Silver Wheaton doubles gold stream at Vale mine

gold-pour-reef-333.jpg Image of gold pour at Gold Reef City in Johannesburg, South Africa by Dan Brown.

Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW, TSX:SLW) has doubled down on the gold stream it currently has in place at Vale’s (NYSE:VALE) Salobo mine in Brazil.

The Vancouver-based company said on Monday that it will pay $900 million for the right to buy an additional 25 percent of future gold production at Salobo, adding to the 25 percent it acquired in 2013. The deal will boost SLW’s 2015 output to 230,000 ounces. Under the agreement, Silver Wheaton will be entitled to 50 percent of all gold produced at the copper mine, over its lifetime, for the lesser of $400 an ounce, adjusted for inflation, or the market price when the gold is produced.

“The Salobo mine is one of Silver Wheaton’s cornerstone assets and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to double our gold production from this high-quality mine,” Randy Smallwood , Silver Wheaton’s President and CEO, said in the press release.

SLW also used the press release to announce an increase in production guidance. Silver Wheaton now forecasts 43.5 million ounces of silver-equivalent production in 2015 will grow to 51 million silver-equivalent ounces, in 2019. Gold as a percentage of production is expected to grow by 40 percent over the next five years, the company states.