Latest / Kitco MINING / Franco-Nevada Prepares for a New Wave of Deals | Paul Brink

Transcript

Franco-Nevada Prepares for a New Wave of Deals | Paul Brink · Kitco MINING

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Kitco Mining on-site coverage of Mining Forum Americas is presented by Metalla Royalty and Streaming.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: The royalty model is coming into its own.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome to Kitco Mining with me, Paul Harris, here with the 2026 Mining Forum Americas in Colorado Springs.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: Joining me now is Paul Brink, president and CEO of Franco Nevada.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: Paul, welcome to Kitco.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: Lovely to chat.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: Paul, a lot going on in the royalty streaming space.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully we'll get into that.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: But let's start at some more basic things.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: Talk us through the sort of company's performance so far this year and your sort of guidelines, your guidance for the uh so far, performance has been great.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: We at mid-year we always look at our guidance and and uh we'd sit at the street, we think we'll be in the top half of that guidance.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Two things that really changed.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: The one is uh Cobrae, the processing of the stockpiles.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: We we got greater certainty that that is going ahead.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: We actually we got our first check on that today.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and second has been oil prices.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, much stronger than what we'd anticipated at the start of the year.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: So those two things will push us higher in the range.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: And your range is for what more than 500,000 ounces of uh gold equivalent?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: So around 550.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think uh what you just said there, Paul, illustrates one of the many strengths of the royal streaming space with Cobby Panama processing the on-the-ground stockpiles, you're getting paid.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: First quantum isn't.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, they are.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, they are.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: So they sell on the concentrates, and and we just as they ship the concentrates, we we we get a payment just for our share.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: So so uh we're we're just but they're investing a lot of that back into the into the projects and the environmental remediation aspects.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you know, they have they have been uh incredibly patient in terms of keeping the mine on care and maintenance.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: That that has obviously come with the cost to them, uh, but it is it's obviously what was needed to preserve the optionality of what hopefully will be a restart.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: From what I'm reading in the the press in Panama, the the president, I think it's quite correct to say would really like the mine to restart, and he's advancing the the political environment to be able to make that happen.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: What was your read of the situation?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: I I think you're absolutely right.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: From the start, when Molino took the position, he said he was open to a discussion, and and I think all the successive steps that have been taken have been in that direction: shipping the concentrates, restarting the power plant, uh allowing the restart of the mills to process the stockpiles.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: They've completed the environmental study, it's put a panel of ministers together to look at all the aspects.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: They've been consulting with various stakeholders in country, uh the local communities, unions, suppliers to the mine, and I think all of those have put forward a case that they'd like to see a restart.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think there has been a shift of opinion in Panama amongst the public, amongst those groups, uh, that I think gives a productive environment that that uh if the government were to announce a restart of the mine, then it would be well received.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: One of the things that would have to take place for that happen is to renegotiate the contract.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: The the contract that First Quantum was operating under was struck down by the Supreme Court, I believe.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: So there needs to be a new contract negotiation.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: That contract that was struck down took eight or nine months to negotiate, so that may not be a quick and easy thing.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the government of Panama presumably would be looking to get more or greater benefit from that.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, to what extent will that impact the stream that Franco Nevada has on that asset?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: Will you be part of that contract negotiation?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Will you potentially be asked to adjust the terms of your stream?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, as a streamer, we're we're not at the table.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: It is First Quantum who is at the table and and and has been having those discussions.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you're absolutely right.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in all for a go forward solution, it does need a new structure.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um there have been some high-level discussions, obviously, around that structure.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, from what I understand, I I think there is a route forward between the government and the company.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, I'm hopeful uh uh that by the end of the year that that you that you see an announcement from the government to say that they are plan to go forward with this and and and that you'd see a start of detailed negotiations with the company.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, well let's hope so.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um you've got a royalty on the Kote Gold project, that's got a buyback option on it.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um how would that impact Franco Nevada's profile if if that option is exercised?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm out I understand uh the the payment to exercise that as a quite a substantial payment as well.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but a bit of background on that royalty.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: It was a third-party royalty.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was very big.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a 7.5% uh gross margin royalty.