Wheaton Precious Metals Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 6, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Wheaton reported record performance for the first nine months of 2026. Third-quarter production rose 13% year over year to 231,000 gold-equivalent ounces, while revenue increased 62% to $772 million and operating cash flow reached approximately $645 million.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company maintained its 2026 production guidance of 860,000–940,000 GEOs, saying it remains on track after producing about 640,000 GEOs year to date. Management expects a stronger fourth quarter, led by higher grades at Salobo, though Koné and Kurmuk contributions are not included in its Q4 forecast.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management cited progress across its growth pipeline, including first gold at Koné, production starting at Kurmuk, and construction approvals for Copper World and Jervois. Wheaton reiterated its target of 1.2 million GEOs annually by 2030, which it says is supported by its existing portfolio.
  • Positive Sentiment: Strong cash generation reduced net debt from about $1.9 billion to $1.5 billion during the quarter; Wheaton also reported approximately $3 billion of total liquidity. Management expects to return to a net cash position in late 2027 or early 2028 while retaining capacity for additional streaming deals.
  • Negative Sentiment: Management expects silver production at Peñasquito to decline significantly, including into 2027, and Antamina production is scheduled to be slightly lower next year. The company said these changes are already reflected in its production outlook.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Wheaton Precious Metals Q3 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 14 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Wheaton Precious Metals' 2026 third quarter results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number 1 on your telephone keypad or type your question in the Q&A box of the webinar. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded on Friday, November 6, 2026, at 11:00 A.M. Eastern Time. I will now turn the conference over to Emma Murray, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Julianne. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for participating in today's call. I am joined today by Haytham Hodaly, Wheaton Precious Metals President and Chief Executive Officer, Vincent Lau, Chief Financial Officer, Wes Carson, Vice President of Mining Operations, and Neil Burns, Vice President of Corporate Development. Please note, for those not currently on the webcast, a slide presentation accompanying this conference call is available in PDF format on the presentations page of our website. Some of the comments on today's call may include forward-looking statements. Please refer to slide two for important cautionary information and disclosure. It should be noted that all figures referred to on today's call are in USD unless otherwise noted. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Haytham Hodaly, Wheaton's President and Chief Executive Officer.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Emma, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss Wheaton's third quarter results of 2026. Wheaton's momentum continued in the third quarter, supporting a record-breaking first nine months for the company. Year to date, we have delivered record production, sales volumes, revenue, earnings, and operating cash flow. Our portfolio of long-life, low-cost assets produced 231,000 gold equivalent ounces in the third quarter, led by our operating assets, including Salobo, Antamina, and Peñasquito, together with the continued ramp-up of our development assets, keeping us firmly on track to achieve our 2026 production guidance range. Our corporate development team continues to evaluate a robust pipeline of opportunities while maintaining the discipline to pursue only the most accretive transactions.

Speaker 2

At the same time, the quarter was exceptionally active across our portfolio, with a series of catalysts that further de-risk our growth pipeline and mark meaningful progress towards future growth. Vale Base Metals announced plans to implement a coarse particle flotation circuit at Salobo, an investment that is expected to add 6 million tons to Salobo's annual ore processing capacity, and one that underscores Vale's long-term commitment to the operation. In Côte d'Ivoire, Montage Gold achieved first gold pour at its Koné project, and in Ethiopia, Allied Gold has begun production at its Kurmuk mine, marking the transition of two key development assets into production. This week, B2Gold announced that they have completed phase 1 upgrades to the fixed crushing circuit at the Goose project in Nunavut.

Speaker 2

We also received our first deliveries related to Ivanhoe's Platreef project in South Africa, an important step as that project continues to ramp up. Furthermore, Hudbay approved construction at the Copper World project in Arizona, a significant milestone as this long-life asset advances towards production. In Australia, KGL Resources approved a final investment decision for its Jervois project. Collectively, these catalysts reinforce our confidence in Wheaton's sector-leading organic growth profile of 50% by 2030. That growth is already embedded in our existing portfolio and is not reliant on future transactions. Our balance sheet remains strong, with approximately $3 billion in total liquidity between cash on hand and our revolving credit facility as of September 30th. Together with our robust forecasted operating cash flows, we believe this provides ample flexibility to fund all outstanding commitments and pursue new accretive streaming opportunities. Importantly, we remain disciplined in employing that capital.

