Vancouver, British Columbia – May 13, 2024 – Gold Royalty Corp. (“Gold Royalty” or the “Company”) (NYSE American: GROY) is pleased to announce the filing of its operating and financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2024. All amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.
David Garofalo, Chairman and CEO of Gold Royalty, commented: “We are proud to have delivered on another growth milestone in the first quarter, generating positive operating cash flow for the first time. Our recent acquisitions, royalty generator model, and existing flagship royalties fueled our record revenue this quarter. We also continued to lower our cost profile compared to the prior year. With the gold price near all-time highs and the ramp up of the Côté Gold Mine in the second half of 2024, we expect to see continued royalty revenue growth through the remainder of the year.
Our peer-leading long-term growth outlook and fundamentals continue to improve, driven primarily by Agnico Eagle’s long-life large-scale Odyssey Mine, where underground development is ahead of expectations, Nevada Gold Mine’s REN deposit which continues to be advanced towards production later this decade, and at Aura’s Borborema gold project where production is expected by early next year."
First Quarter 2024 Results Summary:
The following table sets forth selected financial information for the three months ended March 31, 2024:
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(1) Total Revenue, Land Agreement Proceeds and Interest, Cash Operating Expenses, Adjusted Net Loss, Adjusted Net Loss Per Share, basic and diluted and Total GEOs are each non-IFRS measures and do not have a standardized meaning under IFRS. See "Non-IFRS Measures" for further information.
For further detailed information, please refer to the Company's unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2024, copies of which are available under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca and www.sec.gov.
First Quarter 2024 Highlights:

• Record quarterly revenue of $2.9 million and record Total Revenue, Land Agreement Proceeds and Interest of $4.2 million (2,019 GEOs), which was 112% higher than the same period of 2023. Record quarterly revenue was driven by the first full quarter of revenue from the recently acquired interests in the Borborema project, royalty payments under the recently acquired Cozamin royalty interest and increased revenue from Canadian Malartic and land agreement proceeds.
  
• Achieved its first quarter of positive cash flows from operations of $0.3 million, which does not include an additional $1.1 million of land agreement proceeds credited against mineral properties.
  
• Cost management initiatives resulted in a continued decrease in Cash Operating Expenses. Cash Operating Expenses decreased by 10% to $2.3 million from $2.5 million in the same period of 2023.
  
• Continued advancement at key development stage assets, including first gold pour at the Côté Gold Mine, underground shaft and ramp development ahead of schedule at the Odyssey Mine, and construction at the Borborema project on track for production in early 2025.
  
• Forged a strategic alliance with Taurus Mining Royalty Fund L.P. which expands the Company’s deal origination and identification in addition to improving its ability to compete for larger high-quality investments.
  

