Happy Tuesday, GoldBuzzers!

The mood among gold investors is about as low as it has been all year. The quarterly numbers coming out of the largest miners tell a different story, and that gap has grown over the past 60 days. Three names stand out this week for reasons worth understanding before the next set of results lands.

️Let’s get into it. ⬇️

Both metals took it on the chin again Monday. Gold eased to around $4,020 an ounce and silver around $58, near its weakest level since December. Gold is now set for a fourth straight monthly loss, down more than 10 percent in June, while silver is heading for a fall of over 20 percent and has shed roughly half its value since January's record high. Both are falling for the same reason.

A fresh flare-up around the US-Iran peace talks pushed oil and inflation worries higher, firming up bets that the Fed keeps raising rates instead of cutting. Washington and Tehran agreed to pause Gulf hostilities and restart talks over the Strait of Hormuz, and Trump said Iran asked for a meeting with a US delegation in Qatar on June 30, after Iranian missile and drone strikes on US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Since neither metal pays a yield, both lose their shine when rates head up. Markets are pricing in three Fed hikes this year, with about a 60 percent chance the first lands in September. Thursday's US jobs report is the next read GoldBuzzers will be weighing.

The mood among many gold investors is as low as I’ve seen it for a while. In stark contrast, the cash margins of most Gold Majors have ballooned this year, and companies are finally doing something with the money. Buybacks, special dividends, expansion capital, record FCF (free cash flow, what's left after all operating and sustaining costs) and new drilling programs. Three names in particular have recent catalysts worth understanding in more detail this week.

Stepping back across all seven precious metals sectors we track, Gold Majors stand out this week in a way that's hard to ignore. Right now 52% of names in the category are outperforming GDX, their gold-miner benchmark, up 8 percentage points vs 60 days ago.

That means a majority of Gold Majors are beating their own benchmark, and the category just made the biggest positive move of any of the seven sectors over that period. For comparison, Gold Producers sit at 35% (flat), Silver Producers improved to 46% (+9.1pp), and Gold Juniors remain stuck at 18%, down slightly. Silver Majors had the sharpest decline, falling 16.7pp to 33%. The infographic below maps all seven.

Northern Star Resources (NESRF) is the most closely watched name at the top of this category right now, sitting at #2 after climbing two spots. The headline from the March quarter was A$301M in underlying free cash flow, solid enough, but the catalyst that really got attention was the announcement of a A$500 million on-market share buyback launched in April 2026.

Management called it a statement of confidence in the business given the impending structural uplift in cash generation expected when the new Fimiston processing plant at the Kalgoorlie Super Pit comes online in early FY27.

That expansion, now tracking to commissioning on schedule, would materially boost throughput. The story isn't clean, there's a CEO departure coming and an activist investor who has been loudly critical of the share price, but the underlying operational picture and capital return commitment are the reasons this name sits where it does.

DPM Metals (DPM.TO) is the most compelling pure-operational catalyst in this group. Q1 2026 free cash flow hit a record $203 million, up 157% year-on-year, driven by the Vareš mine in Bosnia ramp-up and elevated metal prices doubling revenue. That's the near-term story. The one building underneath it is exploration: in May, DPM disclosed new high-grade drill results from the Wedge Zone Deep prospect at its long-running Chelopech mine in Bulgaria, including one interval of 58 metres grading 15.28 g/t gold equivalent, with a mineral resource estimate targeted by year-end 2026.

The Chelopech mine life had already been extended to ten years. This kind of discovery adjacent to an existing operation matters a lot for a company DPM's size. At #8 in our Gold Majors ranking, down one spot, the financial results alone justify your attention. The exploration upside is the extra layer.

Perseus Mining (PRU.TO) is at #9, up one spot, and the March quarter delivered the clearest set of numbers in this group. Production jumped 21% quarter-on-quarter to 107,144 ounces across its three West African mines, with the first gold pour from the new CMA Underground section at its flagship Yaouré mine in Côte d'Ivoire adding another milestone to the count. AISC (all-in sustaining cost, basically what they spend per ounce) came in at $1,748, down from $1,800 the prior quarter.

Cash and bullion at quarter-end stood at $817 million with no debt. Then in June, management expanded the company's share buyback authorization from A$100 million to A$150 million. The Nyanzaga development project in Tanzania, which would be Perseus's largest asset when complete, is tracking to first production in January 2027 with 48% completion at quarter-end.

Agnico Eagle (AEM) climbed three spots to #5 on Q1 free cash flow of $732 million and record adjusted net income of $1.71 billion, its third consecutive earnings beat.

AngloGold Ashanti (AU) jumped four spots to #7 after posting record Q1 2026 free cash flow of $1.2 billion, nearly triple the year-prior quarter, alongside a proposed $2 billion share buyback program.

Barrick Mining (B) fell four spots to #10 despite Q1 free cash flow of $1.21 billion and a new $3 billion share buyback announcement as peers' relative moves outpaced it in the rankings.

IAMGOLD (IAG) rose two spots to #17 after Q1 mine-site free cash flow of $525 million and a $260 million share buyback in the quarter, with management now guiding to a net cash position.

SSR Mining (SSRM) dropped five spots to #14 even as the company completed the $1.5 billion sale of its Çöpler mine in Turkey on June 24, 2026, and announced an additional $500 million buyback plus a reinstated quarterly dividend.

Buenaventura (BVN) climbed two spots to #18 on Q1 revenue more than doubling to $624.6 million year-on-year as the San Gabriel project in Peru entered its ramp-up phase.

A year ago, the conversation was about whether gold prices would hold. While we wait for prices to recover, the conversation now it's about how the majors will allocate all their surplus cash, whether that's buybacks, new exploration programs, or accelerating development projects.

The 8-point jump in outperformance vs GDX over the past 60 days suggests the market is starting to reward that shift. The category-level question for the next quarter is whether the names that haven't yet made big capital return moves start to follow.

That’s all for this Tuesday, folks. I’ll see you on Thursday.

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Rick Adams
Founder, GoldBuzz
rick@goldbuzz.com