Speaker 2

Our corporate development team continues to see healthy demand for streaming, with a focus on high-quality opportunities that are structured to enhance our existing portfolio and further strengthen our growth profile. At our investor day held during the quarter, we highlighted what we call the Wheaton difference, showcasing how our focus on high-quality assets, superior structuring, and strong partnerships underpins our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Turning to sustainability, innovation remains critical to advancing more efficient and sustainable mining practices. We have been encouraged by the submissions to our third annual Future of Mining Challenge, which is focused on mine optimization and reducing land impacts. Three finalists are expected to be announced in February, and the winner selected in March 2027. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Wes Carson, our Vice President of Mining Operations, who will provide more detail on our operating results.

Speaker 2

Wes?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Haytham. Good morning, everyone. Overall production in the third quarter was 231,000 gold equivalent ounces, a 13% year-over-year increase, primarily driven by the addition of the BHP Antamina stream, together with new production from Hemlo, Fenix, Platreef, and Mineral Park. In Q3, Salobo produced 65,800 ounces of attributable gold, a decrease of approximately 2% relative to Q3 2025, primarily the result of lower grades due to mine sequencing, partially offset by higher recoveries and throughput. As Haytham mentioned during the quarter, Vale Base Metals reported that coarse particle flotation is expected to be the key near-term growth driver at Salobo, supporting Salobo 3's expansion from 12 million to 18 million tons per annum and targeting total throughput for the operation of 42 million tons per annum by 2029. In Q3, Antamina produced 2.7 million ounces of attributable silver, an increase of approximately 60% relative to Q3 2025.

Speaker 3

The increase was primarily driven by the newly acquired BHP Antamina stream, which increased the company's share of silver production in Antamina from 33.75% to 67.5% effective April 1st, 2026. The increased production share was partially offset by lower silver grades, which were attributable to pit sequencing with a greater portion of copper-only ore processed during the quarter relative to bornite rich ore, which contains more silver. On September 26th, 2026, Montage Gold reported that it achieved first gold pour at its Koné mine on budget and ahead of schedule. Montage reported that the oxide circuit is expected to reach commercial production in Q4 2026, while construction of the hard rock comminution circuit remains on budget and on track for completion in Q2 of 2027.

Speaker 3

Several development projects continued to ramp up in Q3 2026, including Mineral Park, Fenix, and Platreef, with commercial production at both Fenix and Platreef expected in Q4 of 2026. At Kurmuk, Allied Gold reported that ore had been introduced into the processing plant, and the mine is now in production, ramping up into the end of the year, with commercial production expected before year-end. We also saw significant de-risking across the rest of our development pipeline. At Copper World, Hudbay and Mitsubishi announced the results of the definitive feasibility study and formally approved the final investment decision to proceed with construction, with first targeted production in the second half of 2029. In Australia, the KGL Resources Board approved the final investment decision for the Jervois project, which is fully funded, with first concentrate production targeted for the first half of 2028.

Speaker 3

At Marathon, Generation Mining commenced construction following the earlier announcement that it had secured final funding, with early works expected to run through Q4 2026 and into 2027. With Koné and Kurmuk now transitioning into production, Jervois targeted for the first production in 2028, and Copper World for the second half of 2029, these catalysts are expected to continue to de-risk the development pipeline that underpins our industry-leading growth profile. Wheaton's production outlook for 2026 remains unchanged, with strong year-to-date production of approximately 640,000 GEOs. We remain well-positioned to achieve our annual production guidance of 860,000-940,000 GEOs and maintain a strong production forecast across the portfolio for the fourth quarter. Looking ahead, we expect annual production to grow at an industry-leading rate, reaching 1.2 million GEOs by 2030, with average annual production forecast to remain at approximately 1.2 million GEOs from 2031 to 2035.

