Top 5 gold and silver royalty companies

The biggest companies in the precious metals royalty and streaming space have long histories and have built positive reputations on the backs of strong investments. They offer a means for investors to de-risk an entry into the gold sector by maintaining an arms-length attachment to it.

The five large-cap gold and silver royalty and streaming companies on this list had market caps above $1 billion in their respective currencies as of February 24, 2026.

1. Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX:WPM,NYSE:WPM)

Market cap: C$96.95 billion
Share price: C$215.66

Wheaton Precious Metals was established in 2004 as Silver Wheaton with a focus on silver streaming. Goldcorp held a majority interest, but began to reduce it in 2006 and by 2008 had completely divested itself. By that time, Silver Wheaton had begun to diversify into other precious metals. The following year, Silver Wheaton acquired rival silver streaming stock Silverstone Resources in a C$190 million deal.

Silver Wheaton changed its name in 2017 to Wheaton Precious Metals and has since built itself into one of the largest players in the gold and silver royalty and streaming space, with investments in 23 operating mines and 25 development projects across five continents.

Included in Wheaton’s assets are investments in Newmont’s (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM,ASX:NEM) Peñasquito mine in Mexico, Sibanye Stillwater’s (NYSE:SBSW) Stillwater and East Boulder mines in Montana, United States, and Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX:HBM,NYSE:HBM) Copper World Complex project in Arizona, US.

2. Franco-Nevada (TSX:FNV,NYSE:FNV)

Market cap: C$71.55 billion
Share price: C$374.47

A trailblazer in the gold royalty business, Franco-Nevada has set a high bar. The current iteration of the company was spun out of Newmont in what became a C$1.1 billion initial public offering, one of the biggest IPOs of 2007.

Franco-Nevada now has a portfolio of royalties and streams on 119 producing assets around the world including gold, silver, base metal and oil and gas operations, which generate more than US$1.2 billion for the company annually. Additionally, the company’s portfolio includes 38 advanced-stage assets and 273 exploration-stage assets.

Among the producing assets for which Franco-Nevada has precious metals streams and royalties are Glencore’s (LSE:GLEN,OTC Pink:GLCNF) Antapaccay mine in Peru, Agnico Eagle’s (NYSE:AEM,TSX:AEM) Detour Lake mine in Ontario, Canada, and Gold Fields’ (NYSE:GFI) Salares Norte mine in Chile.

See the sections above for more information on Franco-Nevada’s royalty and streaming deals.

3. Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Market cap: US$24.43 billion
Share price: US$288.04

Royal Gold got its start in 1981 as oil and gas exploration and production company Royal Resources.

Responding to shifts in the overall resource market, by 1987, Royal Gold was born with a focus on building a portfolio of minority positions in significant gold properties operated by major mining firms.

Today, Royal Gold is a leading precious metals streaming and royalty company with interest in about 400 properties, of which 82 are producing assets, across 31 countries.

About half of its portfolio came from its October 2025 acquisition of Sandstorm Gold and Horizon Copper, which combined for 230 royalty assets, including 40 producing assets.

Among Royal Gold’s royalty assets are Barrick Mining (TSX:ABX,NYSE:B) and Newmont’s Cortez mine in Nevada, US, Teck’s (TSX:TECK.A,TECK.B,NYSE:TECK) Andacollo mine in Chile and Centerra Gold’s (TSX:CG,NYSE:CGAU) Mount Milligan mine in British Columbia, Canada.

4. Triple Flag Precious Metals (TSX:TFPM)

Market cap: C$10.96 billion
Share price: C$53.67

Triple Flag Precious Metals was founded in 2016 by Shaun Usmar, a former Barrick executive and current CEO of Vale’s (NYSE:VALE) Vale Base Metals.

Although the company is a relative newcomer to the royalty and streaming space, it has quickly established itself as a frontrunner through several significant deals. Among them was the acquisition of Maverix Metals in January 2023, which helped them become the fourth-largest precious metals royalty company.

Today, Triple Flag has a global portfolio of gold and silver assets on nearly every continent, comprising 33 production assets and 206 in development or exploration.

