December was by and large a positive month for mining royalty and streaming companies, with the average share price of a mining royalty company up by 15%, a great result for what is normally a slow month.
The rebounding of the gold price from US$1,811/oz at the start of the month to US$1,932/oz at the end of the month was largely responsible for the Santa Rally.
Nova Royalty (CVE: NOVR) was once again the star of the show, rising a breathtaking 113.1% during the month. The company is now 198% up on its initial public offering (IPO) price just three months ago, and early investors must be ecstatic with what’s been an incredible market debut.
The big driver for Nova during December was First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (TSX: FM) producing a maiden mineral reserve estimate of 7.7 million tonnes of copper and an updated measured & indicated resource of 9.45 million tonnes of copper at its Taca Taca project in Argentina. Nova holds a 0.24% net smelter return royalty on future copper-gold-molybdenum production on the entire mining plan at Taca Taca. The initial mine life is expected to be 32 years at the project, demonstrating the longevity of Nova’s royalty.
Metalla Royalty & Streaming Ltd (CNSX:MTA) was the second-best performer of the month up 42% (↑66.1% 3-months) following the closure of its acquisition of a portfolio of royalties in Nevada and its inclusion to the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ).
Vox Royalty (CVE:VOX) (↑4.5% 3-months) and Trident Royalties (LON:TRR) (↑35.0% 3-months) both also performed strongly up 27%, each. Vox’s victory in the arbitration case related to its Graphmada royalty and the completion of the acquisition of the royalty over a portion of Bushveld Minerals Limited’s (LSE: BMN) Brits Vanadium Project drove its shares higher. While Trident entered into a binding agreement to acquire a portfolio of three existing royalties over the Pukaqaqa Copper Project, which is majority-owned and operated by Nexa Resources (NYSE:NEXA).
The worst performers this month were Abitibi Royalties Inc. (CVE: RZZ-OTC: ATBYF-OTC) (↓16.7% 1-months & ↓22.7% 3-months), Nomad Royalty Company Ltd (TSE:NSR) (↓6.7% 1-months & ↓10.7% 3-months) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (TSX:FNV) (↓5.8% 1-months & ↓11.3% 3-months).
Abitibi traded lower despite a 20% increase in dividend payments to C$0.18 per year. Likely the yield of 0.88% isn’t enough to peak the interest of cashflow seeking investors and the decrease in the company’s cash balance may be misinterpreted as a lack of ambition by growth-seeking investors.
Nomad traded down after Yamana Gold Inc (LON:AUY)(TSE:YRI) reduced its holding in Nomad by around 4% from 66.5m shares to 43.75m shares. While the slip in Franco-Nevada’s share price is largely attributable to increased negative sentiment towards the company.
Next month will see the first month of trading of the newest royalty company to the market, Empress Royalty Corp. (CVE: EMPR). Empress is a precious metal focused royalty and streaming company with a portfolio of 14 royalties. The company focuses on development and production stage projects and has strategic relationships with Endeavour Financial, Terra Capital and Accendo Banco, which allow Empress to access global investment opportunities and unique mining finance expertise.