Speaker 3

That concludes the operations overview, and with that, I'll turn the call over to Vince.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Wes. Production in the third quarter was 231,000 GEOs, a 13% increase year-over-year, driven primarily by the addition of the BHP Antamina stream and continued contributions from newly operating assets, including Hemlo, Fenix, Platreef, and Mineral Park. Sales volumes were 192,000 GEOs, a 19% increase from the prior year. At the end of the third quarter, the produced but not yet delivered, or PBND balance, was estimated to be 179,000 GEOs, representing 2.6 months of payable production. This represents an increase from the prior quarter due primarily to the timing differences between production and sales. Looking ahead, we expect increased production in the fourth quarter to result in a slightly higher PBND balance, with higher sales volumes expected in the first quarter of 2027 due to the timing differences between production and sales.

Speaker 4

Strong commodity prices together with higher sales volumes generated quarterly revenue of $772 million, an increase of 62% compared to the prior year. This increase was driven by a 36% increase in the average realized gold equivalent price, combined with a 19% increase in the GEOs sold. Of this revenue, 51% was attributable to gold, 46% to silver, and the remainder to palladium and cobalt. Net earnings increased by 12% from the prior year to $410 million, while adjusted net earnings increased by 46% to $410 million, resulting in year-to-date records across revenue, net earnings, and operating cash flows. These results highlight the strength of our asset base and the ability of the streaming model to translate higher commodity prices into significant cash flow.

Speaker 4

During the quarter, we generated approximately $645 million in operating cash flow and made approximately $87 million in upfront payments related to El Domo and Marmato. We also made a quarterly dividend payment of approximately $88 million and repaid $372 million under our revolving credit facility. As a result, net debt declined from approximately $1.9 billion at the end of the second quarter to approximately $1.5 billion at the end of the third quarter, demonstrating the strength of our cash generation and our capacity to rapidly repay debt. At September 30, we had approximately $146 million in cash on hand, $1.6 billion of debt outstanding under our term loan and revolving credit facility. With our revolver nearly repaid, we intend to maintain the term loan to preserve liquidity for potential near-term opportunities while retaining significant flexibility to fund our existing commitments.

Speaker 4

Given the strength of our production outlook and high-margin business model, we expect to continue to reduce our net debt and return to a net cash position in the near term, while remaining well-positioned to pursue additional accretive stream acquisitions. This concludes the financial summary. I'll now hand things back over to Heath.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Vincent. In summary, Wheaton's strong momentum continued through the third quarter, contributing to a record-setting first nine months. Year-to-date, we achieved records across productions and sales volumes, revenues, earnings, and operating cash flow, reflecting the quality and strength of our portfolio. Our growth pipeline delivered on multiple fronts with first gold pour at Koné, the start of production at Kurmuk, the construction of Copper World, FID approval at Jervois, and the planned implementation of a coarse particle flotation circuit at Salobo, which represent just a few of the catalysts we see in our growth profile. Our balance sheet remains strong, providing the flexibility to fund all of our commitments while pursuing well-structured, accretive opportunities.

Speaker 2

As the pioneers of the streaming model, we continue to believe Wheaton offers one of the most effective ways to gain exposure to gold and silver, with a growing dividend and a sector-leading growth profile. With that, I would now like to open up the call for questions. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now conduct the Q&A session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. There will be a brief pause while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Fahad Tariq from Jefferies. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Speaker 5

Hi, thanks for taking my question. Just on the gold guidance for the year, I think if I do the math right, it implies a pretty significant pickup in the fourth quarter. Can you maybe touch on the contributing factors to that, and specifically on Salobo and what you're expecting on gold grades there? Thanks.

Speaker 3

Yeah, thanks for the question, Fahad. So, really, it is Salobo that is the main driver of the improvement in the fourth quarter. Really what we're looking at there is just getting back into kind of the bottom of the pit. We did see in the third quarter a slight drop in grades at Salobo, really as they were forced to do this from operational issues to move into phase 5 of the pit, which is a little bit lower grade. That means really the fourth quarter here, we should see quite a significant grade improvement and expect a strong Salobo. All the other assets are actually setting up pretty well for this fourth quarter as well. So I think really we're expecting a strong gold fourth quarter.

Speaker 5

Okay. Just to follow up, is there any expected contribution from Koné or Kurmuk in the fourth quarter, or is there going to be a more significant lag and that will be something more in the first quarter of next year? Thanks.

Speaker 3

We may see some very small production from both those assets in the fourth quarter, but it is not currently in our forecast. If we do see some, it will be fairly small.

Speaker 5

Okay. That is it for me. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Brian MacArthur from Raymond James. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Speaker 6

Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. It just has to do with the restructuring of the Salobo PMPA. The $40 million gets paid in installments, and you mentioned that will be up and running by 2029. Do you make any $8 million payments in that time period, or is that all post-2029? I can think of these as two $20 million payments before 2029, and then take all the eights out after. Is that how this works?

Speaker 3

Yeah, thanks for the question, Brian. Really, when we did the deal on the coarse particle flotation, we actually removed those $8 million payments. That was to do with the high-grade option. There are now just the two $20 million payments, one at about 50% completion and one at completion of the CPF project.

Speaker 6

Perfect, thanks. Is there any option or anything if they decide to do what I would call Salobo 4 now, as a result of this restructuring? If that comes up, do you just go back and set a new deal?

Speaker 2

Well, Salobo 4, I mean, we would love to see Salobo 4 happen, Brian, I would say. That being said, there is no current plan to move forward with that, but they are always looking for ways to continue to grow that production. When you have got decades of reserve life, you are always trying to figure out a way to accelerate that production. If there was Although there is no requirement in our contract to do so, if it made it more economic for us to help, it was always something we would consider.

Speaker 6

Great. Thanks very much. That's very helpful.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Brian.

Operator

Our next question comes from Cosmos Chiu from CIBC. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Speaker 7

Thanks, Heath and team. Maybe to follow on the Vale, the coarse particle, the construction here. The $40 million, as you mentioned, is in lieu of the $80 million that would have been paid on the high-grade proposal that under the previous agreement. But I guess my question is, you've kind of quantified the coarse particle processing, the additional 6 million tons. How does that compare to what the benefit would have been with a high grade? Is it about half? Is that why you're paying half, $40 million versus what would have been paid, $80 million under the high-grade proposal?

Speaker 3

Thanks for the question, Cosmos. I would not look at it in that way, really. I mean, the high-grade payment was really almost like an artifact of kind of what the original deal was when we negotiated Salobo 3, and when we made the changes to that. That high-grade plan is something that really has changed quite a bit and is really integrated into the current planning with the significant increase in throughput. Really the way you can look at it is they are actually feeding more material through, which means that you are getting significantly more metal. It does not change, I would say, the way that you would look at it between those two plans. The $40 million really was calculated based on what the capital was to build that project and the benefit that Wheaton was going to see out of it.

Speaker 3

That is really how we came up with that number. Those two numbers are not directly correlated.

Speaker 4

You know what? The $40 million, the payback period of that to us, it is like a year and a half. So it makes complete sense to be aligned on that and get that benefit together with Vale.

Speaker 7

Great. Yeah, I like how you mentioned that it is an artifact, because I remember it being signed, so that would make me an artifact too. It is great to see that you have maintained your long-term guidance, 1.2 million GEOs. But I guess my question is, that is based on a gold-silver ratio of 60 to 1. We are not really at 60 to one at the moment. Maybe it is too early to ask, but have you thought about what ratio you could be using when you put out your new five-year guidance, and could that change the 1.2 million?