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: We paid just over a billion dollars for it, so it's a very meaningful stake.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh to put out that amount of capital, we wanted to do due diligence on the asset.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: So uh the deal is IMGold gave us access to due due diligence, and that gave us a lot of comfort on the future of the mine and and and uh the inside line on winning that process.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: The quid pro crow is is we did provide them a buyback.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: They can buyback as much as half of it.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um given the way the gold price has performed, uh I think uh you know financially that would make sense for them to do at this stage.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I think it'll be a win-win.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh on that buyback would obviously get credit for what we've received uh in the interim.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it would, if they did go ahead with that, be a very healthy return for us, and and uh I think it'd be a good investment for them.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think this particular deal illustrates the the coming of age, if you like, of the royalty and streaming sector.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: You're competing and winning bigger and bigger ticket items.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um in the traditional finance sector, banks indicate loans to effectively share the risk.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: As deals coming available in the royalty streaming space get bigger, is there the possibility or the likelihood that uh we'll start seeing royalty and streaming deals syndicated amongst some of the bigger players?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think uh there has been some.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: We've done a couple.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think there probably will be more.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the ones that we had done, this is a number of years back, we had worked with Sandstorm at the time and had done a financing for TrueGold on Karma.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: More recently, we had worked with OR royalties, and together we have a commitment for stream financing for Caskabel.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we're open to it.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if uh in the right circumstance, we're happy to do it.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it happens less often than you'd think, uh, and in part because the operators they want to keep competition in the deal.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so they're less inclined.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: They certainly don't want to see syndication uh ahead of uh you know ahead of the auction process.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um but potentially post fact that there may be the opportunity.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Now you uh as we spoke about earlier in the conversation, you've had a very difficult and stressful situation with COBI Panama, and uh the mine was closed relatively quickly or soon after you you put in a substantial payment.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: So was there a bit of a an oh my god moment we we need to sort of perhaps lay off some of the risk somehow?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously syndicating bringing in other parties into a deal is one way of doing that.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: So in in certain jurisdictions, is there a perhaps greater appetite to look around to share risk?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think you're right.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: The the nexus is between deal size and jurisdictional risk.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: The you know the there are a couple of things driving bigger deals in the industry, and and the one is streaming as royalty has just proven to be such a successful model uh that there's more and more demand for the product.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: The other is gold prices are triple of what they were a decade ago.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: So same amount of ounces, yeah.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that that Kobe Panama deal would put 1.35 billion in just on the gold price change.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you did that today, you're pushing four billion in terms of the scale of the deal.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um but to your point, yes.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we, you know, we're just on on gold prices, we'll be doing much bigger deals.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, when you look at the crossover with jurisdictional risk.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the one one of the big takeaways is diversification in the portfolio.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And um so as as we go forward, that'll obviously be top of mind.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I want to sort of touch on another couple of things that show the the growing maturity of the sector.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um there was you know, BHP did a what a more than a four billion dollar silver stream on its Antamina or its portion of the Antamina mine in Peru.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think that was surprised many people.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: One, because it was BHP, um, the biggest diversified miner in the in the Western world at least.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um so quite an endorsement there.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, BHP, an Australian headquartered company, um, so perhaps breaking new ground into the Australian market.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what's your view there?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, first off, you know, BHP doing a stream deal is I think the best endorsement that the stream sector has ever had.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think showing the ability to surface value that's not recognized to the market.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but also that they have uh very low cost of capital and and and very good access to various sources of capital.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So the fact that they chose streaming um really shows the benefits that uh that it can bring, even even to the biggest of players.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: To your second point, um, I mean that I think it raised eyebrows around the world, but in particular in Australia, where streaming royalty has not been that commonplace.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we a couple of years ago identified Australia to say, let's see if we can crack the code in the country and and uh convince, open up people's minds to the value of streaming royalties.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we we uh were hired a banker and uh started knocking on doors, and and our approach was find a good team, um, do a royalty streaming deal, but also um uh position ourselves as a financial banker, make sure that they're successful, uh, make sure that their shareholders make money, and we figured if we can make money for their shareholders, um that'll that will hopefully change the complexion.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it's worked super well.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Minerals 260 is the company that we've backed, buller bullying is the asset.