Royal Gold Secures Stream & Royalty Deal for Solaris' Warintza Project

Royal Gold, Inc. RGLD announced that its wholly owned subsidiary RGLD Gold AG inked a gold purchase and a net smelter return royalty (“NSR”) agreements for metals produced by Solaris Resources, Inc.'s SLSR Warintza Project in southeastern Ecuador. The total deal amount of $200 million will be paid in instalments, subject to fulfillment of certain conditions. The move will expose Royal Gold to a world-class resource with long life and large-scale production potential.

Details on Royal Gold’s Strategic Acquisition

Discovered in 2000, Solaris’ Warintza is a copper-molybdenum-gold porphyry development project. IThe project has Measured and Indicated Resources totaling 1.082 billion tons at a copper equivalent grade of 0.48%, with 3.135 billion tons of Inferred Resources.

Solaris is targeting early works to begin in the second half of 2026.  Royal Gold expects to benefit from this world-class deposit with scale and longevity once the project reaches production, anticipated by 2030.

Financial Details of RGLD’s Deal With Warintza Project

Royal Gold will pay the $200 million in three installments. An initial $100 million will be paid upon financial closing. The second transaction of $50 million will be made after the Environmental Impact Assessment approval and publication of the Prefeasibility Study, anticipated in mid-to-late 2025. The final $50 million will be paid one year after closing once full security registration is completed in Ecuador.

RG AG will receive 20 ounces of gold per million pounds of recovered copper, initially paying 20% of spot gold prices until 90,000 ounces are delivered, increasing to 60% thereafter. If stream deliveries do not commence by 2033, the defined area of interest will expand significantly.

RG AG will also earn a 0.30% NSR royalty, increasing annually until a cap of 0.60% or stream commencement. In the event of a change of control, these rates vest for the life of mine. Additional royalties may apply if Solaris sells assets within the broader project area.

Royal Gold Stock’s Price Performance

In the past year, shares of Royal Gold have gained 41.4% compared with the industry’s growth of 42.3%.

RGLD’s Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider

The company currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Some other top-ranked stocks from the basic materials space are Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS, and Idaho Strategic Resources IDR. Carpenter Technology currently sports a Zacks Rank #1, whereas Idaho Strategic Resources carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Carpenter Technology has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 11.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRS’ 2025 earnings is pegged at $7.20 per share, which indicates year-over-year growth of 51.9%. Carpenter Technology shares have gained 111% in the last year.

Idaho Strategic Resources has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 21.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Idaho Strategic’s 2025 earnings is pegged at 78 cents per share, indicating year-over-year growth of 16.4%. IDR shares have jumped 24.5% in the last year.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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