BHP Group Limited (WPM) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Wheaton Precious Metals Silver Stream Transaction Conference Call on Antamina. [Operator Instructions]. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. I will now turn the conference over to Emma Murray, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for participating in today's call. I'm joined today by Randy Smallwood, Wheaton Precious Metals' Chief Executive Officer; Haytham Hodaly, President; Vincent Lau, Chief Financial Officer; Neil Burns, VP, Corporate Development; and Wes Carson, VP Operations. 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 commentary in today's call may contain forward-looking statements, and I would direct everyone to review Slide 2 of the presentation, which contains important cautionary notes. It should be noted that all figures referred to on today's call are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Randy Smallwood, our Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Emma, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for dialing in to today's conference call on short notice to discuss both our latest acquisition and our updated production guidance, which both firmly position us as the largest precious metal streaming company in the world. As announced yesterday, Wheaton has acquired an additional silver stream on the Antamina mine located in Peru through a new partnership with BHP, 33.75% of the silver produced in exchange for upfront consideration of $4.3 billion, making this the largest precious metal stream ever executed. Before I hand it over to our President, Haytham Hodaly, I would like to offer a few high-level remarks. Firstly, quality silver production is becoming increasingly difficult to source, while demand continues to rise for both critical industrial uses and for silver's safe haven qualities in today's economic environment. This expanded stream on Antamina further strengthens Wheaton's role as one of the largest silver producers in the world. Secondly, the largest mining company in the world has chosen streaming as a means to unlock value, underscoring how compelling the streaming model has become. We are excited to continue building on this long-standing partnership with BHP and with the exceptional consortium that is behind Antamina and shares our commitment to responsible development. Lastly, with Antamina's increased contribution, I am pleased to share that Wheaton's updated production guidance now points to 50% growth by 2030 with an estimated 1.2 million gold equivalent ounces to be produced annually in 2030. Wheaton has grown into the company it is today by adding high-quality assets to our portfolio, and Antamina has long stood as one of our true cornerstones. Antamina is a proven long-life, low-cost operation that will deliver immediate production and operating cash flow, and we feel strongly, we believe that it will continue to create lasting value for our stakeholders well into the future. With that, I'd like to hand the floor over to our current President and soon to be CEO, Haytham.

Thank you, Randy. By now, you've likely had the opportunity to go through the details of this transaction. So I'll just point out some of the highlights, so we can leave time for questions at the end. Antamina is an asset we are extremely familiar with as we've held a stream on Glencore's portion of the silver produced at the mine since 2015. Deepening our exposure to an asset of this scale, quality and longevity is a unique and transformative opportunity for Wheaton made it even more meaningful through our collaboration with BHP. Antamina is located in the Ancash region of the Andes Mountains in Peru, 270 kilometers north of Lima and has been producing since 2001. It is one of the largest copper zinc mines in the world, jointly owned by subsidiaries of BHP, Glencore, Teck and Mitsubishi, reflecting its high quality and strategic importance. Under the terms of the Wheaton's new contract with BHP, we will purchase 33.75% of the payable silver until a total of 100 million ounces of silver has been delivered, at which point Wheaton will receive 22.5% of payable silver for the life of the mine. In return, Wheaton will make an upfront payment of $4.3 billion and ongoing payments for the silver ounces delivered equal to 20% of the spot silver price. Attributable silver production under the BHP stream is forecast to average approximately 6 million ounces of silver per year for the first 5 years of production and approximately 5.4 million ounces of silver per year for the first 10 years of production. Structurally, the stream features highly attractive terms, including no buyback pause, a production percentage drop-down limited to 1/3 and full exposure to commodity prices consistent with our standard approach to streaming agreements. Already a major contributor to Wheaton's portfolio, Antamina is expected to provide approximately 18% of our total production by 2030, following the doubling of our exposure, solidifying its position as the second largest asset in our portfolio. By 2030, the growth in our portfolio will further diversify our asset concentration, driven by Antamina's growing contribution alongside several new assets that are expected to increase in significance over the near term. Supporting local communities is paramount to who Wheaton is as a company, and our work in Peru reflects that value. Wheaton has a long-standing relationship with Antamina, an operation recognized for its strong sustainability practices. And for over a decade, we have helped advance positive outcomes through our support of Ensena Peru, a collaborative nonprofit focused on improving the quality of education in the Ancash region. With the addition of the BHP stream, Wheaton remains committed to helping create lasting positive social impact in the communities near Antamina's operations. With that, I'll turn it over to our VP of Corporate Development, Neil Burns.

