TSX- and NYSE-listed Triple Flag Precious Metals has declared a dividend of $0.05 a share to be paid on December 15, and highlights that its business continued its strong performance in the third quarter of 2023, with the company on track to deliver its full-year gold-equivalent ounce (GEO) sales guidance of 100 000 oz to 115 000 oz.
This is notwithstanding the Renard diamond mine entering care and maintenance in the fourth quarter of the year.
Triple Flag’s average yearly sales outlook from 2024 to 2028 of over 140 000 GEOs also remains unchanged.
“Triple Flag maintained a solid pace of accretive acquisitions during the quarter, with an incremental 2.65% royalty acquired at the producing Stawell gold mine, in Australia, which follows the acquisition of the Agbaou royalty during the second quarter and the Maverix transaction completed earlier this year.
“This brings the total value of transactions closed during this year to nearly $700-million. Sustainability is also core to our identity and subsequent to quarter-end, we achieved a year-over-year improvement in our Sustainalytics’ environmental, social and governance risk rating, and now rank third out of 117 companies in the global precious metals sector,” says CEO Shaun Usmar.
On September 25, Triple Flag acquired an additional 2.65% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on the Stawell mine from Stawell Gold Mine, the owner and operator, for $16.6-million in cash.
This is in addition to the pre-existing 1% NSR royalty on gold that Triple Flag already held. Both royalties cover future production at the Stawell gold mine in Australia.
Stawell has a long history of reserve replacement and has been in operation since 1981, with a mill refurbishment completed in 2019. Stawell is expected to have at least a ten-year mine life, with yearly gold production forecasted to ramp up to about 70 000 oz in the long term (from about 50 000 oz currently), Triple Flag outlines.
A surface and underground exploration programme focused on resource expansion and definition is ongoing.
At Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat), in South Africa (70% gold stream), sales from the period were 1 632 GEOs.
The acquisition of RBPlat by Impala Platinum was completed during the quarter, combining two contiguous operations on the western limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex.