Precious metals streaming is a term for when a company makes an agreement with a mining company to purchase all or part of their precious metals production at a predetermined discounted price to which both parties agree. In return, streaming companies provide upfront financing for mining companies looking for capital. The precious metals defined by the agreement are usually a by-product of what the mining company's business is based on, typically

base metal A base metal is a common and inexpensive metal, as opposed to a precious metal such as gold or silver. In numismatics, coins often derived their value from the precious metal content; however, base metals have also been used in coins in the past ...

s such as copper. The first known example of precious metals streaming was in 1987, relating to gold at the

Goldstrike mine Goldstrike is a gold mine in Eureka County in north-eastern Nevada. It is located on the Carlin Trend, a prolific gold mining district. It is owned and operated by Barrick Gold. Since Barrick acquired Goldstrike in 1986, until 2018 it produced ...

. Wheaton Precious Metals,

Franco-Nevada Franco-Nevada Corporation is a Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based, gold-focused royalty and streaming company with a diversified portfolio of cash-flow producing assets. It is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. The ''O ...

Royal Gold Royal Gold is one of the world's leading precious metals streaming and royalty companies engaged in the acquisition and management of precious metal streams, royalties and similar production-based interests. Royal Gold owns a large portfolio of pr ...

, Osisko Mining and Sandstorm Gold are the largest precious metals streaming companies. These streaming companies have no control over the mines that produce these materials, meaning that when production falls short of expectations or is affected by political instability, the streaming companies must incur the losses themselves. On the other hand, their investment is limited and the operation of a mine as well as its cost are the responsibility of the corresponding mining company. Earnings of the streaming companies are based on the market price of the minerals.

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Gold mining Silver mining {{Business-stub