Thanks, Haytham. Antamina sits well within the first quartile of the global cost curve for copper and is, in fact, the first significant asset in that quartile, underscoring its high quality and resilience to fluctuations in metal prices. With the addition of this stream to our portfolio, 76% of our production now falls within the lowest cost quartile with Antamina now accounting for 25% of it. And the counterparty is just as strong as the asset as BHP is investment-grade rated by Moody's and Fitch, increasing Wheaton's exposure to investment-grade mine partners to 70%, significantly decreasing our credit risk. Since Wheaton's first stream on Antamina back in 2015, over 95% of silver reserves have been replaced through resource conversion and exploration success, a testament to the asset's demonstrated ability to extend mine life through ongoing reserve growth. In 2015, stated reserves supported mine life until 2028. In 2024, the mine received approval for the expansion of the open pit and optimization of the mine dumps and tailings dam, which extended the mine life until 2036. The mine has multiple options to extend mine life significantly beyond 2036, and we are confident that the technical studies will be advanced to achieve the next extension as they have done historically. Antamina has a large exploration program and drilling continues to upgrade inferred resources and further define potential at depth below the current resource pit. We strongly believe that Antamina is an asset that will be operating for decades into the future. Antamina sits on an extensive land package that hosts multiple large-scale skarn porphyry targets with claims covering more than 1,000 square kilometers. The map on the left provides some visual context for the scale of this land package relative to the size of the existing Antamina pit, all of which is covered by Wheaton's area of interest. Also worth emphasizing Antamina's importance to Peru, a country with a deep mining heritage. In 2024, Antamina contributed approximately 2.9% of Peru's gross domestic product, highlighting its role as a major driver of the nation's economy. With that, I will hand it over to our VP of Operations, Wes Carson. Wes and I have visited Antamina many times over the years, and he can speak directly to the quality of the asset. Wes?

Thanks, Neil. I'm fortunate enough to visit many mines around the world as part of my job, and I can say with conviction that Antamina remains one of the very best large-scale operations globally. What stands out is not just the scale of the operation, but the consistency of execution. We have witnessed firsthand improved safety and operational performance at site translating directly into stronger delivery as the mine plan advances. While grade and sequencing variability are inherent in any large open pit, Antamina has consistently executed through those transitions and maintain dependable performance. That confidence is reflected in the recent increase in copper production guidance for the asset. The mine has consistently outperformed expectations since our original agreement with Glencore, having delivered 17% more ounces of silver than originally anticipated. And this comes with significant mine life remain. In addition to the significant exploration potential, life of mine extension opportunities also include potential upside from pit and sequence optimization to fully utilize mill capacity, along with the addition of more ultra-class excavators and haul trucks to increase extraction rates and optionality of introducing mechanized waste management. Antamina's contributions to our portfolio and ability to recover from challenges in the first half of the year was one of the key drivers, allowing us to exceed our production guidance in 2024. Wheaton's total production for the year was approximately 692,000 gold equivalent ounces, which was approximately 9% above the midpoint of our original guidance. Antamina's operating consistency was a meaningful contributor to that outperformance, reinforcing our confidence in delivery. With the addition of the BHP stream on Antamina, updated life of mine plans from our operating partners and refreshed commodity price assumptions reflecting the current market environment, Wheaton's estimated attributable production for 2026 is forecast to range between 860,000 and 940,000 GEOs with a midpoint of 900,000 GEOs. Further ahead, production is currently expected to grow at an industry-leading pace. We forecast an increase to production of roughly 50% to about 1.2 million ounces by 2030, a level we expect to sustain through 2035 based on current mine plans and the strength of our portfolio. For Wheaton, Antamina provides immediate scale, meaningful cash flow and long-duration visibility from an exceptional asset, operated by some of the largest and most experienced mining companies in the world. This BHP stream significantly enhances our already robust growth pipeline and reinforces Wheaton's position as one of the sector's most reliable and sustainable growth stories. I will now hand it over to our CFO, Vincent, to discuss how these production forecasts will help us fund our latest acquisition.

