The presentations at Mining Forum Americas 2025 from Wheaton Precious Metals [WPM:CN, $107.71, $48.4B], Franco-Nevada Corporation [FNV:CN, $203.81, $39.3B], Royal Gold, Inc. [RGLD:US, $195.43, $12.9B], OR Royalties Inc. [OR:CN, $36.91, $6.9B], Gold Royalty Corp. [GROY:US, $3.75, $640.2M], EMX Royalty Inc. [EMX:US, $4.20, $464.9M], and Empress Royalty Corp [EMPR:CN, $0.65, $82.3M] offer a detailed look into the strategies that are shaping the royalty business. While all the companies share a basic business model, their presentations reveal distinct philosophies on scale, risk, growth, and capital allocation.
Scale & Strategy: Defining the Path to Value Creation
The companies' market capitalizations are reflected in their distinct strategic narratives, from large-cap leaders to smaller consolidators.
• Wheaton Precious Metals [$48.4B]: As the largest player, Wheaton's narrative is one of quality over quantity: "I've never wanted to be the biggest. I've always wanted to be the best," said CEO Randy Smallwood. This philosophy manifests in a "100% streaming model" and deep caution towards corporate M&A, where acquiring peers risks inheriting "skeletons in the closet". Instead, Wheaton acts as a strategic partner in asset-level transactions, like its recent stream to help finance the acquisition of the Hemlo mine from Barrick [B:US, $29.03, $49.5B].
• Franco-Nevada [$39.3B]: Franco-Nevada's strategy is defined by a culture of ownership and a mantra to "grow profitably," not for growth's sake. The company is comfortable letting cash build if high-quality deals are not available, demonstrating a patient approach focused on generating a high return on invested capital.
• Royal Gold [$12.8B]: Royal Gold's narrative is dominated by its "transformational" acquisition of Sandstorm Gold Royalties [SSL:CN, $12.15, $3.6B] and Horizon Copper. The company is in an integration phase, with the deal's success benchmarked against developing key acquired assets like Mara and Plat Reef.
• OR Royalties [$6.9B]: As a mid-tier player, OR Royalties presents a narrative of highly disciplined growth. With a "very high" appetite for deals, it stresses it will not do "0% IRR deals in Africa" to compete, often ending up in "second place" on transactions—a testament to its discipline.
• Gold Royalty Corp. [$640.2M]: Gold Royalty's narrative is one of an aggressive consolidator aiming to create a new "mid-tier champion" to fill a landscape it believes will soon be "vacant". Its unique four-platform strategy—M&A, royalty financing, third-party acquisitions, and organic "royalty generation"—is designed to build a portfolio at a low cost base.
• EMX Royalty [$464.9M] & Elemental Altus Royalties [ELE:CN, $1.66, $408.3M]: The story centers on their announced merger to create a new mid-tier player. The deal is financially backstopped and strategically driven by Tether, the world's leading stablecoin company, which is set to become the largest shareholder with up to a 33% stake. Tether is described as "extraordinarily bullish hard assets" and views this as their entry into the royalty space.
• Empress Royalty [$82.3M]: Empress was set up to fill a specific gap in the market: providing financing in sub-$25 million ticket sizes that larger companies have grown too big to service. Its strategy is to act as a direct financier, creating new royalties and streams by investing in near-term producers for development or expansion, leveraging its team's structured finance expertise.
Portfolio & Risk Management: Balancing Geography and Structure
Each company has constructed its portfolio to manage risk and optimize returns through different approaches to geography and asset structure.
• Franco-Nevada: Manages risk with a balanced portfolio of "half streams, half royalties" to capture both "gold price optionality" and "resource optionality". Influenced by global deglobalization, the company has a long-term objective to orient its portfolio more towards "good countries".
• Wheaton Precious Metals: Employs a unique "100% streaming model" on long-life base metal mines, giving it a reserve and resource profile of nearly 60 years. It takes a global, risk-adjusted approach, comfortable investing in many jurisdictions as long as the risk is "captured in terms of the expected returns".
• Royal Gold: Manages risk through diversification. While recent deals add exposure to Ecuador and Zambia, almost 40% of its NAV remains in the US and Canada. No single asset accounts for more than 12% of NAV, preventing concentration risk.
• OR Royalties: Uses low jurisdictional risk as a key differentiator, with 80% of its NAV in Canada, the US, and Australia. It also has the "highest cash margin" at 97% due to its royalty-centric portfolio, insulating it from cost inflation.
• Gold Royalty Corp.: Also focuses on low political risk, with over 80% of its portfolio in Nevada, Quebec, and Ontario. Its portfolio of over 250 royalties is all "fully bought and paid for" with no future capital calls, de-risking its pipeline.
• EMX & Elemental Altus: The merger creates a significant global portfolio with over 200 royalties in roughly 20 countries, which the CEO says "looks like something a major would have". The portfolio is diversified by commodity, with current revenues at 67% precious metals and 33% base metals.
• Empress Royalty: Manages risk through a unique "pure gold and silver" focus, believing precious metals offer a premium to investors. It has a global focus and will transact in any mining-friendly region where its team has experience, resulting in a diverse portfolio across Mexico, Peru, South Africa, and Mozambique.
Key Assets & Growth Drivers: The Engines of Future Returns
A mix of cornerstone assets and deep development pipelines underpins the companies' growth outlooks.
• Wheaton Precious Metals: Claims the "highest growth rate," targeting 40% growth over five years on its mission to reach one million GEOs annually. This is driven by its flagship Salobo stream and a pipeline including Plat Reef, Goose (with B2Gold [BTO:CN, $4.40, $5.8B]), and Blackwater (with Artemis Gold [ARTG:CN, $23.95, $5.5B]).
• Franco-Nevada: Has the single largest catalyst in the potential restart of the Cobre Panama mine [+150,000 GEOs/year]. Long-term growth is secured by recent deals on generational assets like Yanacocha (with Newmont [NEM:US, $79.36, $87.2B]) and Arthur Gold (with AngloGold Ashanti plc [AU:US, $67.10, $33.9B]).
• Royal Gold: Future growth is tied to the development pipeline acquired from Sandstorm, particularly Hod Maden (SSR Mining), Mara, and Plat Reef. A critical achievement is the life extension of its cornerstone Mount Milligan mine to 2045 with operator Centerra Gold Inc. [CG:CN, $9.24, $1.9B].
• OR Royalties: Is anchored by its cornerstone 5% NSR on Canadian Malartic, the "most valuable royalty out there," operated by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited [AEM:CN, $153.76, $77.2B]. This asset underpins a forecast of 40% organic growth by 2029 with "no development risk".
• Gold Royalty Corp.: Projects "peer-leading" growth to 23,000-28,000 GEOs by 2029. This is driven by a broad portfolio including a copper stream on the Vares mie (now operated by DPM Metals Inc. [formerly Dundee Precious Metals] [DPM:CN, $21.46, $4.8B]) and foundational royalties on Canadian Malartic and the REN project, the extension of Barrick's Gold Strike mine.
• EMX & Elemental Altus: Growth will be driven by a robust combined portfolio of 4-5 cornerstone assets. Key assets include a now-combined 1.3% NSR on the massive Casarones mine (Lundin) in South America (paying over $15M/year) and the Timok (DPM) copper-gold royalty in Europe, described as "one of the most exciting royalties within the entire portfolio".
• Empress Royalty: Growth is driven by the cash flow from its four initial investments, which it is now reinvesting. Its assets are already demonstrating strong returns, such as a $5M investment in the Tahuehueto silver mine now yielding $6.9M annually, and a $3M investment in the Manica gold mine that has already returned $6M and continues to pay.
Financial Priorities & Capital Allocation: Deploying Capital in a Bull Market
Each company's approach to capital allocation reflects its strategic maturity and financial position.
• Franco-Nevada: With cash flow approaching $1.5 billion per year, its priority is deploying capital only into deals that meet its strict criteria for profitable growth.
• Wheaton Precious Metals: Prioritizes "accretive, well-structured acquisitions," investing based on a conservative "backwards curve" for commodity prices, not its own bullish outlook.
• Royal Gold: Priorities are ranked: 1) new investments, 2) debt repayment (projected at ~$1.2B post-merger), and 3) maintaining its 24-year history of dividend increases.
• OR Royalties: Has zero gross debt and is accumulating cash. Priorities are deploying capital into new assets, increasing the dividend, and using its share buyback program.
• Gold Royalty Corp.: Is focused on its balance sheet, expecting to be net debt-free by the end of 2026, after which it will be in a position to return capital to shareholders.
• EMX & Elemental Altus: The primary financial driver is the merger, designed to achieve a significant P/NAV re-rate. This is supported by a new $100 million investment from Tether, ensuring the combined entity has up to $250 million in firepower for future acquisitions.
• Empress Royalty: Having proven its model, the company's key focus is now to deploy its growing internal cash flow and a $20 million available debt facility to diversify its portfolio by investing in more high-quality, small-scale assets.
Bullish Takeaways
• Wheaton Precious Metals: Investors are buying into the sector's quality leader, which offers the highest organic growth profile (40% in 5 years) driven by a de-risked portfolio of long-life streams, all while maintaining a disciplined, risk-adjusted approach to new investments that prioritizes accretive deals over sheer scale.
• Franco-Nevada: The investment thesis is anchored by a proven, profitable growth strategy and the single most significant catalyst in the sector: the potential restart of the Cobre Panama mine, which could boost production by 50% by 2029, offering immense, asymmetric upside that is not fully reflected in current guidance.
• Royal Gold: The "transformational" acquisition of Sandstorm has created a deeply diversified portfolio with a world-class development pipeline (Hod Maden, Mara, Plat Reef) that, if successfully executed, will drive significant, long-term NAV and cash flow accretion for shareholders.
• OR Royalties: An investment offers a compelling combination of safety and growth, with a peer-leading 40% organic growth profile by 2029 that is fully funded and de-risked, anchored by a world-class cornerstone asset (Canadian Malartic) in a Tier-1 jurisdiction.
• Gold Royalty Corp.: Investors gain exposure to a high-growth, small-cap consolidator with a peer-leading volume growth profile and a vast, de-risked portfolio of 250 royalties that provides significant free optionality from over $200M in annual partner-funded exploration.
• EMX & Elemental Altus: The merger creates a newly-scaled mid-tier company trading at a significant discount to peers (~1.0x P/NAV vs. ~2.0x), offering a clear catalyst for a valuation re-rate driven by increased liquidity and ETF inclusion. This is further de-risked and amplified by the financial backing of Tether, a major new strategic shareholder providing significant firepower for future acquisitions.
• Empress Royalty: An investment offers exposure to a pure-play precious metals vehicle that has proven its unique model of financing near-term producers in the underserved sub-$25 million market, generating substantial and immediate cash flow returns that position it as an undervalued growth story as it deploys its growing capital.
