The standout number is the one that underpins that market capitalisation – the amount of money Gold Resource Corp has returned to shareholders since it went into production at the Arista mine back in 2010. The standout number for Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE:GORO) isn’t the consistent amount of gold, silver and other metals it’s been producing from its Mexican mine for some years now, and nor is it even the US$117mln market capitalisation that the company boasts on the New York Stock Exchange. No, the standout number is the one that underpins that market capitalisation – the amount of money Gold Resource Corp has returned to shareholders since it went into production at the Arista mine back in 2010. The company has returned no less than US$107mln to shareholders across those five years, and shows no sign of letting up now. In the latest set of quarterlies, Gold Resource Corp reported production slightly down on the corresponding quarter in 2014, but nonetheless still robust at 14,133 ounces of gold equivalent. A slightly lower than that amount was actually sold, but it still brought in revenue for the period of US$19.4mln. That in turn allowed the company to distribute US$0.03 per share at the end of the quarter, adding up to a total dividend payment of US$1.6mln. Production for the full year to end December is now slated to be around 26,900 ounces of gold and around 2.5mln ounces of silver, slightly down on forecasts issued earlier in the year as lower grades and mining dilution took their toll. Nonetheless, with total cash costs running at just US$603 per ounce of gold equivalent produced, the Arista mine remains a nice little earner at a time when other small mines are feeling intense pressure on margins in the face of weaker gold and silver prices. Cash flow ran at a tidy US$6.4mln over the last quarter, and may yet improve as the company works to address those issues with grade and dilution. In addition, the company is well supported by a balance sheet that shows US$14mln in hard cash and a further US$3mln in bullion. So there is plenty of room for manoeuvre here: a cushion if gold and silver prices go weaker still, or alternatively plenty of upside should they strengthen. After all, many financial pundits think that the much-touted rate rise from the Fed is already priced in to the markets, and the imminent threat of an escalation in fighting in the Middle East may do more to the gold price now than any decision by Janet Yellen. But having said that, there’s more to Gold Resource Corp’s product mix than just silver and gold. Indeed, in the most recent quarter the company earned US$8.3mln in by-product credits, primarily from copper, lead and zinc. It’s not helpful that the prices of all those metals are down from where they were a year ago, but it is nice to have a mix – upside from a strengthening global economy delivered by the base metals suite, and a hedge against geopolitical uncertainty delivered by the precious metals. And on top of that there’s the cash that keeps coming back to shareholders, which Gold Resource Corp is also more than happy to pay out in the form of physical gold and silver.

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