Portfolio Update
Odyssey Mine (3.0% NSR over the northern portion of the mine): Agnico Eagle Mines Limited ("Agnico Eagle") owns and operates the Canadian Malartic Complex that is one of the world’s largest gold mining operations and is comprised of the open-pit Canadian Malartic mine and the underground Odyssey mine. The Canadian Malartic complex will progressively transition from open pit to underground mining between 2023 and 2028.
On April 25, 2024, Agnico Eagle announced its first quarter 2024 results, including an update that construction at the Odyssey mine is progressing well. Ramp development continued to exceed Agnico Eagle’s target and shaft sinking improved during the quarter. The shaft is expected to provide hoisting capacity by mid-2025, six months earlier than previously planned and will provide added development and production flexibility. As at March 31, 2024 the shaft has reached a depth of approximately 452 meters and Agnico Eagle expects to complete excavation of the shaft in 2027.
Agnico Eagle further outlined a summary of its first quarter operating results at the Odyssey mine. At the Barnat pit, good equipment availability and productivity, drove solid operational performance despite challenging weather conditions. At Odyssey South, the mining rate and production were slightly below plan at approximately 3,300 tpd and 17,700 ounces of gold, respectively. The underground operations are expected to gain additional flexibility in the second quarter of 2024, with the start of a second mining front and the addition of four 65 tonnes haulage trucks. Stope reconciliation at Odyssey South remains positive, primarily from the contribution of the internal zones, which resulted in approximately 16% more gold ounces produced than anticipated.
For further information see Agnico Eagle’s news release dated April 25, 2024, available under its profile on www.sedarplus.ca.
Côté Gold Mine (0.75% NSR royalty over the southern portion of the mine): On March 31, 2024, IAMGOLD Corporation (“IAMGOLD”) announced the first gold pour at the Côté Gold Mine. It stated that its next step is to focus on ramp-up towards commercial production in the third quarter of 2024, with the goal of achieving a 90% throughput rate at year end. IAMGOLD maintained its production guidance for the project for the year at 220,000 to 290,000 ounces of gold (100% basis), assuming the remaining milestones are achieved.
For further information see IAMGOLD’s news release dated March 31, 2024, available under its profile on www.sedarplus.ca.
Borborema Gold Project (2.0% NSR royalty and gold-linked royalty-convertible loan): On May 7, 2024, Aura Minerals Inc. (“Aura”) announced its first quarter 2024 results including an update on construction at the Borborema project. Following commencement of construction in the third quarter of 2023, Aura announced that construction is well underway with 25% completed to date, and production expected to start in early 2025. Gold Royalty expects to receive 1,440 GEOs in 2024 from Aura through fixed pre-production payments associated with the 2.0% NSR royalty and gold-linked coupon payments associated with the gold-linked royalty-convertible loan.
For further information see Aura’s news release dated May 7, 2024, available under its profile on www.sedarplus.ca.
Ren Project (1.5% NSR royalty and 3.5% NPI): In its management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2023, Barrick Gold Corporation (“Barrick”) highlighted continued exploration success at the Ren deposit. The step-out surface drilling program intercepted the targeted Corona dike at a depth of approximately 900 meters downhole and returned 4.7 meters at 24.90 g/t Au, which it stated confirmed the continuity of high-grade mineralization and paving the way for underground platform development in the future to convert more material to the west.
In its management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2024, Barrick included an update on growth and exploration projects. At Carlin, underground conversion drilling commenced across all sites in the first quarter, with step-out growth drilling expected to commence early in the second quarter at a few key project areas.
For further information see Barrick’s management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2023 and management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2024, each available under its profile on www.sedarplus.ca.
Granite Creek Mine Project (10.0% NPI): On February 7, 2024, i-80 Gold Corp (“i-80”) provided a summary of 2023 activities and 2024 exploration and development plans, including ongoing initiatives at the Granite Creek Mine Project. The South Pacific Zone (“SPZ”) is a priority area of development for i-80 and, and they have announced plans to advance a development plan that will include extending a decline in order to provide access to the SPZ allowing it to become part of Granite Creek mine plan in H1-2024. Ewan Downie, CEO of i-80 stated, “The results from our 2023 definition programs demonstrate the potential for the SPZ to be a significant deposit located on strike from one of North America’s largest gold mining operations. Mineralization remains open at depth and along strike to the north with the average intercept grade in the northern extension definition program of approximately 15 g/t gold with true widths ranging up to 15 metres.”
i-80 also announced on May 7, 2024 that the work being conducted in 2024 at Granite Creek is expected to include definition and expansion drilling, underground development and test mining of the South Pacific Zone, and a Feasibility Study.
For further information see i-80’s news releases dated February 7, 2024 and May 7, 2024, available under its profile on www.sedarplus.ca.
Cozamin Mine (1.0% NSR over a portion of the mine): On January 24, 2024, Capstone Copper Corp. (“Capstone”) reported 2023 production and 2024 guidance. Production from Cozamin in 2024 is anticipated by Capstone to be similar to 2023 at 22,000 to 24,000 tonnes of copper on a 100% basis. Operating costs in 2024 are forecasted by Capstone to be higher than those in 2023 driven by a higher proportion of cut-and-fill mining methods compared to longhole stoping, along with a stronger Mexican peso.
On May 2, 2024, Capstone announced its first quarter 2024 results which outlined that first quarter 2024 production was 15% higher than the first quarter 2023 due to higher grades consistent with the mine plan.
For further information see Capstone’s news releases dated January 24, 2024 and May 2, 2024 available under its profile on www.sedarplus.ca.
Royalty Generator Model Update
Our Royalty Generator Model continues to generate positive results with one new royalty added in the three months ended March 31, 2024. We have generated 40 royalties since the acquisition of Ely Gold Royalties Inc. in 2021 through this model.
We currently have 31 properties subject to land agreements and 6 properties under lease generating land agreement proceeds. The model continues to incur low operating costs with only $0.002 million spent on maintaining the mineral interests in the first quarter of 2024.
2024 Outlook
The Company remains on track to meet its previously disclosed forecast of between approximately 5,000 and 5,600 GEOs in 2024 which equates to approximately $10.0 million to $11.2 million in Total Revenue, Land Agreement Proceeds and Interest at a gold price of $2,000 per ounce. This would represent a midpoint increase in GEOs of approximately 100% relative to 2023.
The Company’s recurring Cash Operating Expenses are currently expected to be consistent with 2023 and the Company expects to achieve positive operating cash flow in 2024 when a number of its growth projects ramp up in production, including the long-life cornerstone mines at Côté and Odyssey and a full year of cash inflows from the recently acquired Cozamin and Borborema royalties.
The 2024 outlook regarding total GEOs is based on public forecasts, expected development timelines and other disclosure by the owners and operators of the properties underlying our interests and our assessment thereof.
Investor Webcast
An investor webcast will be held on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 starting at 11:00 am ET (8:00 am PT) to discuss these results. Management will be providing an update to interested stakeholders on the Company’s quarterly results including key recent catalysts that have been announced on the assets underlying the Company’s royalties. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session where participants will be able to ask any questions they may have of management.
To register for the Q1 2024 investor webcast, please click the link below: https://www.bigmarker.com/vid-conferences/GROY-2024-Q1-Results
A replay of the event will be available on the Gold Royalty website following the presentation.
About Gold Royalty Corp.
Gold Royalty Corp. is a gold-focused royalty company offering creative financing solutions to the metals and mining industry. Its mission is to invest in high-quality, sustainable, and responsible mining operations to build a diversified portfolio of precious metals royalty and streaming interests that generate superior long-term returns for our shareholders. Gold Royalty's diversified portfolio currently consists primarily of net smelter return royalties on gold properties located in the Americas.
Gold Royalty Corp. Contact
Peter Behncke Director, Corporate Development & Investor Relations Telephone: (833) 396-3066 Email: [info@goldroyalty.com](mailto:info@goldroyalty.com)
Qualified Person
Alastair Still, P.Geo., Director of Technical Services of the Company, is a "qualified person" as such term is defined under Canadian National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this news release.
Notice to Investors
For further information regarding the project updates regarding properties underlying the Company's interests, please refer to the disclosures of the operators thereof, including the news releases referenced herein. Disclosure relating to properties in which Gold Royalty holds royalty or other interests is based on information publicly disclosed by the owners or operators of such properties. The Company generally has limited or no access to the properties underlying its interests and is largely dependent on the disclosure of the operators of its interests and other publicly available information. The Company generally has limited or no ability to verify such information. Although the Company does not have any knowledge that such information may not be accurate, there can be no assurance that such third-party information is complete or accurate.
Unless otherwise indicated, the technical and scientific disclosure contained or referenced in this news release, including any references to mineral resources or mineral reserves, was prepared by the project operators in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101, which differs significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) applicable to domestic issuers. Accordingly, the scientific and technical information contained or referenced in this news release may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain of the information contained in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including but not limited to statements regarding: estimated future total GEOs, Total Revenues and Land Agreement Proceeds, Cash Operating Expenses, expected future cash flows; expectations regarding the operations and/or development of the projects underlying the Company's royalty interests, including the estimates of the operators thereof their timing and ability to achieve production; and expectations regarding the Company's growth and statements regarding the Company's plans and strategies. Such statements can be generally identified by the use of terms such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "believe", "plans", "anticipate" or similar terms. Forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions and other important factors, including assumptions of management regarding the accuracy of the disclosure of the operators of the projects underlying the Company's projects, their ability to achieve disclosed plans and targets, macroeconomic conditions, commodity prices, and the Company's ability to finance future growth and acquisitions. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, among others, any inability to any inability of the operators of the properties underlying the Company’s royalty interests to execute proposed plans for such properties or to achieved planned development and production estimates and goals, risks related to the operators of the projects in which the Company holds interests, including the successful continuation of operations at such projects by those operators, risks related to exploration, development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any such projects, the influence of macroeconomic developments, the ability of the Company to carry out its growth plans and other factors set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 and its other publicly filed documents under its profiles at www.sedarplus.ca and www.sec.gov. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Non-IFRS Measures
The Company has included in this document, certain performance measures, including: (i) Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted Net Loss Per Share; (ii) total GEOs; (iii) Total Revenue, Land Agreement Proceeds and Interest; and (iv) Cash Operating Expenses which are each non-IFRS measures. The presentation of such non-IFRS measures is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and other companies may calculate these measures differently.
Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted Net Loss Per Share
Adjusted Net Loss is calculated by adding back land agreement proceeds credited against mineral properties, loan interest earned on the gold-linked loan, convertible debentures-accretion, transaction related and non-recurring general administrative expenses* and share of loss and deducting the following from net loss: dilution income in associate, changes in fair value of derivative liabilities, embedded derivatives, short-term investments and gold-linked loan, gain on loan modification, foreign exchange gain (loss) and other income (expense). Adjusted Net Loss Per Share, basic and diluted have been determined by dividing the Adjusted Net Loss by the weighted average number of common shares for the applicable period. Management believes that they are useful measures of performance as they adjust for items which are not always reflective of the underlying operating performance of our business and/or are not necessarily indicative of future operating results. The following is a reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted Net Loss, Per Share, basic and diluted for the periods indicated:
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* Transaction related, and non-recurring general administrative expenses comprised of operating expenses that are not expected to be incurred on an ongoing basis. During the quarter ended March 31, 2024, transaction related and non-recurring professional fees related to select project evaluation costs and post- closing activities relating the issuance of the Company's outstanding convertible debentures.
Total GEOs
Total GEOs are determined by dividing Total Revenue, Land Agreement Proceeds and Interest by the average gold prices for the applicable period:
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Total Revenue, Land Agreement Proceeds and Interest
Total Revenue, Land Agreement Proceeds and Interest are determined by adding land agreement proceeds credited against mineral properties and interest received under the gold-linked loan. The Company has included this information as management believes certain investors use this information to evaluate our performance in comparison to other gold royalty companies in the precious metal mining industry. The following is a reconciliation of Total Revenue, Land Agreement Proceeds and Interest to total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively:
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Cash Operating Expenses
Cash Operating Expenses are determined by deducting depreciation and share-based compensation from general, administrative and project evaluation costs. The Company has included this information as management believes certain investors use this information to evaluate our performance in comparison to other gold royalty companies in the precious metal mining industry. The following is a reconciliation of Cash Operating Expenses to general, administrative and project evaluation costs.
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Hi all,
This has happened about 3 or 4 times this week now. I complete more of my course and then come back a few hours later to find this pop up and all of my progress removed.
My XP is still kept, but my course progress goes back a few lessons. It’s beginning to frustrate me greatly.
I’m a paying ‘super’ member and this is not good.
I understand Duolingo syncs and improves their courses, but it doesn’t happen 3 to 4 times a week… when no courses are actually being updated and instead my progress is removed.
If anyone knows what is happening and how I can resolve it, that would be greatly appreciated.

