Happy Tuesday, GoldBuzzers!

Silver surged yesterday. Mining stocks also ran sharply on the back of a strong Q1 reporting season - record cash flows, record buybacks, and signs that producer earnings are finally catching up with what the metal price has been implying for months.

Barrick's 9% move was the headline but it was far from the only one. Today's GoldBuzz looks at where the sector stands now.

Let’s get into it. ⬇️

Gold climbed to around $4,735 on Monday, hitting its highest level in nearly three weeks, but the real story was silver, which surged over 7% to $86.11 as the gold-silver ratio compressed to 55.30 - its lowest in years.

Barrick added fuel with a monster Q1 report before the bell: earnings up 238%, production beating guidance, and a $3 billion buyback that sent the stock up 9% on double its usual volume. Barrick had been added to the GoldBuzz INSIDER portfolio in Monday’s rebalance before the news broke.

The global backdrop is familiar but intensifying - Trump rejected Iran's peace proposal as "totally unacceptable," the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked, and rate cut expectations are fading fast, with markets now split between one cut and none in 2026.

Meanwhile, India's Modi publicly urged citizens to pause gold purchases as the war drives up energy costs, a notable move from the world's second-largest gold buyer. All eyes on today’s CPI print and Trump's trip to Beijing this week.

Welcome to our new regular Tuesday feature, where I’ll be delving deep into the world of mining company data to unearth some real nuggets. Every week, I’ll focus on a different sector of the mining industry - starting today with the biggest of the big - the Gold Majors.

Gold Majors are the largest gold-producing companies in the world - think market caps typically above $5 billion, annual gold output in the hundreds of thousands to millions of ounces, and operations spanning multiple countries and continents. These are the names mainstream financial media covers when gold moves: Newmont, Barrick, Agnico Eagle. When generalist investors get interested in gold, this is usually where they look first.

But first, let’s check all sectors of the mining industry to see which are currently attracting the most capital flows.

This new infographic shows the percentage of miners in each sector that are beating their benchmark ETF in price performance. The benchmarks are GDX for gold miners and SIL for silver miners. You can see that Gold Majors have the highest rate at 48%, meaning nearly half the category is outperforming the GDX, though that's down 8 percentage points from 60 days ago. Silver Majors made the biggest move of any sector, jumping 13.3pp to 33% of names beating SIL, while Royalty Companies surged 12.1pp to 19%. Gold Juniors sit at 18.1%, with only Silver Juniors lower at 14.3%.

The ranks throughout this article come from GoldBuzz INSIDER's daily composite scoring of more than 230 precious metals miners across a range of factors, like price performance and fundamentals.

Let’s take a closer look at three names making the biggest moves up the Gold Majors rankings over the past two months: Barrick Mining, Perseus Mining and AngloGold Ashanti. Each had a catalyst. Each climbed. The gap between them is in how clean the story is.

Barrick is the household name here, and this quarter really gave it something to shout about. Gold production hit 719,000 ounces, comfortably clearing guidance of 640,000-680,000 ounces, driven by Nevada Gold Mines (its joint venture with Newmont), a higher-than-expected ramp at its Loulo-Gounkoto operations in West Africa, and cost discipline that brought AISC down 4% year-on-year to $1,708/oz. Attributable free cash flow came in at $1.21 billion, up 195% year-on-year. The board added a $3 billion share buyback and the company confirmed its North American IPO stays on track for year-end. No wonder it climbed four spots up to #6 in our INSIDER rankings, and its price sored 9% yesterday.

Perseus is also interesting. The company's West African operations had a difficult stretch in late 2025 as mine sites transitioned into new areas, and investors weren't sure whether costs had structurally reset upward. The March 2026 quarter (Q3 FY26) answered that. Three mines in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana produced 107,144 ounces, 21% more than the prior quarter, with AISC (all-in sustaining cost, basically what it costs per ounce to keep mines running) dropping to $1,748/oz on the back of higher output. Cash and bullion at quarter-end hit $817 million with zero debt. Five spots up to #11 in the Gold Majors ranking.

AngloGold is the most complicated from a cost perspective. Record free cash flow of $1.2 billion in Q1 2026, nearly triple the same quarter last year - that figure alone got attention. The balance sheet swung from $755 million in net debt a year ago to $868 million in net cash. On the other side: group AISC rose 19% year-on-year to $1,955/oz, driven by higher royalties and a planned step-up in sustaining capital spend. At current gold prices the margins still work, but it's a cost trajectory worth watching. Three spots up to #9.

Newmont (NEM) climbed two spots to #4, powered by an all-time record $3.1 billion in Q1 2026 free cash flow and a fresh $6 billion share repurchase authorization.

Agnico Eagle (AEM) fell three spots to #7 even after $732 million in Q1 2026 free cash flow and record operating margins - others moved harder in the rankings this cycle.

DPM Metals (DPM.TO) dropped three spots to #10 despite record quarterly free cash flow of $203 million driven by its Vareš mine ramp-up in Bosnia.

Evolution Mining (CAHPF) fell four spots to #13 after weather disruptions at Ernest Henry weighed on the quarter, though it generated A$406 million in group cash flow in Q3 FY26 and reached a net cash position.

Buenaventura (BVN) climbed three spots to #17 as Q1 2026 revenue more than doubled year-on-year to $625 million on the San Gabriel project ramp-up in Peru.

Artemis Gold (ARTG.V) dropped three spots to #14 after a March gearbox failure caused a seven-day Blackwater Mine shutdown in British Columbia, though full-year guidance holds.

When I look at the gold majors this week, Barrick, Perseus and AngloGold all had legitimately strong quarters and got rewarded for it. Agnico and DPM also posted solid quarters - record or near-record numbers - but dropped anyway. That's how the rankings work: they compare each miner to the rest of the category, not just to its own prior results. A good quarter in a week when peers had great quarters gets you nowhere in the standings.

The gold majors are stacked with companies printing money at $4,700 gold, and Q1's record cash flows are only the start. The mining sector spent years lagging the metal - now that the majors are finally generating the kind of free cash flow gold's price implies, the question becomes what they do with it. Buybacks, dividends, exploration spending, and acquisitions are all on the table.

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

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Rick Adams
Founder, GoldBuzz
rick@goldbuzz.com