Speaker 2

So, yeah, it's a little bit early. Usually, we reassess that at the end of the year when we see how things are going early next year. We are optimistic on the outlook for both gold and silver, and we do think silver will have a better recovery. I will say that we're fairly comfortable with the 1.2, but it does vary based on what that ratio is. We do have at least another three or four different development projects in the pipeline over the next five to six years that are also kicking in, whether it's Generation Mining and their Marathon project, whether it's the Jervois project, whether it's the Cangrejos project that CMOC's putting together. There's a lot of additional growth that's not already in that number, so we would hope to be able to at least maintain that number going forward.

Speaker 2

But again, it all depends on where that ratio ends up.

Speaker 7

Great. Then maybe one last question. Looking wider, we're seeing some buy-downs at not so much Wheaton Precious Metals, but at some of your competitors, Great Bear or Côté last night. Could you remind me, Haytham, if there's any potential buy-downs near term within your portfolio?

Speaker 2

Cosmos, that's a great question. The reason I'll say that is because one of the things we've always resisted is having buy-downs. The only time we provide buy-downs is in the event of a change of control, because a lot of the projects that we have actually funded, the development state projects, they're always looking for ways to either build value and sell the asset or continue to grow. What we've found and what we provide is only a one-third buy-down in the event of a change of control for a limited period of time. We don't, at this point, see anything that is going to kick in here in the next few years that's going to activate that. So, we're pretty comfortable with our portfolio as it stands.

Speaker 7

That's great to hear, Haytham, and thanks for answering all my questions. That's all I have. Have a great weekend.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Thank you, Cosmos. You too.

Operator

Our next question comes from Daniel Major from UBS. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

Hi, Haytham and team. Thanks very much for the questions. First, operational question. Newmont indicated on their call they expected a sharp reduction in silver production in Q4, but then also at a group level, about a 30% reduction in silver production in 2027, which essentially implies lower output from Peñasquito. Can you give us a steer on how you're seeing that profile specifically at Peñasquito Q4 and directionally into next year? The second question just on that in terms of the sales profile, both Peñasquito and Salobo have seen pretty sizable build, sort of, well, delta between sales and production. Is that going to unwind in Q4?

Speaker 3

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Dan. Both of those items on Peñasquito are integrated into our current plans. We are expecting to see a fairly significant decrease in silver production at Peñasquito. Really, that just ties into the way the pit production is set up, and into next year as well, where they're starting to feed some of those carbon-rich stockpiles in. They've got a fairly significant amount of that that's in the plan next year as they continue on with stripping in the Peñasquito pit. Both of those are currently integrated into the production profiles for this year and next.

Speaker 4

On the PBND, we're currently sitting at about 2.6 months as a whole, as a portfolio. That's kind of on the lower end of the range. As I said earlier, we do expect a slight increase going into Q4, just with the higher production coming from Salobo. Not a material increase, but a slight increase to our overall PBND balance heading into year-end.

Speaker 8

Okay. We shouldn't see a significant unwind. Yeah, slight build. Okay. That's clear. On Antamina, yeah, I mean, it feels like underlying production's lagged a little bit behind expectations this year. Can you give us a steer on whether you'd expect that to benefit where you're previously thinking on 2027, and directionally, yeah, how should we be thinking about Antamina, your share of silver into next year?

Speaker 3

Yeah. I would say for this year, in Q3, we actually saw quite a significant improvement as they began to get into some of that more bornite rich ore. There was quite an uptick actually in Q3 on that, and we expect that to continue into Q4 here with really kind of strong production into Q4. There is a fair bit of that material that's in and around that old in-pit crusher that they're starting to take out, and that is what we're starting to see come out, and that carries into certainly well into next year and into the early part of 2028 as well.

Speaker 8

Okay. Directionally, on 100, like adjusting for the- stripping out the change in ownership, you would expect to sequentially higher production from Antamina in 2027 versus 2026?

Speaker 2

No, it is actually scheduled to be a little bit less, but it is not materially less. Yeah.

