Top 5 ASX Gold Stocks (Updated December 2022)

1. Southern Cross Gold

Year-to-date gain: 179.17 percent; market capitalisation: AU$106.17 million; current share price: AU$0.67

Southern Cross Gold (ASX:SXG) is an Australia-based precious metals and base metals exploration company with three projects in Victoria and one in Queensland. In 2022, the company has focused on exploring its Sunday Creek gold-antimony project in Victoria.

November results from Sunday Creek include a wide intersection of gold-antimony mineralisation of 305.8 metres at 2.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (1.6 g/t gold and 0.5 percent antimony) from 319.2 metres. The drill hole also includes 12 high-grade intersections of over 20 g/t gold, including five high-grade intersections of more than 100 g/t gold with assays of up to 196.3 g/t gold equivalent (181 g/t gold and 9.7 percent antimony) with multiple visible gold intersections.

This success helped the company raise AU$16 million in late November. Southern Cross will use the funding to add two diamond drill rigs to its current three active drill rigs to further advance exploration at Sunday Creek. Company shares saw sustained growth through the fourth quarter, ascending to year-to-date high of AU$0.97 on December 8.

2. Santana Minerals

Year-to-date gain: 105.88 percent; market capitalisation: AU$101.91 million; current share price: AU$0.70

Santana Minerals (ASX:SMI) is exploring for precious metals at its Bendigo-Ophir project in New Zealand. The project has an estimated inferred resource of 643,000 ounces of gold over multiple deposits, including Come-in-Time, Rise and Shine and Shrek’s, and the company believes further exploration could expand the resource.

In addition to Bendigo-Ophir, Santana holds the Cuitaboca silver-gold project in Mexico, and the Phnom Kthung and Snoul gold exploration licenses in Cambodia, which are a joint venture with Emerald Resources (ASX:EMR).

Company shares saw sustained growth through mid-April, but shot up at that point, rising from AU$0.57 on April 19 to a year-to-date high of AU$0.98 on May 2. This started with the release of high-grade drill results at the Rise and Shine deposit, including highlights of 14 metres at 9 g/t gold from 264 metres. Following this news, the company extended Rise and Shine north and provided results from further exploration at the extension.

Since then, the company has released further exploration results at Bendigo-Ophir, including a drill core dubbed “jewellery box” due to its visible coarse gold mineralisation. That hole saw results including 29.3 metres at 13.8 g/t gold. After being reassayed, it was confirmed that two adjacent 1 metre intervals saw grades of 1,400 g/t gold and 127 g/t gold.

3. Far East Gold

Year-to-date gain: 70.13 percent; market capitalisation: AU$110.07 million; current share price: AU$0.765

Far East Gold's (ASX:FEG) key assets include six advanced copper and gold projects in Indonesia and Australia. Its three Indonesian assets are located on the Sunda Magmatic Arc, which hosts world class copper-gold porphyries. In Australia, Far East has three properties in Queensland’s Drummond Basin and Connors Arc regions, which are well known for gold exploration and mining.

In mid-September, the company kicked off Phase 1 drilling on the Anak Perak prospect at its Indonesia-based Woyla copper-gold project. This marked a major milestone toward de-risking the project and is an important step toward building out a maiden JORC resource. Following the news, Far East's share price shot up to a year-to-date high of AU$0.765 on September 23.

The Phase 1 drill program at the Woyla project also includes two drill rigs operating at the Rek Rinti prospect, and according to the company is slated for completion by the end of 2022.

4. MetalsTech

Year-to-date gain: 66.67 percent; market capitalisation: AU$80.49 million; current share price: AU$0.48

MetalsTech (ASX:MTC) is a gold development company focused on its Sturec underground gold mine, which is a historical producer of over 1.5 million gold ounces and 6.7 million silver ounces. The project is located in Slovakia and is 100 percent owned by MetalsTech. The current JORC resource at the site sits at 1.5 million ounces of gold.

In September, the company released the report for its 2022 financial year, including further updates at Sturec, and shared the discovery of visible gold below the existing Sturec resource. Late November brought news that resource expansion drilling had struck high-grade gold at the Drill Chamber IV area of the property.

Highlights from the drill program include a return of 37 metres grading 1.6 g/t gold and 8.1 g/t silver, including 6 metres at 6.06 g/t gold and 10.6 g/t silver. The MetalsTech team believes the drill results have the potential to increase gold grades in the drilled zones. The company is also conducting surface drilling to test the depth of some of the highest-grade zones within the mineral resource at Sturec. MetalsTech saw its share price rise to a year-to-date high of AU$0.48 on December 16.

5. Meeka Metals

Year-to-date gain: 57.14 percent; market capitalisation: AU$73.67 million; current share price: AU$0.066

Meeka Metals (ASX:MEK) has a portfolio of 100 percent owned gold and rare earths projects, all of which are located in Western Australia. Its flagship project is the Murchison gold project, which is a past-producing gold mine that was put into care and maintenance in 2017 due to the gold price. At that time it had produced 330,000 ounces of the yellow metal. The company also has its Circle Valley gold project, which it is actively exploring, as well as its Circle Valley and Cascade rare earths projects.

Meeka’s share price saw large gains in August following two announcements on August 9 and 10. First, the company announced the successful sale of the Gecko North property to privately owned LithGold Minerals for AU$230,000 in cash, plus a net smelter return royalty of 1.5 percent. The next day, it announced a “significant new discovery” at Murchison’s St. Anne’s gold deposit. Results at the discovery include 32 metres showing 16.07 g/t gold. Meeka’s share price gained through August, peaking at AU$0.092 on August 26. The company released further drill results from St. Anne’s, as well as high-grade gold results from Murchison’s Turnberry deposit, to end the month.

More recently, Meeka reported that metallurgical test work at St. Anne's has confirmed gold recoveries averaging 98 percent, which the company says will "provide a meaningful contribution to the pre-feasibility study due in mid-2023." An initial mineral resource estimate for St. Anne's is expected in March 2023.