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we did the deal in early February, their stock doubled on on the news.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: They were uh awarded the developer of the year at the at the diggers and dealers in Calgary, in Calgooli.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh they've just come back, so we've actually just done a second tranche financing with with that team.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: So so far it's it's been a super success.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I hope that lays the groundwork for doing even more deals in Australia.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, excellent.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think the sort of BHP Antimidate deal came at an interesting moment in time, one in which uh the narrative is talking about copper deficits at a time of rising and record copper prices, incre increasing capital to cost to develop projects, increasing capital intensity, and this perhaps um showed the copper sector that um there are other non-traditional ways of financing these large expansions and these large developments that uh doesn't necessarily mean stacking your balance sheet with a lot of debt.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think you touched on a couple of themes there.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we all we all know head grades continue to decline.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um doesn't mean we don't build mills, uh, we don't build new mines, but it it does mean you you've got to take the best of the lower grade assets uh and and make them economic, you need scale.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so i the next generation of copper deposits, they're gonna have to be that much bigger, which means much higher capital intensity.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: And exactly to what we were discussing earlier on.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the assets are in tougher jurisdictions, and and if you can share some of that risk, I think it makes a lot of sense.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: So as the next generation of copper assets get built out, I think the royalty and streaming industry can play a big role.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: Another indication of the uh growing strength and confidence and maturity of the sector, looking at some of your your deals, Paul, um you your investment pattern is changing or migrating just from streams and royalties.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: You're also doing packages that include debt and equities.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, pretty much a full service provision, if you like.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: What's the the strategy behind that?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: So business, I mean you you'll remember the old Franca Nevada where um mostly the business was buying third-party royalties on gold mines.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was a super good business.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh with the second generation of Franco streaming had had started, and and so we set about doing gold streams.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And as you know, uh most of those big gold streams have been on big copper assets.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's been a second growth avenue for us that's really allowed us to accelerate the growth of the company.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but much of those processes are auctions.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: So uh a couple of years ago we set our minds to say, how do we have more control over our own fate?
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we had said uh let's take an approach where we not just identify good assets and be a tranche in their financing, but find good assets and good teams.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then uh and teams that want to partner with us, Franco Novada.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh form a partnership, provide them with royalty and stream financing, uh, but also be more expansive.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if they need a debt facility, provide it.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if they need a lead order in their equity issue to give it uh an extra nudge forward, we'll do that.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: So first thing we did was with G mining.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Team, obviously, we we have known extremely well on Toca Disinu.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: We we put up much of the capital for that build.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's been a blood success.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: The as an indication that the stock is a 10-bagger since then.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they're uh one of the best mine building teams, they're on to building their second asset, Oco.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we then uh took that.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: The next team we backed was Tony Makoch.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Again, uh we've known Tony for many decades, and and when we heard that Newmark was selling the Porcupine Complex, uh we got together with Tony and said, let's work together on this.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um again, I mean that was 18 months ago, I think, the uh and his stock is up tenfold.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: The and that play is continues to get better.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, just uh when they bought it, the the assets had been typically as they are for smaller assets starved to capital.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: The their profile was producing 275,000 ounces from the whale borden and and uh underground mines in the Pamor Pit through the dome mill.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: The big potential that we all saw was the dome uh which had a mine which had operated for many years still had 10 million ounces in resource.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: The problem was they had no place to process the ore.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Tony has unlocked that.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: They bought the Kitt Creek facility from Glencore, uh adjacent cotton mine.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that Glencore is shutting down, so that unlocks dome.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: They can now process the ore from those other mines through the Kid Creek facility, frees up the dome mill, unlocks that whole 10 million ounce dome resource.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but that's not the best of it yet.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean they they uh uh just recently they've been yeah, they've been drilling across the portfolio, they've had great results.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but in particular at Pamor, they've uh had success extending the pit along strike to the east and the west.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they've also found a parallel structure.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: PAMOR, which is uh uh a few million ounces in resource at the moment, they will put out a resource report.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know if it's later this year or early next year, uh, but I think it could be as much as 10 million ounces in PAM or just in this resource report.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: And uh in chatting to Tony and the team.