Thanks, Wes. The upfront payment of $4.3 billion will be funded through a combination of existing liquidity and new financing. Funding sources include $1.2 billion of cash on hand as of September 30, 2025, approximately $400 million of incremental free cash flows expected to be generated prior to closing and $300 million from the recently completed monetization of noncore equity investments. The remaining balance will be funded through a new $1.5 billion term loan and a $900 million draw on Wheaton's existing undrawn $2 billion revolving credit facility. The term loan and the revolving credit facility provide flexible nondilutive financing that may be repaid at any time without penalty. With the strength of our production guidance outlined by Wes, we currently forecast more than $10 billion in operating cash flow to be generated through 2028 at current spot prices. As such, we currently expect to return to a net cash position in approximately 1 year, while maintaining strong capacity to fund existing commitments and potential future stream acquisitions. Wheaton was built on technical excellence, disciplined capital allocation and the ability to capture high-quality accretive opportunities when they arise. The Antamina BHP stream is expected to increase our 2026 production by more than 11% on a pro forma basis, providing a meaningful uplift from a top-tier asset. With a transaction value of $4.3 billion, this investment represents only 6.5% of our total market capitalization, which we believe underscores the strong accretion and strategic fit within our overall portfolio. With that, I will hand it back to Haytham to wrap up.

Thanks, Vince. This transaction marks an important step forward for Wheaton. Expanding our stream interest on Antamina strengthens an already impressive asset within our portfolio and enhances both the short- and long-term growth profile we outlined earlier. It provides meaningful immediate production from a remarkable operation and reinforces our position as a leader in precious metal streaming. I also want to take a moment to recognize our team. Bringing a transaction of this scale to completion requires deep expertise and collaboration across the organization, and I'm incredibly proud of the work they have done. Their commitment is what enables Wheaton to pursue opportunities like this with confidence. Equally, we are truly excited to be entering into our first streaming agreement with BHP. Working with an organization of their caliber underscores the strength of our model and the trust placed in us as a long-term partner. We look forward to building on that relationship in the years ahead. With that, I would like to open up the call for questions. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Cosmos Chiu from CIBC.

Great. Maybe my first question is on the new stream here. As you mentioned, this is not your first stream at Antamina. There was already an existing stream with Glencore. Can you or should we compare the price paid for this new BHP stream with what you paid admittedly back in 2015 for that Glencore stream that was $900 million. Today, you're paying $4.3 billion. For what is a very similar stream, if not almost identical, and correct me if I'm wrong. But again, back then, silver prices were $20 an ounce. Today, it's not $20 an ounce. So again, Haytham and Randy, can we -- or should we compare the price paid for the 2 streams?

Cosmos, thank you for the question. Happy to field that question. I would say the last time when we actually looked at it, silver was actually sitting around $15 an ounce when we started that negotiation and where we ended up, and that was in 2015. The streams are exact in terms of percentages. The only difference, I would say, at this point in time is going to be the payability of the stream. One was 100% and one was 90%. Now if you look at where that stream was, we paid $900 million for it when silver was $15 with a 20% production payment. We're now paying -- sorry, we're now paying -- if you were to prorate that, we're paying significantly less than we would have been if we were actually to move that stream up based on the commodity price change. So we obviously -- the silver price has moved up quite significantly in the last, I would say, 6 months alone. So we tried to take a little bit slightly more conservative approach by not paying something right up at spot, but we're probably close to that, I would say.

Cosmos, I would also just reinforce that back when we did that stream, I mean, our experience has even stronger at Antamina, 17% more silver than what we expected. And so we consider this asset just has great potential to continue to outperform. And so even over and above that, that definitely had a factor in terms of how we value this thing is that given our track record on this thing for well over -- just over 10 years, I guess, all told, it's been an outperformer. It's been the strongest performer relative to what we purchased it in our portfolio. And so top quality asset.

