Best 3 ASX Gold Stocks (Updated June 2022)

1. Santana Minerals

Year-to-date gain: 155.88 percent; market cap: AU$120.04 million; current share price: AU$0.87

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. 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, ascending 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 Rise and Shine, including highlights of 14 metres at 9 grams per tonne (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. Although it has fallen slightly, Santana's share price is still elevated compared to the start of the year.

2. Alchemy Resources

Year-to-date gain: 91.67 percent; market cap: AU$22.87 million; current share price: AU$0.023

Alchemy Resources (ASX:ALY) is an exploration company focused on a mix of metals — gold, base metals, cobalt and most recently lithium — but its primary focus is its 100 percent owned Karonie gold project in Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. The company also fully owns the Lake Rebecca gold project.

Alchemy has spent 2022 exploring for both gold and lithium at the Karonie project. Its share price spiked heavily in April and May, reaching a year-to-date high of AU$0.038 on April 28. This activity prompted questions that the company responded to in a letter to the ASX on May 2. A week earlier, the company announced it had discovered lithium anomalies at Karonie, and it presented that as a potential reason for the gain. The day after the spike, Alchemy shared its quarterly activities report, including drill results from Karonie with highlights of 2 metres at 2.7 g/t gold. Most recently, the company gave further lithium exploration results at pegmatites at Karonie.

3. Tombola Gold

Year-to-date gain: 83.33 percent; market cap: AU$54.45 million; current share price: AU$0.055

Tombola Gold (ASX:TBA) is primarily focused on its Mount Freda open-pit gold project and its Golden Mile gold project. Mining has already commenced at both projects, and the company intends to expand Mount Freda. It is currently constructing a VAT leach and carbon-in-column processing plant. In addition to its gold mines, Tombola has a strategic tenement holding encompassing copper, gold and rare earths targets in South Australia.

Tombola's share price has risen throughout Q2 of this year. On April 22, the company shared that drilling would begin at the recently named Musk copper-cobalt project, which is located 6 kilometres south of Mount Freda. A week later, it shared its Q1 activities update, mentioning the start of mining at Golden Mile and further work at the company’s exploration projects. Tombola reached its year-to-date high of AU$0.065 on May 5, the day it announced the intersection of massive sulphides at the Little Duke copper-gold exploration project.

Most recently, Tombola saw success with exploration at the Mount Freda gold mine, whose resource it is working to expand. One drill result highlight is 21 metres at 3.27 g/t gold, including 4 metres at 11.53 g/t gold.