Speaker 8

Okay. Broadly similar. Okay. All right, thanks. Yeah, that is it for me.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Ben.

Operator

Our next question comes from Derick Ma from TD Cowen. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Speaker 9

Yeah, just want to add on a couple questions that have already been asked. On Salobo, are we expecting higher grades from Q4 to flow into 2027 as well? Or how should we be thinking about the grades?

Speaker 3

In Q4, we're certainly expecting those higher grades. For 2027, it's a reasonably similar year. I mean, we'll, yeah, and we'll put that in kind of as we look into the budget for next year. But it is a reasonably similar year next year to what we saw this year overall.

Speaker 9

Similar to 2026 overall, not Q4?

Speaker 3

Yes. Yes.

Speaker 9

Okay.

Speaker 3

Similar to 2026. Yeah.

Speaker 9

Yeah. In terms of the approximate timing lag between production and sales, what does that look like specifically at Salobo and Peñasquito? Remind us.

Speaker 3

Both are about two months, is kind of that. That's generally your lag, and that's fairly consistent with most assets that have the concentrates that they're pulling.

Speaker 9

Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Derek.

Operator

Our next question comes from Harrison Reynolds from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Speaker 10

Hi, good morning, Wheaton team, and thanks for taking my questions, and appreciate the detail provided so far. Good to see a number of operator updates across the portfolio. I wanted to follow up on the long-term guide of 1.2 million GEOs, and setting aside the commodity price ratios, and just get a reminder of what's currently embedded in that guidance from an ops standpoint. I look at the Salobo coarse particle flotation and some of these other aggregate upsides between Constancia mill expansions and Toroparu advancing to a construction decision. What other op items lay outside the guidance?

Speaker 2

Sure. I mean, just to highlight what's in the guidance, I mean, we've talked a lot about that, whether it's the ramp-ups at Platreef, Fenix, Mineral Park, Koné, Kurmuk, El Domo, Copper World, the now made FID decision, small amount of production from Spring Valley and Santo Domingo. What we haven't really factored in is significant contributions from some of the other development projects, such as the Cangrejos, Two Voice, that hasn't been factored into our analysis yet, and Marathon, which just recently announced a FID decision as well. That's just to mention a few. There's probably about three others or four others that I can continue to get into. It's probably best if you want a little bit more color on that, maybe just give Emma a call after, and she can go through the numbers with you.

Speaker 10

Got it. Thanks. Just as a follow-up, as you work through the remaining committed payments here and deleveraging, at what point does the balance sheet open up for the next large-scale transaction from where you sit today?

Speaker 2

Sure. I'll let Vincent answer that, but I will say one thing. We do have currently $3 billion in capacity. So, the balance sheet's always open for us, but I'll let Vincent talk a little bit more about our debt.

Speaker 4

Yeah, we don't feel at all constrained currently, given the opportunity set. As Haytham has laid out, we have a lot of liquidity. Our revolver is almost fully repaid at the end of Q3, so $2.5 billion is immediately available, and then we have a $500 million accordion on top of that. As we continue to generate significant cash flow, we do expect to be back in the net cash position towards the end of next year, early 2028. So, lots of capacity and growing going forward.

Speaker 2

By the end of next year, we will have over $4 billion in capacity and growing every month. I am very excited about the way things are going, and we are a growth company, so we are going to continue to try and deploy a lot of the capital we generate back into high-quality accretive stream transactions.

Speaker 10

Great. Sounds good. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Harrison.

Operator

Our next question comes from Martin Pradier from Veritas Investment Research. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Speaker 2

Hi, Martin.

Speaker 11

Hello. Hi. Hi.

Speaker 2

Yes, hi, Martin. Go ahead.

Speaker 11

Yes, sorry. In terms of Vale, could you explain to us how much you expect from that in terms of payments to Wheaton Precious Metals in 2029 and 2030?

Speaker 2

Are you asking for what the relative level of contribution will be from Salobo? Is that your specific question?