https://preview.redd.it/vfqpjxdvqn0d1.png?width=3005&format=png&auto=webp&s=5714871c0eb21939d134ffe5f90025eb3f2fc8e3
I'm not sure why I'm still so hung up on this. For context, I kinda fell out of theorycrafting a while ago — at this point, I've seen every shred of evidence supporting or opposing every possible theory, and yet I feel no closer to any concrete conclusions on the game's lore. There are just too many questions, too many possibilities.
Then the secret Valentine dropped. This letter raised a lot of questions I was eager to discuss! Instead, I was disappointed to find the discussion dominated by something I didn't even think to question: the writer's identity. This frustrated me a bit, as I felt that, for once, the conclusion was actually pretty clear-cut; it didn't strike me as something Toby Fox even intended for us to debate.
At the time, this drove me to write a post discussing it (don't bother reading it, this post is better). I thought that would be the end of it for me, but somehow the debate has yet to leave my mind. Even now, from what I've seen, people are too busy arguing about who wrote the letter to discuss what's in it. All the while, I've not only grown more confident in the conclusion I've reached, but I feel more prepared to articulate why. I've also heard more counterarguments since then, which I will address in this post.
I'll start with what we can agree on, before addressing more significant counterarguments and delving into progressively deeper levels of conjecture. Should be fun!

