Top 5 ASX Gold Stocks (Updated September 2022)

1. Greenstone Resources

Year-to-date gain: 123.43 percent; market capitalisation: AU$63.21 million; current share price: AU$0.062

Greenstone Resources (ASX:GSR) is a gold explorer and developer whose flagship Burbanks gold project is located in Western Australia. Burbanks has produced intermittently for the past century, and Greenstone is now focused on exploring deeper at the property to unlock its value. Also in Western Australia, the company also has its Phillips Find gold project and its Mount Thirsty cobalt-nickel project. Mount Thirsty is a 50/50 joint venture with Conico (ASX:CNJ).

Greenstone has been exploring all three of its projects in 2022. The company’s share price shot up in August, hitting a year-to-date peak of AU$0.079 on August 29. That month, the company released multiple pieces of significant news, such as the acquisition of four mining licences from Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ). But the main announcement from Greenstone in August was the beginning of a drill program at Mount Thirsty after a recent palladium-platinum-gold-copper-nickel discovery by Galileo Mining (ASX:GAL) just 200 metres away from Mount Thirsty’s boundary. The Phase 1 drill program will test for extensions to that discovery, and has already intersected “thick zones of semimassive and/or heavily disseminated sulphides.”

Most recently, Greenstone released updates to its indicated and inferred resources at Burbanks and Phillip Finds, reporting a total of 332,114 ounces of gold between the two projects, a 128 percent increase.

2. Santana Minerals

Year-to-date gain: 98.53 percent; market capitalisation: AU$101.87 million; current share price: AU$0.675

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, 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 the Rise and Shine deposit, 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.

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

3. Metalstech

Year-to-date gain: 49.12 percent; market capitalisation: AU$66.67 million; current share price: AU$0.425

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. Current JORC resources at the site sit at 1.5 million ounces of gold.

Metalstech’s share price saw a strong performance in May following the announcement of bonanza-grade gold results at Sturec, with 173.2 metres at 3.27 g/t gold and 11.8 g/t silver. On May 23, the company provided an update on exploration at Sturec, after which its share price spiked over the following week to a year-to-date high of AU$0.46 on May 30.

The company’s share price rose once more in September, when it released its report for the 2022 financial year, including further updates at Sturec. Most recently, Metalstech shared the discovery of visible gold below the existing Sturec resource.

4. Meeka Metals

Year-to-date gain: 45.24 percent; market capitalisation: AU$63.51 million; current share price: AU$0.061

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$0.091 on August 25. 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.

5. Kairos Minerals

Year-to-date gain: 21.43 percent; market capitalisation: AU$64.82 million; current share price: AU$0.034

The last gold stock on this list, Kairos Minerals (ASX:KAI) has multiple gold projects in Western Australia. In the Pilbara region, it has its Pilbara gold project, which is made up of the Mount York project, the Iron Stirrup and Old Faithful deposits, as well as a large intrusive-hosted gold land package. Its other gold project is the Roe Hills project in the Eastern Goldfields region.

In July, Kairos released a technical review of Mount York that indicates potential for a “major increase” to the resource; in response, the company announced a 20,000 metre drill program. July held an additional surprise at Mount York, when the company stumbled onto lithium spodumene at the site during “routine earth-moving activities." Grades from these samples reached up to 1.91 percent Li2O. Kairos has dubbed the discovery Lucky Sump, and the company is commencing drilling at the site.

On August 30, Mount York’s resource was successfully increased by 26 percent to 1.1 million ounces.

“This substantial resource increase is a game-changer for Kairos on several levels,” Kairos Managing Director Peter Turner said. “Mt York now has genuine scale at 1.1Moz in a tier-one location. And the results demonstrate the huge potential for further increases, with the mineralisation open in all directions and constrained only by drilling.”

In September, Kairos’ share price shot up from AU$0.033 to a year-to-date high of AU$0.047 over the course of two days, but it said it was unaware of what caused the sudden surge of trading activity.