Highlights from its portfolio include streaming and royalty deals on Evolution Mining’s (ASX:EVN,OTC Pink:CAHPF) Northparkes mine in New South Wales, Australia, Nexa Resources’ (NYSE:NEXA) Cerro Lindo mine in Peru, and Westgold Resources’ (ASX:WGX,OTC Pink:WGXRF) Beta Hunt mine in Western Australia.

5. OR Royalties (TSX:OR,NYSE:OR)

Market cap: C$11.49 billion
Share price: C$62.31

Previously named Osisko Gold Royalties, OR Royalties was created in 2014 as a spinoff deal between Osisko Mining (TSX:OSK), Yamana Gold and Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM,NYSE:AEM). The deal was made in an attempt to prevent a hostile takeover of Osisko Mining and its Canadian Malartic gold complex by Goldcorp, now part of Newmont.

In the deal, OR Royalties carried with it a 5 percent net smelter return royalty from the Canadian Malartic mine. Now owned by Agnico Eagle, the complex in Québec remains a cornerstone of the royalty company’s business today.

The gold and silver royalty and streaming company has gone on to amass royalties, streams and offtakes for 195 assets, 22 of which are producing, across six continents.

The majority are located in North America, including one of the most well-known gold-producing mines in the world, Agnico Eagle’s Canadian Malartic complex in Québec, as well as SSR Mining’s (NASDAQ:SSRM,TSX:SSRM) Seabee mine in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Kinross Gold’s (TSX:K,NYSE:KGC) Bald Mountain mine in Nevada.

Small-cap gold and silver royalty companies

There are also small-cap gold and silver royalty and streaming companies you can invest in and offer a lower-cost option for investors who are comfortable with a little more risk. Like their larger counterparts, small-cap gold royalty stocks offer a lower-risk investment than getting into a small-cap mining company but still provide access to the underlying precious metals market.

The five small-cap gold and silver royalty companies on this list had market caps above $10 million in their respective currencies as of February 24, 2026.

1. Gold Royalty (NYSEAMERICAN:GROY)

Market cap: US$1.04 billion
Share price: US$4.59

Gold Royalty is building a diversified portfolio of more than 240 gold royalty and gold streaming interests based on net smelter return royalties on properties in the Americas.

The company’s revenue generating investments include Agnico Eagle’s Canadian Malartic complex in Québec, DPM Metals’ (TSX:DPM) Vareš mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Discovery Silver’s (TSX:DSV,OTCQX:DSVSF) Borden mine in Ontario.

2. Metalla Royalty & Streaming (TSXV:MTA,NYSE:MTA)

Market cap: C$1.04 billion
Share price: C$11.67

Metalla Royalty & Streaming focuses on gold, silver and copper projects. The company’s royalty model involves acquiring royalties and streams by offering resource companies Metalla shares and cash.

The mid-tier royalty and streaming company’s asset portfolio includes more than 100 projects across North America, South America and Australia. Its cornerstone assets include IAMGOLD (TSX:IMG,NYSE:IAG) and Sumitomo Metal Mining’s (OTC Pink:SSUMF,TSE:5713) Côté gold mine in Ontario, Canada, and First Quantum Minerals’ (TSX:FM) Taca Taca project in Argentina.

3. Vox Royalty (TSX:VOXR,NASDAQ:VOXR)

Market cap: C$518.16 million
Share price: C$7.81

Vox Royalty is a precious metals focused royalty company first established in 2014. The company has acquired an asset portfolio of 70 royalties, 32 of which were added since 2019, across Australia, the Americas and South Africa.

Roughly 70 percent of its portfolio is dedicated to gold, silver and platinum group companies. The remainder of its portfolio is diversified across a wide range of resources, including copper, uranium, iron and diamonds.

The majority of the eight producing assets in its portfolio are located in Australia, including a 1 percent net smelter return from Black Cat Syndicate’s Bulong gold mine, and a 2.5 percent net smelter return from Northern Star Resources’s (ASX:NST,OTCPL:NESRF) Otto Bore gold mine.

As for development stage projects, its assets in Canada include a 1 percent net smelter return on NexGold Mining’s (TSXV:NEXG,OTCQX:NXGCF) Goldlund project and a 2 percent gross proceeds royalty on Alamos Gold’s (TSX:AGI,NYSE:AGI) Lynn Lake project in Canada.

