Gold and silver are volatile commodities, but some investors like to have a little exposure to them for diversification purposes. You can buy bullion directly or get indirect exposure via the purchase of a precious metals miner. But there's one more option, and that's buying a streaming/royalty company like Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE: WPM). Here are some of the key reasons why you might want to buy a stock like Wheaton.

No company can succeed for very long if its customers don't benefit from the products being offered. In Wheaton's case, it is offering money and its customers are miners. To simplify things a great deal, Wheaton gives miners cash up front for the right to buy gold and silver at reduced rates in the future. Wheaton's profit comes from selling the low-cost precious metals it acquires at whatever the current market rate is at the time. The question is: Why would a miner want to work with Wheaton? Here are three reasons.

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Source Fool.com