Resources Top 5: Record gold prices keep propelling ASX goldies to the top

ASX junior gold-mining companies are on a roll  as the gold price hits the $4000/oz mark, driven by US election uncertainties and Middle Eastern conflict. Here's your resources wrap.

Pic: Getty Images

• Prodigy Gold still up ~55 per cent from high-grade drill hits at Hyperion earlier this week 

• Australian Silica Quartz Group another big gainer today, touching ~60 per cent before circling down to 50 per cent

• Cavalier Resources, Duketon Mining and Mamba Exploration up on no news 

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Thursday, September 24. Prices accurate at time of writing.

Prodigy Gold (ASX:PRX)

(Up on no news)

This tiny, sub-$5m market-cap explorer has the wind in its sails on Thursday morning following news earlier this week of high-grade gold drilling hits at the Hyperion deposit, part of the Tanami North project in the NT.

A stand-out strike of 10m at 15.9g/t/ gold has created a buzz among investors ahead of a planned resource upgrade and further drilling planned for the 2025 field season.

This comes as bullion, considered a hedge against geopolitical and economic uncertainties, reaches a new record of ~$4000/oz on the back of US election uncertainties and conflict in the Middle East.

Hyperion is in the highly prospective but under-explored area situated between the 1.1Moz Groundrush gold deposit and the 94,000oz Crusade gold deposit, both of which form part of the neighbouring Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST)/Tanami Gold NL (ASX:TAM) Central Tanami project.

Drilling was also completed at the Brokenwood, Pandora and Tregony North prospects for which the company is still awaiting results.

PRX said most of the results are at grades above the estimated grade of the recently released Hyperion resource of 8.64Mt at 1.5g/t gold for 407,000oz at a reporting cut-off grade of 0.6g/t gold.

The company received bids on Wednesday for the remaining shortfall of its entitlement offer to raise ~$1.67m at an issue price of f $0.002 per share, bringing the total capital raised under the rights issue to ~$2.10m.

Funds will be spent on fast-tracking Tanami North activities such as determining the next steps towards future development of the recently updated resources.

Australian Silica Quartz Group (ASX:ASQ)

(Up on no news)

Another gold mover flying on no news on Thursday, ASG received encouraging first-pass drilling results from its Koolyanobbing Metals project last week, which returned 4m at 4.4g/t from 8m and 4m at 1.2g/t gold from 24m.

The 1600m campaign is targeting gold, nickel and copper at two well-defined fixed-loop electromagnetic conductors, as well as numerous high-priority gold targets within the 6km strike length of the Golden Wishbone gold trend.

One of the conductors, Conductor VC4, is within an interpreted mafic/ultramafic volcanic sequence in the under-explored Koolyanobbing greenstone belt.

The historical Golden Wishbone mine shaft, which previously yielded 204oz gold at an average grade of 18g/t, is also within this area.

Cavalier Resources (ASX:CVR)

(Up on no news)

CVR closed its non-renounceable rights issue on Wednesday after raising ~$1.73m from shareholders and new sophisticated, institutional and professional investors.

The company is now in good stead to continue with finalising mine approval works, sourcing mining contractors, processing plant suppliers and financing for the Stage 1 oxide pit at the Crawford gold project in WA.

Cash will also be spent on finalising regulatory approvals and native title discussions.

CVR said the current high gold price – sitting around $4000/oz – enhances the prospects of increased financial returns from potential production at the Stage 1 Crawford pit, leaving the company optimistic about a prosperous 2025.

“We would like to thank our existing shareholders for their support they have shown during this Entitlement Offer, representing over 73 per cent of the issue amount,” CVR executive technical director and CEO Daniel Tuffin said.

Duketon Mining (ASX:DKM)

DKM shares are riding high on the release of its September quarterly report which goes into detail of early exploration activities currently under way at the Barlee gold and lithium project, 200km north of Southern Cross in WA.

Various programs including desktop reviews, field reconnaissance, mapping and rock-chip sampling are on the go with a number of incoming proposals from external third parties being reviewed as well.

Duketon’s tenement package lies along strike and adjacent to Regis Resources’ (ASX:RRL) landholding including the Rosemont, Garden Well and Moolart Well gold mines.

Due to the prospectivity of the area within and around the Barlee asset, DKM has applied for additional tenure which has resulted in the size of the landholding increase to just over 700sq km.

Mamba Exploration (ASX:M24)

(Up on no news)

Results from an inaugural spring drilling program at the Canary project intersected anomalous uranium and pathfinder elements in untested areas on the first three conductive corridors at the site.

The company said the results were encouraging, providing M24 with the confidence to continue exploration efforts, which included supplementary geophysical surveys to identify further target areas.

Canary is situated in the Mudjatik geological domain where several recent discoveries have been made such as IsoEnergy’s Hurricane deposit, 11 km directly to the south.

Originally published as Resources Top 5: Record gold prices keep propelling ASX goldies to the top