for what is out there. It is the $300 million–$400 million range is what you were looking at. Maybe someone can confirm that I heard that. I am just trying to understand—you know, a couple of others have said there are a number of very large deals still out there. Potential syndication—would that be something that you would consider? Data deals as well?

William H. Heissenbuttel: I will answer the syndication part of the question. Sure, we would love to syndicate. We would love to be part of it. We would love to lead it. The thing I would just caution people is if you want a transaction, you want a transaction for a reason, which means that maybe your structure is different than everybody else's. Maybe your pricing is more competitive than everybody else's. So you would have to find somebody else willing to do the transaction that they potentially lost to. It is not something that we syndicate ahead of time. You have to close the deal and then syndicate it, but we are totally open to the concept.

That just makes the whole diversification side of what we were talking about at the Investor Day even better. Dan Breeze, is there anything else you want to add on the market in general?

Daniel Breeze: Yeah, Tanya, I would just say—and I did mention $300 million to $400 million—and there is always a range in there, even up to $500 million, let us say, in that range. But the third-party royalties that we see in the pipeline, they tend to be smaller, as you know—sort of a $100 million plus or minus type sizes. I think the range we always give you, Tanya, still holds.

Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. And, Dan, are you seeing more silver opportunities?

Daniel Breeze: I think the answer, Tanya, is very similar to what I shared with you in Zurich last month at the mining forum, which is we are kind of seeing a bit of everything right now. Maybe it is a bit more silver than we have seen, say, a year ago, but it is still a mix of silver and gold across the board, and producing assets and development assets and whatnot. So it is really hard to say that there is one type of opportunity that is outweighing the rest. It is pretty broad, at least from our pipeline's perspective.

Tanya Jakusconek: Okay. Thank you very much for that, and thank you for the color on some of these things. And, Paul, thank you for having patience with my non-accounting background.

Paul K. Libner: No problem, Tanya. Always happy to talk.

Operator: Our next question comes from Derek Ma with TD Cowen. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Thanks, and I want to thank the team in advance for the future disclosure on preliminary numbers for royalties and streams. I think that is going to be quite helpful for the investment community. In terms of SSR and Hod Maden, are there opportunities to work collaboratively there to achieve your own stated goals of disposing or converting your 30% interest? And are you having those types of conversations right now?

William H. Heissenbuttel: When you say collaboratively, any rationalization of our ownership was going to involve the partners one way or the other. You were either going to sell to them, or you were going to sell to a third party—but with their consent effectively. So that has always been the approach. I do not think—I said at the Investor Day, I think SSR's strategic review complicates what we are trying to do here. It is not a step that we envisioned when we set that goal. It is still our goal, but it is only going to be done with the partners—working with the partners.

Analyst: What can investors expect in terms of timing and then ultimate outcome, I guess, from the situation then?

William H. Heissenbuttel: I think you are going to see an answer in the near term. I do not want to put months on that, but I think you are going to—because something is going to happen relatively soon. Again, SSR—I think SSR actually put a time frame on it—the next few months. So I would try to stick with that. This is not going to be a long, drawn-out process.

Analyst: And a complete disposal, or do you think some partial conversion is still possible here?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Do not know.

Analyst: Okay.

Analyst: Yep. And then just finally, on the share repurchase program, I know we touched on it a lot already, but it sounds like the plan is to self-administer the program and not have it automated via a broker. Is that correct?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Well, it is not going to be automated in the sense of, you know, we pick a price and sell it. We have to figure out how we are going to implement it because we do want discretion as to if and when the program gets utilized. So I do not imagine giving a bank six months at a price and just exercise if it hits that price. There is going to be more to it than that.

Alistair Baker: Got it.

Analyst: Okay. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Joshua Wolfson with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Thank you very much. I figured it would only be appropriate if I also asked on the buyback, as I have done historically. We have seen a lot of volatility historically with shares and in some of those prior calls, there has been justification to not proceed with the buyback just due to the stock trading at a premium. I am wondering, what has changed, or how is the company looking at things or potential scenarios that could justify this now being something that is pursued versus the historical comments?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Again, Josh, I think I go back to—I will take you back to November, December. I think we were trading at a P/NAV less than 1.4 times for a little while. What we have to do is say, okay, if you can buy back your shares at 1.4 times, and investments in the sector are being priced at 1.7 times, we should know our assets better than anything new we are going to add to the portfolio. So if we are going to use capital, is that a better use of capital?

