Royal Gold (NASDAQ: RGLD) sold 74,700 gold equivalent ounces from its stream portfolio in the third quarter, an 8% increase from the second quarter, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday.
Stream segment sales came in at US$318.3 million, up from US$311.0 million in the prior quarter, while cost of sales fell to US$834 per gold equivalent ounce from US$871. The company estimated royalty segment sales of between US$143 million and US$149 million, compared with US$139.6 million in the second quarter, putting total revenue for the period at roughly US$461 million to US$467 million.
The gap between volume growth and revenue growth reflects a softer gold price. Royal Gold converts revenue to gold equivalent ounces using the average quarterly gold price, which slipped to US$4,262 per ounce from US$4,506 in the second quarter, so each dollar of sales translated into more ounces.
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Gold accounted for the bulk of stream deliveries at 57,600 ounces sold, up from 54,500 ounces. Silver sales climbed nearly 30% to 772,300 ounces, and copper sales rose to 3.8 million pounds from 2.5 million pounds. Zinc sales held flat at 1.3 million pounds.
Gold inventory ended the quarter at 23,300 ounces, down from 27,400 ounces, while silver inventory rose to 424,200 ounces. Copper inventory was fully drawn down.
Royal Gold also kept paying down debt, repaying US$250 million on its revolving credit facility during the quarter. That left US$150 million drawn and US$1.25 billion available, down from US$600 million outstanding as recently as March. The company also repurchased and cancelled 190,045 shares at an average price of US$259.83, for a total of US$49 million.
Royal Gold is guiding to 2026 sales of 290,000 to 320,000 ounces of gold, 3.0 to 3.5 million ounces of silver and 21 to 25 million pounds of copper, with volumes weighted slightly toward the second half. At the midpoint of the year, management said gold and silver were tracking within their ranges, while copper was trending toward or above the top end.
Full third quarter results are due after market close on November 4.
Royal Gold last traded at $238.22 on the NASDAQ.