Context and implications

Even before looking at the letter itself, we can see that this is a rare, cryptic secret, already giving us an idea of who might be involved. I'd go so far as to say that Gaster is "rare, cryptic secrets" personified. To me, this is the main thing setting him apart from other characters.
Obviously that's not to say that other characters can't be responsible for secrets like these, but giving the letter a cursory glance, the format doesn't fail us. All caps — this doesn't tell us much on its own, but when used alongside a very, very specific manner of double line spacing between and within sentences, compounded by the aforementioned association with secrets... Toby Fox is clearly trying to tell us something here, so I'm not a fan of any theory that completely discards that.
You'll probably agree with this point — even Gaster Valentine deniers admit that there is an intentional association being drawn. If you disagree... sorry, I don't know what to tell you. When it comes to Gaster, having a mysterious secret with all-caps weirdly-spaced text is basically equivalent to Susie walking onscreen and saying "Hi, I'm Susie". Sure, maybe a plot twist down the line will reveal that this isn't actually Susie... But you'd only suspect that if she says something that would imply it, and for now, we're only looking at the presentation.
There's another association I haven't seen as many people bring up: the fact that the letter is anonymous. Ironically, "not being confirmed to be Gaster" is one of Gaster's identifying characteristics. In every case, we're left to assume his involvement from cues such as those we see here: secrets, crypticism, capitalization, spacing, all that. Anonymity is his signature. By including these quirks and leaving it uncredited, he may as well be signing "GASTER" in flashing letters. And that's not even getting into the implication of Wingdings and the letter disappearing after being read, which are both Gastery as all get out.
A couple minor notes regarding the writer's anonymity:

• The lack of a telltale 666 motif or gratuitous "VERY, VERY" could be seen as a point of contention, but I think this naturally follows the pattern we've seen thus far: as we grow more familiar with Gaster, there's less need for these kinds of identifying motifs. In Undertale, the name Gaster is directly associated with 666 and Wingdings, but as we already know these connections going into Deltarune, the game's intro more-or-less drops the name and font associations.
• Notably, this is the only Valentine without a confirmed sender — if it was meant to tease a new character (à la Lanino and Elnina), why not include a visual or first initial to indicate that? Because it's supposed to seem like Gaster, only to end up a red herring...? Seems like a pretty cheap twist to me. Characters have deceived us in the games themselves, but we've generally been able to take supplemental content more-or-less at face value.

Of course, that anonymity is a double-edged sword. It implies Gaster's involvement just as much as it leaves room for doubt. If Toriel does something un-Toriel-like, we simply have to reconcile what we previously knew of her character with what we do now, whereas if Gaster does something un-Gaster-like, it calls his entire identity into question. I still don't think the Gaster associations can simply be handwaved away — again, even Gaster Valentine deniers agree that there's some significance to the similarities — but, by his very nature, it's nothing more than an implication.
If the voice from the vessel creation sequence says something to the effect of:
https://preview.redd.it/lsfu4bxrqn0d1.png?width=514&format=png&auto=webp&s=14867b9e9ea46dfc4f7c7fc91de69c574cab530d
I'll be the first to admit that it probably isn't Gaster. But I don't think that's the case here, and to discuss why, we'll have to move on from the context to the content.

Personality and mannerisms

The obvious problem with analyzing Gaster is that he has yet to be properly introduced, much less developed. We've only ever interacted with him outside Deltarune's story and world, and furthermore only briefly, within a very narrow range of contexts. Additionally, these interactions are written to provide us with as little characterization as possible — he is succinct and direct, never shifting the subject beyond what is relevant to us. This itself could be considered characterization, but without the "why", there's not much to glean from it.
Regardless of whether this trait is dependent on context (there's little room for conversation in a survey program, after all) or is simply an ever-present aspect of his personality, I'd argue it carries over to the letter. He tries to begin with polite small talk, but each topic he broaches is swiftly dismissed; once again, he can hardly bring himself to deviate from "the purpose of the message". Speaking of which, that fact — that this is the only Valentine with an explicit "purpose" — itself provides characterization. Almost as though this character would only contact us for an important reason (perhaps a character with a history of doing so, often outside the game). Almost as though we've met this character before (otherwise, I suspect Toby would've focused exclusively on characterization rather than motives, as with Lanino and Elnina).
I realize I'm getting into full speculation territory now, but hopefully I've made it clear why it's necessary to do so. Gaster's personality and motives are largely up to personal interpretation — I think we can agree that, were that not the case, the debate would be a lot more one-sided. Your interpretation of the character can't be used as conclusive evidence for your theory. Of course, I'm not exempt from this either! My interpretation could be completely off-base as well. That said, I'd like to at least explain why it all lines up in my head. (Feel free to compare my interpretation with his dialogue, which I've compiled here: https://pastebin.com/yR5Y8qhw)
Let's get the specific shared mannerisms out of the way before moving onto the more general similarities. Specifically:

• Gaster employs a specific kind of repetition, mostly limited to single words, but occasionally multiple ("OF COURSE", "SHALL WE", "THE SECOND"). We see this reflected in the letter ("BELIEVE IT SO", "WANT[ED] TO HELP", "SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN").
• He alternates between present and past tense when describing what is currently happening (seen throughout the vessel creation and save menu text). The letter writer does this multiple times.
• Perhaps a generic word choice, but the writer says "HOW ABSURD", much like how Gaster has said "HOW WONDERFUL", "HOW INTERESTING", and "HOW LONG IT HAS BEEN".

There are a couple other things that struck me as extremely Gastery, but I couldn't find many examples for them. I might just be thinking of the stilted way Toby Fox writes in status updates and newsletters, which reminds me more of Gaster than any other character... but that's a tenuous connection at best, so take these for whatever they're worth:

• The letter writer puts "VALENTINE'S DAY" in quotes. I thought there were more examples of Gaster putting random terms in quotes (it suits his general robotic-yet-whimsical demeanor), but the only ones seem to be the names you enter in the vessel creation.
• I find the phrasing "THE PURPOSE OF THE MESSAGE" (as opposed to, say, "the reason I wrote this to you") very Gastery — something about the detached feeling and repeated use of "THE" — but the only instance I could find of this particular sentence construction was "CHOOSE THE TARGET FOR THE REFLECTION", so maybe it doesn't mean much.

Moving onto the general personality, the easiest similarity to argue is the metaknowledge. Gaster introduces you to the Deltarune program, and is the only character known to acknowledge it. The letter writer is clearly interested in your thoughts on Deltarune (albeit spelled "DELTA RUNE"; beyond Toby's general inconsistency with minor details like these, I'm not sure what to make of that). The writer also acknowledges the wait between chapters, much like Gaster does — contrasting this, everyone else simply acknowledges the time that's passed within the story, perceiving two real-world years as one night. It could also be argued that Gaster is the only character who has contacted us, the player, directly.
Gaster is also known to be polite and formal, always offering greetings ("WELCOME"), gratitude ("THANK YOU FOR WAITING SO LONG"), and compliments ("YOU HAVE CREATED A WONDERFUL FORM"). We see this reflected quite well in the letter — "AS YOU ARE WAITING PATIENTLY" and "DO YOU BELIEVE IT SO?" certainly don't feel like the words of someone speaking casually. Like Gaster, the writer also uses fewer exclamation marks and contractions than most. Granted, the fact that the writer uses contractions at all is cause for suspicion... but, since they're outnumbered by the uncontracted phrases, contraction usage remains closer to Gaster than anyone else (except Toriel, I guess). Although we haven't seen Gaster use contractions in his few prior instances of dialogue... evidently, he does use them, albeit infrequently.
The formality even goes beyond word choice — his repeated backtracking on the exact order of "PUT ON YOUR COAT AND WASH YOUR FACE" brings to mind his polite accommodation of our choices in the vessel creation or save menu. It doesn't seem like him to forcefully tell us what to do, or in what order to do it, and the letter's ending serves to exaggerate that quality. He may not use any highly technical language here, but that makes sense in this less scientific context (especially when you consider that he doesn't use scientific terminology all that often anyway).
Gaster's constant emphasis on the subject at hand, saying something odd or outright wrong whenever he alludes to anything else (listing the wrong options for whatever he means by "FAVORITE BLOOD TYPE", or listing such favorite flavors as "PAIN" and "COLD") — it's always given me the impression that Gaster's transcendent brilliance doesn't extend far beyond his own work. That's not to say he's stupid, far from it, but definitely a bit "out there" (I feel this much is apparent from the multiple typing quirks he uses). At the very least it feels inarguable to me that, while Gaster is smart, he doesn't know everything, and (like any Toby Fox character) he isn't always intended to be taken 100% seriously.
Casting our gaze over to the letter, this once again checks out. Confusing the new year with the old year, considering himself to be the person he's forgotten, mixing up the recipient's face and coat — these feel more-or-less like a natural development of Gaster's established eccentricity, like the kinds of weird things that would only make sense from his unique, potentially fractured, extradimensional perspective. Sure, "THE TIME IS GOING AROUND" may not make sense to us mortal beings, but neither does "DELTARUNE GLOWS BRIGHTLY FROM YOUR HOPE". Ending a message with the archaic "GOOD BY" feels roughly equivalent to randomly putting [24] in brackets.
The increased emphasis on these quirks makes sense in this more casual context, and adds tonal consistency with the other Valentines — being a spooky creepypasta character is hard work, and I think the guy's earned a day off. The friendliness also makes it out to seem like the writer has communicated with us in the past, which wouldn't make sense for anyone other than Gaster, and certainly wouldn't have made sense in something like the vessel creation sequence. I find that it also makes sense from an extradiagetic perspective — Toby Fox is just providing characterization here, not announcing a new chapter, so there's less reason to write Gaster with as much purpose and brevity as in previous appearances.
Basically, the idea that Gaster is completely serious and grounded while the letter writer is completely goofy... I don't get it. I really don't think either of those things are true. I'm not even sure what I would change about the letter to make it sound more like Gaster... Did you expect less exclamation marks? More line breaks (which would make it overly long and monotonous, might I add)? Less whimsical turns of phrase? At that point the letter wouldn't deepen our understanding of the character at all, and I fail to see what the point would be.
And the idea that the letter ruined Gaster's character makes even less sense to me — for one, what does this letter really establish about Gaster that wasn't already alluded to? I suppose the letter makes him out to be more whimsical than most of us thought, but how is that a downgrade from "static, one-dimensional robotic scientist"? Can "whimsical scatterbrain" and "robotic scientist" not coexist? Is the gradual reveal of depth and contrasts not at the heart of most Toby Fox characters?? The directness of his speech has made him feel more like a plot device up to this point, so this letter was the first time I truly felt invested in Gaster as a character outside of his unique presentation. I don't think "saying things in a casual context that could be construed as humorous" (again, especially when he already says things like "FAVORITE BLOOD TYPE") is enough to consider him "scrunkly goober #78" — and even if it was, Toby has a way of delivering the most emotionally impactful moments through the funniest characters, so I'm not particularly worried.
All that to say: it's my belief that, even looking past the context and format, the letter aligns more closely with Gaster than any other character. Who else has such a formal and cordial composure contrasted against an air of inscrutable strangeness?

Motives and memory

Gaster hasn't exactly been transparent about his goals, and the letter writer isn't giving us a whole lot to work with either, so we're going to have to get even more speculative here. That said, the conclusion I've arrived at makes a lot of sense to me, relates to established elements of Deltarune, and even explains away some people's reasons for this not being Gaster. Those being:

1. "Gaster asks us for help, even though we've already been helping him!" This is easily explained if we assume he's asking our help with something else this time. The more casual tone and secrecy of the letter supports the interpretation that this is a less generally important, more personal matter; it's the difference between "Hey, if you don't mind, would you lend me a hand with this thing that's been on my mind?" and "I'm subjecting you to an experiment I've spent years preparing, please follow these exact instructions." I suppose it's strange that he doesn't mention how we can help, but I imagine that's something that will become clear in the future.
2. "Gaster isn't forgetful!" While I'd say it's entirely possible that Gaster has memory problems that simply hadn't been alluded to yet, I find the more likely explanation to be that there's something supernatural at play, and once again I believe this is hinted at in the letter itself. Gaster says it's "IRONIC" that he forgot something — what could this imply, beyond the fact that he was forgotten himself? (To recap the theory, Goner Kid mentions a world where they don't exist, no one acknowledges Gaster outside Fun events, and while Asgore is said to have taken a long time replacing Gaster, it's unconfirmed whether he remembered who he was replacing.) I was 50/50 on this theory myself, but I take this letter to be more-or-less confirmation of it, further tying it to Gaster. The only other explanation I can think of for this "IRONIC" line is that perhaps Gaster makes people forget things...? For the purposes of this theory, it doesn't matter too much, as it establishes a precedence for supernatural memory loss either way. Furthermore, by suggesting the person he's forgotten may be himself, he draws a direct parallel between himself and the person he's helping, lending further credence to this interpretation.

This brings us to my theory. I posit that the forgotten character is someone in similar circumstances to Gaster himself; someone who cannot be found in the story, and is instead associated with secrets outside of it (much like this letter). As an added bonus, it would help strengthen the theory if it happened to be a character who is known to call out for help, and who we've previously been requested to find (particularly in secret material outside of the game, much like this letter). If only there was a character fitting all of those criteria...
But this post isn't about that. My point is, while there's not much to glean in the way of connections between the letter person's goals and Gaster's, I don't think there's anything contradicting such connections either.
https://preview.redd.it/gswysspqtn0d1.png?width=392&format=png&auto=webp&s=248273e7bacc131cf9e9422a0aebdaeeacc6c9b6
Oh. Right, I guess there's that. If this is the same Gaster we've worked with before, why doesn't he say "YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELF TO BE RELIABLE"? I feel like this minor word choice could be justified by any number of explanations. For one, the phrasing makes a bit more sense within the full context: basically "you're odd, but you seem reliable regardless". You could also argue that, since he's asking something different of us this time, we haven't proven ourselves to be reliable for this specific task. Or that since we've only been assisting in the "Deltarune" project for 2 of 7 chapters, that's not enough time for him to fully consider us reliable. Or, maybe the only reason we do seem reliable to him is because we've been assisting him — otherwise we wouldn't seem reliable at all. Heck, it could just be odd phrasing for a character who constantly uses odd phrasing, only misleading under a specific interpretation.

Translation

To recap, I think the context and format convey a very clear implication — one that could be a red herring, but that I believe is only supported by the writer's personality, and (at the very least) not contradicted by their goals. Here is where I believe we come to the first hole in my argument.
The Japanese translation doesn't sound particularly close to how Gaster speaks in Japanese. I don't speak Japanese, so there's not much I can do to back up or debunk this claim — perhaps people are overlooking some of the more minor similarities, as with the English version...? Or maybe there's more nuance to the translation process than most people think, and the writing style is highly adaptive to tone, mood, context, or method of delivery, or affected by cultural differences...? I don't know, so for now I can do nothing but take it at face value, and consider what this inconsistency might imply.
People seem divided into two camps with regards to the translation: "the English version very clearly sounds like Gaster, therefore the Japanese version doesn't matter" and "the Japanese version very clearly doesn't sound like Gaster, therefore the English version doesn't matter". Frustratingly, neither of these actually address the inconsistency. If we assume it isn't Gaster, the English version clearly goes out of its way to mislead us into thinking it is (as I've already justified extensively), so why not do the same for the Japanese version? If Toby wanted to clear up ambiguity by making the Japanese version distinct from Gaster, why not do the same for the English version? Whichever way you slice it, it's a contradiction.
That said, I think there are a few things working in my favor here. For one, English is Toby's native language, as well as the most common language spoken by his fanbase. Japanese translation is handled by a different team under Toby's supervision; they had a lot of Valentines to translate, and likely a pretty strict deadline. It's believable that time constraints forced the team to prioritize accuracy to the content and tone of the letter over consistency with established text quirks.
There's also the fact that the English version is the only one to imply a clear sender (unless you want to reach and say the secrecy and metaknowledge of the Japanese version imply Gaster as well); personally, I feel inclined to believe a deliberate implication over the lack of one. Adding weight to this point, this isn't generally the sort of thing casual fans are going to speculate about — anyone who knows about the letter has likely heard of both versions, which means most will gravitate toward whichever one implies a specific identity. Because of this, the Gaster interpretation seems to prevail even in the Japanese fanbase.
Basically, I don't like that making sense of the letter forces me to either make up an arbitrary narrative explanation for the discrepancy, or to write off either the English or Japanese version as unreliable... However, this decision is made much easier by the fact that, the way I see it, only one of them provides mounds of evidence (from the context to the specific format to the anonymity to the metaknowledge to the formality to the strange mannerisms and so on) pointing toward a single interpretation.