The buyback really came from that period of time when I just sat down to kind of wish we had the buyback because now is the time to buy shares. We also saw—almost ten years ago—when Thompson Creek was having financial difficulties, people were not sure the Mount Milligan stream was going to survive. We felt very comfortable that it was, but there was a very significant value disconnect. Again, at that time, if we had a program, I think we probably would have done something under that program.

Analyst: Got it. Okay. And then maybe getting into some of the asset specifics. Cortez had a pretty good quarter. I know there is not a lot of visibility on the asset quarter to quarter, and there is, because the differences in percentages—what Barrick reports versus what you report—can vary. I am just wondering if the company can provide a bit more understanding of Q1 and then, if it is available, what the expectation is over the course of the year.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Josh, I am going to turn that to Martin. I will just caution you, I think Barrick usually comes out before us, which makes it a little bit easier for us to talk about the assets. So I am not sure what we can share. Martin, is there any comment you could make about what we saw at Cortez in the first quarter?

Martin Raffield: I think I would say, Bill, that we should just wait for Barrick to come out on Monday. I would not like to front-run anything that they are going to say at this stage.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Got it. Alright.

Analyst: And then just on Comacá, some of the challenges in the first quarter and then looking at the impact of Zone 5N and understanding the differences there. How should we be thinking about how the proportion of that zone is processed and what the outlook is for Royal Gold, Inc. in that context?

William H. Heissenbuttel: Martin, do you want to take a shot at that?

Martin Raffield: Yeah. They had some issues last year as they switched over their mining contract, moving to the Chinese contractor. I think anytime that you have a big contractor change at an underground mine, it is going to have an impact. They do seem to have been stabilizing fairly well as we moved towards the end of last year and move through this year. Obviously, their focus at the moment is on building the expansion—building the new processing plant—finishing the design for that and getting into construction, building an underground backfill plant so that they can start backfilling, reduce the amount of pillars that they leave behind, and improve the recovery of the resource.

That seems to be going pretty well at the moment. As to Zone 5 North and Mango and the other pieces of the puzzle put together, that is still in development at the moment. We know the new plant is going to process mainly Zone 5 material, and we have a good, strong understanding that is going to improve our throughput and our silver recovery.

Analyst: For Zone 5 North specifically, has the mining from that area been accelerated versus what the prior plan was? Maybe I am misinterpreting things.

Martin Raffield: They have not started mining Zone 5 North yet, Josh. They are mining Zone 5 Main with the three declines. Zone 5 North, Mango, and the others are part of the expansion that they are going to be starting to develop over the coming period.

Analyst: Got it. Great. Thank you.

Operator: Our final question comes from Brian MacArthur with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Good morning. Sorry, most of my questions have been answered. But I know this is difficult. Just following up on Josh’s asset question: Antamina had $13 million this quarter. You commented about grade. But just ballpark—I realize NPIs are difficult—is that a reasonable number going forward at these commodity prices, or was there cap allocation or something that made that number different than what you might think would be going forward? I mean, it is—

William H. Heissenbuttel: First quarter. We have really got to look at this. I will ask you one thing real quick, and I think $13 million was more than the annual revenue received in certain years in the past. So, yeah, I agree with you. NPIs are impossible to estimate. Martin, is there anything you would say that makes the first quarter unique or a signal of things to come?

Martin Raffield: No. It was essentially low deducts and high prices. We cannot really project what is to come. We are not changing our outlook in terms of what we expect for the year. But, yeah, it is capital allocation and deductions, and we have almost no visibility into that, Brian.

Brian MacArthur: Fair enough.

Analyst: And just a second question while I have you. One asset that has been sitting around for years, but we are in a higher price environment—is anything happening at Ilovici, the Euromax asset in North Macedonia? Because that has a potential to be a decent size going forward too.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Yeah, I do not think there is anything to report there. The last we really looked into it, I think they were still working on consolidating mining licenses. The government changed ten years ago, and it has been an uphill battle for them. I do not have anything to update you on.

Brian MacArthur: Perfect. Thank you.

Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to William H. Heissenbuttel for closing remarks.

William H. Heissenbuttel: Thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. We certainly appreciate your interest, and we look forward to updating you on our progress during our next quarterly call. Take care.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

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