And this is an asset, as if you recall, in 2015, it had effectively reserve life of 10, 11 years at that point in time based on permitted, what it was permitted for. And we're still sitting at 11 years now based on what's permitted for. We think this is going to be a multi-decade asset going forward. and we're confident in that assumption.

And so that leads in well to my next question here. In terms of -- as you mentioned, based on reserves right now, the life of mine ends in 2036, but that only includes, what, 65 million ounces. There's another 35 million ounces, I believe, in additional M&I and 100 million ounces in inferred. So how much have you priced in when you look at when you perform your internal valuation for this asset here? Or how much should we kind of factor in potentially? Is it -- if I do include some of those inferred ounces, is it going to be a longer mine life? Or could it even be an increase in throughput? And how does your valuation method today differ from, say, back in 2015 when you first looked at that stream because Randy, as you mentioned, you've learned quite a bit over the last 10 years.

I'll start and Randy comment after that. We factored in all the measured indicated -- proven all the measured indicated in inferred ounces, Cosmos, and we're fairly comfortable with what we've seen. We also think there's potential for significant expansion at depth as well over and above what we're actually -- what we actually know today. We have not factored in any kind of improvements in efficiencies, but we have taken our experience over the last few years on what we've seen coming from Antamina based on their forecast and incorporate our own assumptions into that, which I'll let you make your own assumptions on where you think, but we're fairly confident that this is going to be an incredibly high-quality asset longer term.

Yes. I mean I think the only thing I would add to that is that the land package has actually even grown substantially since the Glencore, which is just a good sign of the commitment that the consortium has in terms of continuing to invest into this project. There's plenty of opportunities. There's plenty of options for expanded tailings management and their approach of sort of defining reserves around the current infrastructure capacity is one that we respect. And that's one of the reasons why it typically only has a 10- to 15-year reserve life in front of it. But the resource potential there is just so strong, a combination of the potential for underground supplement, a combination of regional exploration potential, the land package, correct me if I'm wrong, Neil, but it's about 20% or 30% larger than it was back when we did the Glencore transaction and all sorts of opportunity -- other opportunities, exploration projects in the area itself. And the fact that this is a mine that has no serious -- I mean, has a dropdown after 100 million ounces delivered, but then it's life of mine forever. We just see this as a very, very long-life asset, a multigenerational asset that's going to be a top-tier first quartile performer. And I think any company in our business, these are the type of assets that we build companies around. And we've had a good track record of doing that with Wheaton and to be able to expand Antamina, which has been our consistent -- most consistent, strongest performer on a relative basis. Salobo is an incredible mine. But Antamina, a smaller portion, but it has consistently outperformed. And so we're really excited about that potential. And yes, it would include those resources, the inferred resources, and we also feel there's some decent exploration. We think there's some very attractive exploration potential on the project. I don't know, Neil, if you got anything to add on the exploration side.

Yes, the uniqueness of this ore body where as you explore at depth, which they've been doing with directional drilling from the rims of the pit to look at the ore body at depth, it continues to return wide intersections of similar grades unlike a lot of ore bodies, which reduce in grade as you go deeper. So the potential at depth is something that can't be ignored. And one day, it will transition to an underground mine. I think that's decades out there, but that potential certainly exists.

I'd also say just on the expansion of the plant and processing facilities, I mean, they have continued to invest billions of dollars into this asset. And really, we've seen that when they're doing that, it really is best-in-class, everything that they're putting in, the new primary crusher they've put into that over the last several years is incredibly impressive to see what they're doing. And with the collaboration of the different mining companies that we've got in this asset, we really do see this as a best-in-class asset.

Cosmos, just one last thing I would add. When we did the Glencore transaction back in 2015, Glencore was in a bit of a distressed financial situation. BHP is obviously has a very, very strong credit position and it's doing much better. And so we're much more confident now than we were back then in the actual longevity of this asset in this stream.

Of course. And maybe one last question. With this acquisition here, Antamina now represents either 16% or maybe even 18% of your total NAV. Any concerns about concentration risk? And then as a follow-up, as you mentioned, there is Glencore, there is BHP, but there's also 22.5% for Teck and 10% for Mitsubishi. If your answer is you're not worried about concentration risk, is there opportunities in terms of kind of acquiring some of those other streams from the other joint venture partners?

Maybe I'll start. In terms of concentration risk, this is exactly the type of project we need to continue to diversify the risk we have from our largest asset, Salobo, which is one of the highest quality assets in the world, I would add as well. But one of the criticisms we get is that we have too much concentration risk from one asset. This actually brings it down with Salobo will be under 25% in the next few years. This one will be under 18% in the next few years. Obviously, we've got significant growth coming from new assets. That is going to continue to bring these numbers down further. And we're not just sitting by. We're looking at a lot of opportunities out there that we feel are still going to continue to grow. With that, I'll also add that just about, I'd say, 7 or 8 of our existing partners over the last 6 months have come out with potential optimization plans, which will see their productions continue to grow. And that's going to continue to further diversify our portfolio. So our portfolio has never looked better. And honestly, we are incredibly excited about where this is going. What was your second question, Cosmos? I've forgotten all the...

[indiscernible] Teck and Mitsubishi.

Teck has already streamed their silver. So Mitsubishi is the only remaining partner that has silver. So we've had discussions with Mitsubishi in the past. We'll have discussions with them in the future. So again, I think what's most exciting about this transaction is the fact that the major mining companies who all have tough production profiles on a go-forward basis and need to invest into growth. The message that this sends that streaming is an attractive source of capital to help fund their growth. And when I sit and think about the large companies around the world, Mitsubishi, of course, is one not so much in the -- but they do have good byproduct production, BHP, of course, the opportunity that I think this opens up and just reinforces. Cosmos, I think it was at your conference sitting on stage with you earlier this year that I said the era of multibillion-dollar streams is upon us, and we're now delivering that.

Yes, it's here.

Our next question comes from Daniel Major from UBS.

Congratulations on the deal. Two questions. First one, Randy, I think you've previously kind of described the process of kind of formulating price assumptions to justify acquisitions based on the kind of forward curve or where we are today with some kind of discount for conservatism. Given how fast the silver price has moved up, did you use a more conservative assumption to value this transaction?

More conservative than what. So I mean, we run all sorts of different models in terms of trying to estimate value. But one of the key ones is, of course, that discounted cash flow model with a commodity price that starts at spot and drops to a discount up spot. And yes, given that we have seen a rapid run-up in silver prices, we did back off on that long term, what percentage that is on a go-forward basis. But that being said, I think one of the areas that I think a lot of people are missing here is our confidence in the asset itself. We've come out with the production guidance that our partners have on this. But as Wes said in his preamble or in his section of the talk this morning, this asset has consistently delivered cumulatively 17% more silver than what we expected to date. And when I go across our entire portfolio, including the incredible Salobo, nothing has actually achieved that level of outperformance. That also on top of the confidence that we have in terms of resource conversion. Yes, we know the asset has a sort of a registered mine life, I think it's 2036. We are confident this is a multigenerational asset. This is going to be running for many, many years, and they haven't even found the end of the exploration success on this thing. And so I think that's where probably some of the differences are. We didn't change our approach. It's a DCF, and we did back off on -- in terms of a percentage of the spot price, and we're comfortable with the price that we paid for this. We know that this will be a good strong asset for many years. It's immediate production. I think Vincent did a great job of highlighting how accretive it is immediately when you compare it on a relative basis to our own market capitalization and what we're -- the growth that we get and long-term growth that we get from this asset. So we're pretty comfortable with it. But...

Yes. Maybe I'll just add one thing to that, Daniel. Silver, the price itself is almost 40% off its highs right now. We had a high, I think it was $117, $118 per ounce. We're expecting silver to longer term be a fairly strong commodity. We've been in a silver supply deficit for the last 5 years. We expect that deficit to continue for the next 5 years. Every time the silver price pulls back from one of these highs, it creates a new bottom and investment demand is growing significantly. So we're pretty optimistic about the silver price going forward, but we do use a number that is less than the current spot price.

Just to reinforce the -- to finish it off, we've always committed to delivering a reasonable rate of return on a flat price going forward in this asset. This investment definitely reflects that belief.