4. Sailfish Royalty (TSXV:FISH,OTCQX:SROYF)

Market cap: C$324.08 million
Share price: C$3.79

Founded in 2014, Sailfish Royalty’s asset portfolio is much smaller than the other gold royalty stocks on this list. It consists of one producing mine as well as two development-stage and two exploration-stage properties in the Americas.

In Nicaragua, Sailfish has a gold stream equivalent to a 3 percent net smelter return on Mako Mining’s (TSXV:MKO,OTCQX:MAKOF) San Albino gold mine and a 2 percent net smelter return on the area surrounding the mine. The company also holds a 13,500 ounce per quarter silver stream at the property, which was set to expire in May 2025. At the end of April 2025, Sailfish chose to exercise its option to purchase all silver for the life of the mine.

5. Nations Royalty (TSXV:NRC,OTCQB:NRYCF)

Market cap: C$160.68 million
Share price: C$1.16

Nations Royalty is a fledgling royalties company that first began trading in June 2024 and holds Indigenous-owned royalties. It was founded by the Nisga’a Nation of British Columbia, Canada, and by Wheaton Precious Metals co-founder Frank Giustra. It is the first publicly traded company in Canada to have a majority Indigenous ownership.

The company has a portfolio of royalties covering one production and four development assets, all located in Northwestern British Columbia. The majority of these royalties are in the form of annual payments equal to a percentage of the mineral tax the assets’ operators pay.

The producing mine in its portfolio is Newmont’s (NYSE:NEM,ASX:NEM) Brucejack gold-silver operation. The four development assets consist of Ascot Resources’ (TSX:AOT,OTCID:AOTVF) Premier and Red Mountain projects, Seabridge Gold’s (TSX:SEA,NYSE:SA) KSM project and New Moly’s Kitsault molybdenum project.

Gold and silver royalty ETFs

Those who want more broad exposure to the precious metals markets may want to buy shares of an exchange-traded fund that includes gold and silver royalty and streaming stocks. Here are a few to get you started, including ASX gold ETFs and a US gold ETF.

Betashares Global Royalties ETF (ASX:ROYL)
The Betashares Global Royalties ETF is an Australian ETF that tracks the performance of an index of global companies that earn a significant amount of their revenue from royalty income, royalty-related income and intellectual property income. The fund’s top two holdings are Wheaton Precious Metals and Franco-Nevada, with Royal Gold and OR Royalties also among its significant holdings.

Betashares Global Gold Miners ETF (ASX:MNRS)
The Betashares Global Gold Miners ETF tracks the performance of an index of the world’s largest gold mining companies outside of Australia, hedged into Australian dollars. Wheaton Precious Metals, Franco-Nevada and Royal Gold are also among the fund’s top holdings.

VanEck Gold Miners ETF (ARCA:GDX)
The VanEck Gold Miners ETF is a US gold ETF that aims to replicate the performance of the MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index by holding large-cap gold mining stocks and precious metals royalty companies. As with the other gold ETFs on this list, its top holdings include Franco-Nevada, Wheaton Precious Metals and Royal Gold.

What is Donald Trump’s stance on a BRICS currency?

Trump has not been shy about upping the ante on American protectionism with tariffs. During the first US presidential debate between him and Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10, 2024, Trump doubled down on his pledge to punish BRICS nations with strict tariffs if they seek to move away from the US dollar as the global currency.

He originally took a particularly strong stance against China, threatening to implement 60 percent to 100 percent tariffs on Chinese imports, although these hefty tariffs would be paid by American companies and consumers purchasing Chinese products, not by China itself.

In early December 2024, Trump posted an even more direct threat to BRICS nations on Truth Social:

“We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new Brics currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or they will face 100% tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy.’

In response to Trump demanding a ‘commitment’ from BRICS nations not to challenge the supremacy of the US dollar, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov sounded less than threatened.

‘More and more countries are switching to the use of national currencies in their trade and foreign economic activities,’ Peskov said, per Reuters. ‘If the U.S. uses force, as they say economic force, to compel countries to use the dollar it will further strengthen the trend of switching to national currencies (in international trade).’