Speaker 11

Yeah, from the incremental, right? From this new particle flotation. Is that expected to increase 40,000-45,000 ounces, or how many ounces? That's what I'm looking for.

Speaker 2

No, I think what we've stated in the past is we do expect a portion of that's already factored into the overall numbers. What we would expect to see from Salobo going forward is a number somewhere around 300,000 ounces on a more consistent basis for the next few years.

Speaker 11

Okay, so it's sort of offsetting the depletion and the lower grade, but not really increasing production?

Speaker 2

It increases by around 5%, but it's not a huge number.

Speaker 11

Okay. The other question I had is, in Kurmuk, what do you expect in terms of payments in 2027 and 2028? The same for Koné.

Speaker 2

For Kurmuk, we're expecting probably under 10,000 ounces in Kurmuk for 2027, and somewhere probably 50% higher than that in 2028. That will continue to grow over the next few years after that as well. That's, keep in mind, that's based on their existing mine plan of 6 million tons per annum. They're already talking about going to 6.4 million tons per annum, and that's not factored into those numbers.

Speaker 11

Great.

Speaker 2

On Koné, we're expecting, well, that's where Koné's actually very interesting, because they initially, when we first entered into this stream transaction, we thought we were going to get somewhere close to 300,000 ounces a year for five years, then it was going to drop off. With the stream transaction and the financing, we provided them the ability to go out and drill and add additional ounces, and they've found additional higher-grade material. Now they're talking about at least 350,000 ounces to their account for at least 10 years, and could potentially grow even more. So you can back-calculate what we would think our production will be out of Koné over the next couple years as they ramp up.

Speaker 11

Yeah. I was trying to understand the ramp-up 2026, 2027, 2028.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I think if you factored in 50 plus thousand ounces in 2027 and 60 plus thousand ounces in 2028, and growing after that at a similar rate for at least another year.

Speaker 11

Okay. Thank you. That's very helpful.

Speaker 2

You're welcome. Thanks, Martin.

Operator

Our next question comes from Lawson Winder. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 12

Thank you very much, operator. Good morning, Hussam and team. Thank you for today's update and taking the questions. Could I just touch on the deal pipeline? Just one thing I wanted to understand a little bit better. When you look at the potential transactions, how would you describe the urgency of some of those in the current pipeline? Then maybe if you could just touch on some additional color on the depth of the pipeline, and then just the range of sizes in the pipeline.

Speaker 2

I'll pass it over to Neil.

Speaker 13

Yeah, sure. Thanks for the question. As Hussam mentioned, the team's been extremely busy. As we mentioned in the last call, we had about 20 opportunities in the pipeline at that time. We've narrowed that down to just over a dozen, because upon detailed review, many didn't meet our criteria for investment. The weighting currently is still towards development projects and gold streams. Range in value has increased slightly. Before, we stated it was roughly $200 million-$500 million. It's about $300 million-$600 million, so very similar, slight increase. As I said, most are development type of opportunities.

Speaker 2

And in terms of your question re urgency, I mean, everybody's looking for ways to unlock value. I think the transaction we did earlier in this year with BHP, a lot of the larger diversifiers are looking through their portfolios to see if there's some value they can extract. That being said, that takes time. It took us a while to get BHP across the line, and it takes time for others to understand how the streaming model works and how the actual mechanism works in terms of the credit process, et cetera. I will say that from an opportunity perspective, we are seeing some existing operations who are trying to unlock immediate value, but the majority of the ones that we're focusing on are the larger development stage opportunities at this point.

Speaker 12

Okay, that's very helpful. Your comments on your capacity to add $3 billion of additional debt to effectively consummate larger transactions, it's definitely helpful, but I mean, it still strikes me as exceedingly conservative. So like rough numbers, that's still below 1.5 times trailing net leverage on today's numbers, on today's trailing EBITDA. So think about it another way, like from a net leverage point of view, how would you think about the capacity of your business to take additional debt?