Okay. And a follow-up to that, just on the longevity that you see in the asset. Can you give us just a little bit more color on the pathways to extend life beyond the 2036? I believe there's some more permitting required to increase the tailings dam, but can you just give us a little bit more detail about the next steps?

Yes. No problem, Dan. So really, if we can use the current permitting as kind of a proxy, as was mentioned there, when we did this deal back in 2015, the mine life extended out to 2028, and they renewed the permit in 2024 to extend out to 2036. So Antamina does a great job of planning these things well in advance. And there is similar to that extension that they put in 2024, there is another extension being contemplated now that includes expansions to the pit, expansions to the waste dumps and expansions to the tailings facility. There's a number of different aspects of that, that are being looked at right now, different areas for the tailings, different concepts around storage of tailings and that. well in advance of that 2036 deadline that they would have. And we would expect and in all of our discussions with Antamina to date that they are traveling along a similar path to what they have in the past here of really going through this in a very systematic and really logical way to actually get this done. And we're very confident that there will be that extension past 2036.

Okay. And then very quick, just last question. I believe the Glencore stream steps down after 140 million ounces. Can you just remind us what the production to date is on that old stream?

I think we'll have to come back. I don't think we have that number directly in front of us, Daniel, but that's something that Emma can deal with offline after.

I'm going to say roughly the assets has been producing between 4 million to 6 million ounces a year. It's been just over 10 years. So call it, 40 million to 50 million ounces, somewhere in that range.

Yes.

We can get that exact number.

Our next question comes from Lawson Winder from Bank of America.

I appreciate this update and congratulations on closing the largest ever single streaming transaction yet in streaming history. I think where I'd maybe like to start is just on the drop-down, picking up on that last question. I mean it seems like the drop-down actually lines up with the drop-down of the Glencore. And based on your answer, maybe there was no consideration as to that timing. But I mean, it does seem to line up. And to the extent there might have been some consideration for, I mean, why not stagger the drop-down between the Glencore, Antamina stream and the Wheaton stream so as to avoid like a more pronounced dropdown across the 2 streams on the same asset.

Lawson, I'll start off. It looks like we've actually produced somewhere close to 80 million ounces -- 86 million ounces off the asset. And so the alignment isn't all that tight. If you look at 140 million and then the drop-down, you talk about 86 million already being delivered. That means there's only 60-some-odd left before there's a Glencore dropdown. So as you can tell, it wasn't part of the consideration in terms of the timing of the drop-down. I think the 100 million ounces was just a number that came to in terms of getting to the value that both parties were looking for. And so it didn't -- it wasn't actually linked up with the Glencore, and it appears there will be a staggering between the 2.

Okay. Let's just change subjects and just -- and talk about the 2026 guidance. So I mean, even when adjusting for the BHP stream, you came in ahead of where I think most expectations were. Could you maybe help guide us a bit on what's included in the 2026 volume guidance from your currently still flagship asset, Salobo in terms of what you anticipate to receive this year?

Lawson, yes, it's a very slight decrease from what we saw in 2025. So about -- I love to put a number out there before Vale puts out their own numbers, but you can assume it's very consistent with '25. slightly down, lower grades will be offset by higher throughput.

Yes. We generally don't like preambling our partners in their releasing of production guidance. And if it wasn't for the Antamina stream, we wouldn't be having this conference call. So that's why we like letting Vale provide that detail. But yes, there's a slight decrease, as Emma said, slightly lower grades, but higher throughput levels.

Okay. If I can also ask again on guidance. I mean generally, I understand you like to provide current year guidance and then a longer-term outlook. But just directionally, when you look to 2027, just so we can kind of true up our thinking on the direction of travel here. Are you expecting another fairly material step-up in 2027 versus '26?

I think what you should assume, Lawson, as we're looking through this is that every year, there's roughly a staged increase similar to the previous year to get us to the 1.2 million ounces that we expect by '23 relatively steady growth throughout that. And again, I will say those numbers are probably conservative given some of the optimizations we've seen. But those are the numbers that we're certain. And those numbers reflect projects that are actually permitted that are in construction and are fully funded. Just about every single one is in construction, except one, and that's going to start soon, and they're all fully funded as well.