In July 2025, President Trump took it a step further by threatening to slap an extra 10 percent in tariffs on countries who side with BRICS policies, although this has not been implemented as of November 2025. ‘Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,’ he wrote in a social media post.

This additional BRICS targeted tariff has not yet been implemented as of November 2025.

How will Trump’s tariffs affect BRICS nations?

If US President Donald Trump were to come through on his promise to enact 100 percent tariffs on BRICS nations the outcome could prove costly for all parties involved.

“The action would result in slower growth and higher inflation than otherwise in the US and most of the targeted economies,” according to analysis by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

China would likely experience the worst slowing of its GDP growth as the US is its largest trading partner. One silver lining for China is that its disciplined central bank will help to save it from accelerated inflation.

While neither the 100 percent or 10 percent tariffs specifically targeting BRICS countries for their membership have been implemented, the countries still face many other tariffs from the US.

Trump’s blanket 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, set on June 3, 2025, impact Brazil, China and the UAE. Brazil is a top three source for US steel imports, while China and the UAE are significant sources of US aluminum imports.

In late July, Brazil was also saddled with a 50 percent tariff on a broader range of goods, which US President Donald Trump inflicted on the nation in response to the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro for his alleged coup attempt.

Trump’s tariffs could have a significant impact on Brazil’s economy, which is the largest in Latin America. However, most of the key trading sectors between the two nations are exempt from the tariff, including “civil aircraft, pig iron, precious metals, wood pulp, energy and fertilizers,” states Reuters.

India is another BRICS nation facing 50 percent tariffs. The sectors targeted span from textiles, garments and footwear to food, leather goods, gems and automobiles. Key industries such as pharmaceuticals and computer chips.

One of the major sticking points for the Trump administration is India continuing to purchase Russian oil. India and China are the two largest buyers of Russian oil, but the US has yet to punish China for purchasing oil from Russia.

Although China is the US’s biggest economic rival on the global stage, Trump hit the pause button on the escalating tariff war between the two nations until November 10, 2026.

In the meantime, the US’s 30 percent tariff on Chinese goods remains in place. Negotiations are underway, including on a proposed 245 percent tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports.

In July, the Trump Administration imposed 30 percent tariffs on South Africa, the US’s second biggest trading partner. The African nation’s agriculture, mining and manufacturing sector are at significant risk from the tariffs, but there are exceptions in place for “copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, some critical minerals, stainless steel scrap and energy products,” reports the BBC.

How are BRICS nations responding to US tariffs?

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva convened an online BRICS summit on September 8, 2025, to address the threat of US trade policies and tariffs to member nations.

“Tariff blackmail is being normalized as an instrument to seize markets and interfere in domestic affairs,” stated Lula, according to a prepared statement from the Brazilian government.

“Our countries have become victims of unjustified and illegal trade practices.”

Both Lula and Jinping called upon their BRICS peers to stand together and push back against unfair trade practices, and strengthen trade and cooperation between member nations.

However, the South China Morning Post reports that summit attendees fell short of directly criticizing US President Donald Trump in a bid not to further stoke his ire. That may also be why most BRICS members are trying to negotiate with the US rather than fight back with retaliatory tariffs.

Critics have suggested Trump’s tariffs are having the undesirable effect of driving major trading partners like Brazil, India and South Africa further into the arms of US rivals China and Russia.

While currently only 9 percent of China’s exports are to other BRICS members, according to Reuters, trade between China and Russia reached a record US$244.8 billion in 2024.

In addition, China is Brazil’s largest trading partner, importing 70 percent of its soybeans from the Latin American country. In fact, 28 percent of Brazil’s total exports go to China and 24 percent of its imports are from China.

BRICS trade relations may strengthen as the bloc seeks to mitigate the economic impact of US tariffs. Or each member country may choose to do what’s in their own best interest rather than that of the group.

Take India for instance. On February 2, 2026, India broke ranks with its BRICS peers and signed a trade deal with the US in which it agreed to halt purchases of Russian oil. In exchange, the US promised to cut tariffs on a broad range of products (excluding steel and aluminum) from 50 percent down to 18 percent.