Speaker 4

Yeah, we very much view our business as a utility almost. We have good certainty on what the production is. The unknown is what the gold and silver price is. But what we do know, it is a very high margin, high quality cash flowing business. So on that basis, we can support some debt. And to your point, with even an additional $3 billion, we're only going to be at 1.5 times leverage, and that's a level that we're comfortable with. Beyond that, we haven't really need to look. There isn't a pipeline that's larger than that. But it just gives you a sense of the capacity we do have and the ability to fund deals internally with our own cash flows.

Speaker 12

Yeah, it's a great point.

Speaker 2

We are also adding a couple hundred plus dollars a month in free cash flow. As Vincent said, we feel very comfortable at the levels that he mentioned there.

Speaker 12

Yeah. No, absolutely. You bring up a good point about the volatility of the underlying metal. I think it is an important consideration. Are you saying like 1.5 is the maximum you think you would go? Or, I mean, personally, I think the business could take a much higher sort of like moment in time leverage ratio, given that it would be paid down over a quick period of time. But, I mean, is that what you are saying? Like 1.5 is kind of the max that you would be comfortable with?

Speaker 4

I think it is dependent on the environment and the situation we are in. There is no hard number that we look at. It is a variety of factors. But I would just say 1.5 at current spot price is something we are very comfortable with.

Speaker 12

Okay. That is very clear. Then, similar question on just capital allocation. Your indicated dividend yield is something like 60 basis points right now. It is relatively low, and I mean, that is a clear reflection of your success. On the other hand, your success would suggest an ability to very substantially increase the dividend from the current levels. Any thoughts on that, particularly going into early 2027 when the board will be meeting to consider the next dividend increase?

Speaker 2

Yeah, no, it's a great question, and we have increased the dividend three times in the last three years. It is a progressive dividend. The most recent increase was over 18%. You're right, we do have the capacity to increase it, and we'll leave that to our discussions with the board in the early new year. I will say that we are a growth company, and the number one thing for us to do is to continue to redeploy capital into accretive transactions to maintain that longer-term growth. You're not wrong in that the streamers in general don't pay out huge dividends because there's so many opportunities. We are going to be generating strong cash flows as something we'll have to take into consideration.

Speaker 12

Okay. Then just finally, if I could ask on 2027, and thinking about the growth. I mean, across your portfolio, you have Koné, Kurmuk, Platreef, they're now producing, and then Blackwater, Marmato's ramping up. I mean, and dare I say, Goose is, that ramp-up is looking to get sorted out in 2027. So everything points to a lot of growth potential. Are there any assets that you'd highlight where you'd expect some sort of substantial decline that maybe we're not thinking about that could offset what otherwise might be quite strong growth into 2027?

Speaker 2

I would say looking at our existing production profile, if there's any drops like we're expecting to see, as Wes mentioned earlier on Peñasquito, that will drop a little bit. All that is already built into our profile. Antamina as well, potentially there may be a slight drop there. I think if you're looking at what we're guiding to, all those drops are built into our profile. We do get five-year production profiles from all our existing partners, sometimes 10 years, and we factor those in with our own, obviously, adjustments based on what we think is actually going to happen there. So, we're pretty comfortable with the guidance that we've given you guys in terms of our profile.

Speaker 12

Okay, sure. Thank you guys very much. Good quarter.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Lawson. Appreciate it. Thank you, everyone, for your time today. Our record performance through the first nine months of 2026 reinforces Wheaton's position as a premier low-risk option for exposure to gold and silver. Supported by a strong financial position, a disciplined approach to capital allocation, a portfolio of high-quality assets, and increasing visibility through our next phase of growth, we are confident in Wheaton's outlook and our ability to deliver meaningful production growth over the coming years. We thank all of our stakeholders for their continued support as we work to close out another strong year and look ahead, building on this momentum in 2027 and the years to come. We look forward to speaking with you all again soon. Thank you, and have a great weekend.

Operator

This concludes this conference call for today. Thank you for participating. Please disconnect your lines.

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