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: They think ultimately Pamor could be one of Canada's biggest ore deposits.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we we could be approaching 20 million ounces in time.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: So incredible story.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: We're so pleased to be part of backing them.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so we've taken that model of being a financial backer.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: We backed Patty Downey and the Orizone team by cat buying Casabarati out of Hecla.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: We've backed Richard Young and the I-80 team, recapitalizing that company so that they're in a position to move forward that suite of assets.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we we chat about the deal in Australia with Minerals 260.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh we will continue to do buy third-party royalties, we continue to participate in auctions for streams, but we already see this as a third avenue that can supercharge our growth.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Being able to participate and provide those various different types of finance again, this goes back to the growing maturity of the sector, and it talks to the great access to capital that royalty streaming companies have, and of course the the low cost of capital that you have.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um so that that's what brings us into talking about your balance sheets at the moment.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: You've got what$4.3 billion of available capital thereabouts.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um you've been increasing your your dividend payouts to shareholders, I think, for 19 consecutive years.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: So that's obviously a key element.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: How do you keep your balance sheet lean and mean?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Because presumably you want to have enough cash on hand to be able to act, respond quickly.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: You want to reward your shareholders, but um having a lot of money sitting there doing nothing is not a good idea either.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: So is the the is the strategy to you know get the capital out knowing that you can raise whatever you need whenever you need it?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, our uh what one of the most fundamental things that we always think about the industry is um i uh the the gold industry, like all commodities, is highly cyclical.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um it'll go up and it'll go down.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh while we like to forecast it, you can never be sure for what you know what is going to happen.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we have found that during the good times, building up cash uh puts you in a great position.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: If you do have a downturn, often that is when there's the most product available in the market.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: We want to make sure that that that we're able to deploy capital when the industry needs it the most.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um we we are over a billion in cash at the moment with the the equity stakes that we've had in the various plays that we mentioned have done tremendously well.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So so that is another billion of of uh liquidity that we potentially have, and then obviously we have our debt facilities.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we're actually very comfortable at these levels.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, to put it in that that deal BHP did 4 billion, a single deal could use our entire capital availability.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it is a very active market.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of deals out there.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I'm I'm absolutely certain that in the next six to twelve months we will deploy a good amount of that capital.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, interesting.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: I want to end for um talking about one of the other aspects that differentiates Franco Navarro, and that's the fact that you've got uh energy and oil-linked uh royalty exposure, which uh most of your competitors or other companies in the space do not have.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, this year we've seen oil prices spiking over 100 US dollars per barrel because of the conflict in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: What uh potential impacts will that have on your sort of financial performance this year?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's gonna be a great boost, uh absolutely, and we'll we'll have to see.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know when I don't know when the war will be resolved and and uh whether oil prices will continue uh at this level.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: But it is a boom, it's exactly the reason that you own these assets.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know what we learn from investing in in the gold sector is invest in great resources um because the industry will always return to those resources, will always invest in those resources through the cycles, and inevitably they will extract more ore, more resource from them, and uh, and so you'll do well over time.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so that plays out exactly in the oil industry as it does in the in the gold industry.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: We've always said to our investors, we're in this to make money.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so give us a bit of flexibility.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, most of the capital will go into gold, but give us up to 20% of latitude that we can invest in other commodities.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when you get an entry point and a great resource, and we can take advantage of it.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: We love to do that exactly so that we can participate in these uh when you do have a spike in prices.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we have, you know, other the precious metals, which is principally gold, silver, uh platinum, palladium, uh, we've got oil, we've got a bit of gas, we've got some iron ore, we've got uh quite a lot of copper on a long-dated basis in the portfolio.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: We've got an option on potash, and uh we think ultimately uh having a little more latitude in terms of the commodities that we invest in allows us to provide a greater return on capital to investors, and that has worked super well for us over time.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, well, it's been a fascinating conversation.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: Paul Brink, thank you very much for joining me today.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Paul, always a pleasure.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: We have a lot more to come from the 2026 Mining Forum Americas here in Colorado Springs, so stay tuned and hit that subscribe button.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Paul Harris, and this is Kitco Mining.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: KitCo Mining on site coverage of Mining Forum Americas is presented by Metalla Royalty and streaming.