Alternative explanations

I've seen a few other theories regarding the writer's identity, the most common of which being the idea that Gaster was shattered into multiple personalities, and that this is a different "shard" from the one we've communicated in the past — I take issue with any theory that compartmentalizes one complicated character into multiple simple ones, but I suppose it doesn't necessarily have to be done that way. There are also theories that this is the Chapter 3/4 secret boss (associated with Gaster based on precedent), Mike (associated with Gaster through Spamton), or IMAGE_FRIEND (associated with Gaster via filename conventions), some of whom may or may not be the same person.
My main argument against these theories is that I simply don't think they're necessary. To reiterate, I think the whimsy Gaster displays here is consistent with his previous characterization (we've only seen him in scientific contexts until now, and even then a bit of whimsy manages to slip through), and the forgetfulness can easily be explained as well (since it only seems to apply to one subject). Again, the only hole I can find in my interpretation is the Japanese version, and none of these theories really explain the inconsistency there, leaving us back at square one — if it's merely a character associated with Gaster as opposed to the man himself, why aren't the similarities and differences roughly the same in both versions?
These theories don't make much sense to me when I attempt to look at them from Toby Fox's perspective, either. Getting a secret Valentine from Gaster is, technically speaking, like the coolest thing ever, and I think he realizes this. If he's willing to include a secret letter with this much lore in it, why leave out such an important character we've already communicated with? And furthermore, why give a different mysterious character so many of the same characteristics we use to identify Gaster in the absence of his appearance or name?
Also, isn't it telling that the debate seems split evenly between "Gaster" and "a theoretically infinite supply of basically made-up Gaster-adjacent characters"? While these theories could end up being accurate, I don't yet see any precedence for either Gaster having multiple personalities, nor any as-of-yet unseen/nonverbal characters sounding like the letter writer; these theories simply exist to explain a contradiction that I believe isn't truly there. They embody the principle of explosion, or "from contradiction, anything follows" — if you accept that it sounds both "like Gaster" and "unlike Gaster", you can make up anything in between these possibilities, an untouchable theory that can neither be proven by evidence or disproven by counterevidence. I personally don't find that line of thought very compelling.
In the most popular video on the topic, SpookyDood analyzes the letter through cadence, language, context, and function; however, I think something is lost from analyzing these aspects separately. Cadence, language, and function are largely dependent on context. If we accept the letter into that pool of Gaster characterization rather than nitpicking it into oblivion, we simply see new patterns emerge. We see that Gaster only uses particularly large words when he's referring to something scientific. We see that Gaster is slightly more enthusiastic when there's less pressure to be serious and professional. Basically, I feel that all of the inconsistencies SpookyDood brings up are easily explained by this letter being a different narrative context from the one Gaster has previously occupied (and I presume will largely continue to occupy), which is what I find so interesting about it.
As for cadence, SpookyDood says that "[Gaster's] pattern of each few words being broken up by a line break is no longer present", but the first 3 sentences alone are divided into 6 lines. He even calls out certain sentences in the vessel creation as going against this pattern, proving that it doesn't have to be consistent — while these line breaks do define the flow of Gaster's speech, I think the frequent use of ellipses here achieve the same effect without needlessly extending the length of the image.
The video ultimately posits that the writer is the man behind the tree, and honestly, I don't entirely disagree with that conclusion. The use of "well" checks out, as does the happy mood. In the case of both "DO YOU BELIEVE IT SO?" and "He might be happy to see you. What do you think?", the text moves on without directly responding to our answer. There's also a more loose connection to be made, in that both of these questions involve reality being dependent on our thoughts (whether each day is or is not a day of love, and whether there is or is not a man there), and likewise, dropping the egg causes the narration to act as though the egg was never there. (Obviously the man himself doesn't say any of this, but the association's still there through the narration.)
The connections don't strike me as plentiful or strong enough to stand toe-to-toe with the Gaster interpretation, but without much to go off of regarding the man, it doesn't have to deal with as much counterevidence either. I'd say I have the same problem with this theory as the others I've mentioned (an excessive avoidance of contradiction such that, instead of associating with said contradictions, the letter is attributed to a character we know so little about that it can't be argued against), but there's a fairly reasonable basis for argument here.
Thing is, I don't think these interpretations are mutually exclusive. I was ambivalent toward Gaster and the man (the mystery man, you could say) being one and the same, but the letter has done a lot to sway me toward that conclusion. Strengthening the connections between the letter, the man, and Gaster are the mutual association with forgetting (due to the blog post where Noelle can't remember the name of her egg), secrets, and disappearances. The letter's contrasting of contradictory statements ("NEW YEAR" vs. "OLD YEAR", "WASH YOUR FACE" vs. "WASH YOUR COAT") call to mind both the man ("a man" vs. "not a man", "not too important" vs. "not too unimportant") and the strange someone who corrupted Jevil ("didn't make sense" vs. "didn't not make sense").
If the letter was supposed to be written by the man, but not Gaster, I imagine the letter would have been formatted like this instead:
https://preview.redd.it/igudqtpisn0d1.png?width=2500&format=png&auto=webp&s=0dd63050999a033459f6255ac671a1ac4ad4fcd9

Conclusion

Sorry, that was long. I'm done!

This thing feels so hopeless and makes me feel so ugly (I wish I had before pictures but it actually used to be worse and I’ve killed 4-6 warts since really buckling down and always treating it somehow, but then I find more I didn’t see) I always at least have duct tape on it, I’ve been holding it under the bath water as hot as it possibly can get every other day or so (some people have said that heat therapy works wonders) usually try to put salicylic acid on it a few times a week at least, been taking vitamin b, and last week tried the banana peel for the first time and was surprised at how much that helped. Hopefully in another month I’ll have made much more noticeable progress.