Will the BRICS have a digital currency?

BRICS nations do not as of yet have their own specific digital currency, but a BRICS blockchain-based payment system is in the works, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov in March 2024.

Known as the BRICS Bridge multi-sided payment platform, it would connect member states’ financial systems using payment gateways for settlements in central bank digital currencies. The planned system would serve as an alternative to the current international cross-border payment platform, the SWIFT system, which is dominated by US dollars.

“We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain,’ Ushakov said in an interview with Russian news agency TASS, emphasizing that it should be convenient, as well as cost effective and free of politics.

While development is underway, it has been a slow go and implementation isn’t likely before the end of the decade.

In January 2026, the Reserve Bank of India proposed linking the Central Bank Digital Currencies of member nations. An ‘interoperability’ plan is set for the 2026 BRICS Summit agenda in India.

Another dollar-alternative digital currency cross-border payment system in the works is Project mBridge, which is under development via a collaboration between the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, the Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of the UAE. Saudi Arabia joined the project in 2024.

The central bank digital currencies traded on the platform would be backed by gold and local currencies minted in member nations.

In June 2024, Forbes reported that the mBridge platform had reached a significant milestone by completing its minimal viable product stage (MVP).

‘The MVP platform can undertake real-value transactions (subject to jurisdictional preparedness) and is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), a decentralized virtual environment that executes code consistently and securely across all Ethereum nodes,’ the publication stated. ‘MVP thus is suitable as a testbed for new use cases and interoperability with other platforms.’

As of November 2025, the Project mBridge platform had reportedly processed 4,047 transactions worth US$55.49 billion. That’s compared to the 160 transactions worth US$22 million that were processed by October 2022.

How does the BRICS Unit relate to Project mBridge?

Watch the full interview with Andy Schectman.

‘(New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff) came out and publicly said that there has been an agreement in principle to use a new settlement currency called the Unit, which will be backed 40 percent by gold and 60 percent by the local currencies in the BRICS union — the BRICS+ countries. That gold will be in the form of kilo bars and will be deliverable or redeemable for those entities,’ Schectman said.

‘The basket of gold and the basket of currencies will be minted in the member countries … it will be put into an escrow account, taken off the ledger so to speak — off of their balance sheet and put onto the mBridge ledger, and held in an escrow account in their own borders. It doesn’t need to be sent to a central authority.’

More recently, on a panel at the 2026 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC), Schectman spoke about mBridge and other ex-dollar digital currency systems being explored by BRICS nations.

‘MBridge is now operational, and so is ZIPS, the cross border payment system, both of which are free from Swift intervention, and both of which are using gold through . . . the expansion of the Shanghai Gold Exchange,’ he said.

Schectman added that mBridge partners have expanded into the key Association of Southeast Asian Nations, home to hundreds of millions of people. ‘You’re adding all of these countries, and as you add all of these countries that have the ability to use their own monetary ecosystem, their own local currencies . . . chipping away at the dollar hegemony.’

He also noted that Russian Minister of Foreign Sergey Lavrov had said Russia is expanding not only the BRICS payment system, but mBridge, which is cross border between central banks and BRICS Pay.

According to Shectman, BRICS Pay is ‘a B2B retail like credit card . . . now being expanded into the Belt and Road Initiative, which is the largest infrastructure project in human history. It’s 75 percent of the human population. So little by little, all of these countries that used to purchase things and settle in dollars and to save excess dollars in Treasuries are slowly moving away. So, yeah, I think it has a profound effect over time.’

Investor takeaway

While it is not certain whether the creation of a BRICS reserve currency will come to pass, its emergence would pose significant implications for the global economy and potentially challenge the US dollar’s dominance as the primary reserve currency. This development would present unique investment opportunities, while introducing risks to existing investments as the shifting landscape alters monetary policy and exacerbates geopolitical tensions.

For those reasons, investors should closely monitor the progress of a possible BRICS currency. And, if the bloc does eventually create one, it will be important watch the currency’s impact on BRICS member economies and the broader global market. Staying vigilant will help investors to capitalize on growth prospects and hedge against potential risks.

FAQs for a new BRICS currency