Okay. Actually, if I could ask one more question, sorry. Just wondering about -- if you think back to 2015, when you guys did the last transaction on Antamina, the year before, you had done another major transaction. And then in 2016, you followed up and you upped the size of Salobo. In that time, there were a lot of transactions happening from big mining companies looking to repair balance sheets. So this looks to be a little bit different. I mean it looks like BHP is doing this to fund future growth. Are you having other similar conversations with other big miners along a similar vein?

Absolutely. We're talking to, I would say, several of the larger companies, but also we've got a number of single asset development stage opportunities on some of the smaller companies we're talking to as well. So our company was built on growth. You should expect that growth to continue over the next decade.

The area that I'm really excited about, Lawson, is the copper space. The demand for copper just continues to get stronger and stronger. And we will need new mines to get built. And those mines are tens of billions of dollars to get built. And so the amount of capital required to get these things moving forward, that is the perfect space for the streaming business model. The noncore precious metals byproduct from those copper assets to help fund that. And so that's where I'm particularly excited. And as I said, this is -- we're in an era now of $1 billion streams, and it's -- this won't be the last one.

Our next question comes from Brian MacArthur from Raymond James.

Sorry to go back to the step down. But one of them is at 100% payable and one is at 90%. Is that correct going forward? Because I'm just trying to figure out exactly how similar these streams are. We just mentioned that, that was kind of probably the only real difference other than the timing of the step down.

That's right. One was 100%, and that was the Glencore because they were looking for more value at the time, and that was a way to find that value for them. And the other one was -- this new one is at 90% payable.

And sorry, why did you do 90% instead of 100%.

90% is more in line with what their actual payable numbers are.

Okay. That's what I was going to say. Okay. And that leads to my second question. Sorry, can you just review how this will be -- the other thing, I guess, that's different from back then is tax structures and stuff or maybe it's not different, but we've got clarity. Can the 2 streams get treated as one for tax benefit so that the other advantage of this deal is you can shelter the other one. And in fact, can it also shelter all the income out of your subsidiaries?

Brian, it's Vince here. That's largely correct. So the tax that would be applicable here would be the GMT, the 15% tax on our non-Canadian assets. And the upfront payment here would be depleted with all the other assets together. So this would allow us to use that for tax shelter.

And just I was just going to clarify the ounce number from Antamina. We received $53 million today, the $86 million I mentioned was what's remaining. So...

That was going to be my other question. Just looking at that chart.

Our next question comes from Carey MacRury from Canaccord Genuity.

Congrats on the deal. Certainly, a vote of confidence when you've got BHP, a vote of confidence in the streaming model when you've got BHP at the table. But in a world where we see more billion-dollar streams, I'm just wondering how you're thinking about financial capacity going forward. Certainly, I think you've got more room for leverage, but just wondering how you're thinking about that.

It's Vince here again. Yes, we're generating significant cash flows currently at spot prices. We're looking at $10 billion over the next 3 years. And as Haytham outlined, a lot of the opportunities that we see right now are more in the development stage asset category. So we don't even need to fund that until years down the road. And putting that aside, even if there's a deal currently where we have to pay the entire upfront payment today, we still have $1.6 billion of liquidity currently on our balance sheet. So we're well positioned to kind of handle anything that comes at us currently.

Is there sort of a net debt-to-EBITDA target that you sort of -- you wouldn't want to go over?

Yes. currently, with the $2.4 billion of debt, we're sitting only at about 1x net debt to EBITDA. So a very comfortable level. 1.5 to 2 is kind of where we like to not go above just to make sure we have 0 credit risk exposure in terms of our portfolio. So there is still more room that we could layer on. But again, the very strong cash flows that we're generating is going to pay this back down very quickly and replenish our coppers.

Our next question comes from Derick Ma from TD Cowen.

I wanted to ask about gold and silver opportunities from here and whether that's something you consider in terms of portfolio construction, the weighting between gold and silver within the portfolio. You're clearly pretty positive on the silver outlook from here.

Sure. Maybe I'll just take that. So first of all, Derick, and thank you for the question. I will say, as we're looking at our portfolio of existing opportunities in our pipeline, we don't really differentiate between gold and silver. We see much fewer silver opportunities than we see gold. So when we see -- when we have the opportunity to capitalize on a silver opportunity, we'll take it because we do believe in the longer-term fundamentals of silver. But I would say the majority of the opportunities that we're looking at here, and there's probably somewhere between 15 and 20 different opportunities. The majority of them, I would say, are gold focused.

Our last question comes from John Tumazos from John Tumazos Very Independent Research.

Your table on the reserves and resources at Antamina for silver is very helpful. How much is the recovery loss to the reserves? And is the 10% payability deduct in addition to that?

You're asking what the actual recovery is at the mine site, John? I think it's about 75%.

How much is the revenue as a fraction of what you're showing us? So we should be deducting the recovery loss and the payability loss, right?

75% recovery and then 90% payability, yes, on top of that right.

So 67% of what's in the spreadsheet would be attributable to your shareholders?

That's correct from the BHP stream. From the Glencore stream, it would be 75% of the recovery. And I'm just going to add, there's different recoveries for when they're in zinc-rich ore versus when they're in copper-rich ore, right? And so it does vary quite a bit on a year-to-year basis. But on average, it's around 75% is the overall average recovery. But it does -- like I said, it does vary depending on -- because it's such a unique ore body where it does have so many different phases and components to it that are zinc-rich or copper-rich that does fluctuate quite a bit on an annual basis. But yes, it's in that range.

So the $4.3 billion upfront payment divided by reserves and measured and indicated resources would be divided by about [ 70 million ]. And then if we include inferred resources would divide by about [ 140 million ] since the inferred resources are half of the pie. So we could call the payment that you're making about $60 an ounce if it's over reserves measured and indicated or $30 an ounce if we're counting inferred too. Is that about right?

That's right, John.

So then with $15, 20% of spot, you're paying $75 an ounce, excluding inferred and $45 an ounce, including inferred. So you're paying not only for the upside of the silver price, but the upside of the inferred resources.

We're definitely -- we definitely assumed some recoverability in inferred resources in our analysis, yes, John.

I'm going to go a little bit off the reservation with this, but why not? I share your conviction that the silver rebound is legitimate, where mine output fell almost 100 million ounces over a decade. Solar grew by about 118 million ounces and industrial and electrical other uses grew 75 million ounces. I don't think it's the appropriate role of the CME to raise margin requirements and make a judgment that there's speculative excess. And I don't think it was the appropriate role of the LME 4 years ago to change the rules in the nickel market when the Chinese treasury was short 10% of the world nickel demand. Why not as a large silver investor shareholder, et cetera, put up seed capital to start a new commodities exchange in Vancouver or sue the CME for price manipulation. It's not their role to jerk around with the silver price.

John, I love your questions. John, we're going to continue to focus on what we know how to do best, and that's to actually grow our company here going forward. But your point is well taken. And yes, we're quite optimistic about the outlook going forward and do feel there's ways to capitalize, but those ways are probably for others than Wheaton at this point in time.

John, maybe that's what I'll do after I retire from CEO and the reins over to Haytham here, given me...

I just don't think it's their role to jerk around with the silver price.

I know. It's frustrating. One of the -- it is one of the challenges of the silver market. It's a small market. And so it doesn't take a lot to manipulate it and to adjust it and to impact it. And so we just have to focus on fundamentals. And that's one of the reasons we are excited is that, that we do see continued demand, continued growth, just the way the world is shaping. It's -- you've heard me say silver is the most critical mineral out there. Everything it's used in makes it better. And so that increase in demand, along with the store value aspect, the measure of value aspect of it, we're excited about silver on a long-term basis. Can't continue operating in a deficit basis the way it has without capturing this. And so -- and here, we've got one of the best silver mines in the world -- sorry, it's a copper and zinc mine, but it produces some of the biggest silver production in the world. And so to be able to have access to this and to double down on what's already been an incredibly positive experience for Wheaton and its shareholders is incredibly exciting. But now you've given me something to focus on after Haytham takes over as CEO.

I'm just fantasizing. Hope you make my dreams come true. Take care.

John, and thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for dialing in. We look forward to speaking with you all again soon during our full year results conference call scheduled to take place on Friday, March 13. Until then, stay healthy and stay safe. Thank you.

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