In the first quarter of 2026, gold has reinforced its reputation as the market’s ultimate safe haven asset, buoyed by ongoing geopolitical tensions and persistent economic uncertainty.
The precious metal surged to nearly US$5,420 an ounce in Q1 2026. Over the past month, gold’s price has fallen 9.22%, but is still up 48.41% compared to the same time last year – trading at US$4,622.8 ($6,731) an ounce on 2 April 2026.
According to the World Gold Council, global investors have continued to build allocations to physically-backed gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) in the new year. In January 2026, gold ETFs attracted US$191 billion – representing the strongest month on record.
Collectively, global holdings rose by 120 tonnes to 4,145 tonnes, also reaching a new all-time high.
At the beginning of Q1, North America and Asia drove global demand with the former posting its second highest monthly inflow on record and the latter achieving its largest.
In February, gold ETFs registered another month of inflows, adding US$5.3 billion – representing the strongest two-month start to a year and the ninth consecutive monthly increase.
Total global holdings rose to a new all-time high, increasing 26 tonnes in the month to 4,171 tonnes.
Meanwhile, central bank buying eased at the beginning of this year, compared to the prior 12-month average of 27 tonnes. In January, net purchases for the month totalled 5 tonnes, led by Central and East Asian banks.
Despite gold remaining above US$5,000 an ounce, the precious metal has struggled in recent weeks even as global conflicts intensify over the Middle East and the outlook for the global economy becomes increasingly uncertain.
Still, the outlook remains bullish as Saxo forecasts gold could reach up to US$6,000 an ounce in the coming quarters. Should this scenario unfold, silver could also extend its gains and potentially revisit US$100 an ounce. At the time of writing, silver’s price sat at US$80.5 an ounce.
Against the backdrop of strong prices and renewed investor confidence, gold producers and explorers are moving quickly to capitalise on momentum.
From advancing development projects to expanding exploration programs, companies across the sector are working to bring new ounces online and strengthen future supply.
As global demand for stability continues to support the yellow metal’s rally, Q1 has set an optimistic tone for the gold sector.
Juniors step in the spotlight
PC Gold (ASX:PC2), an Australian gold explorer, is one of the plethora of juniors capitalising on the precious metals market. The company’s share price has increased over 145% in Q1 2026, from $0.37 to $0.91 as of 6 March 2026.
The company recently identified two new zones of mineralisation at the Spring Hill Gold Project in the Northern Territory from extensional drilling conducted to the south of the existing resource estimate boundary.
Executive Chairman Ashley Pattison previously said the discovery of the two new zones reinforces the company’s view that Spring Hill is a growing system within what is “already the highest-grade area of the resource”.
“The proximity of these two lodes presents a compelling opportunity for increasing the scale of operations and improving mining efficiencies over time,” Pattison says.
PC Gold recently raised $24 million through a single tranche placement, driven by strong institutional support from both Australian and international investors, as well as by existing institutional shareholders.
The funds will be used towards exploration and resource definition drilling of approximately 30,000m, refurbishment and extension of the underground adit and 15,000m of underground drilling, environmental bond for early works, a Spring Hill Feasibility Study, grade control drilling, and general working capital.
PC Gold listed on the ASX mid-2025, with the placement exceeding the minimum $10 million requirement for the IPO.
Pacgold (ASX:PGO) has also seen a share price increase over Q1, rising 55.55% from $0.09 to $0.14 as of 6 March 2026.
The company has been busy during the quarter via exploration across its assets, predominantly the White Dam Project in South Australia after entering into a profit share agreement with Grainger Gold.
As previously reported, the profit share agreement involves Pacgold being responsible for obtaining and complying with any mine approvals and program of works required to be obtained from the Department of Energy and Mining in connection with the mining operations conducted on behalf of Grainger Gold and any mining proposal, excess tonnage, closure plan, and rehabilitation obligations.
For each quarter in which gold is mined, extracted, or recovered and sold at the Wadnaminga Project in South Australia, Pacgold will pay Grainger Gold a 50% net profit after tax received from the sale of that gold.
The company is also planning to upgrade White Dam’s resource, following the return of ‘high-grade’ intercepts from ongoing resource drilling.
To date, 85% of an ongoing drilling campaign has been completed, with 123 holes for 8,003m, since beginning in late November 2025. Assays from 30% of samples have been received, confirming the resource estimate block model.
Drilling deeper in the goldfields
Great Boulder Resources’ (ASX:GBR) share price jumped nearly 25% from $0.10 to $0.125 as it demonstrates scale, unlocks options, and opens up conversations through its 1.02 million ounce resource at the Side Well Project in Western Australia.
“One million ounces is a really exciting milestone,” Managing Director Andrew Paterson previously told this news service.
The Side Well site is in a strategic location, immediately east of Meekatharra in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The project hosts several key prospects and deposits across two main corridors, including Mulga Bill, Eaglehawk, Flagpole, and Loaded Dog in the Central Corridor, and Ironbark, Saltbush, and Golden Bracelet in the Eastern Corridor.
Great Boulder intends to grow Side Well’s resources by restarting drilling. Deep diamond drilling at Mulga Bill is continuing, with three rigs currently operating across the greater project.
Paterson says Great Boulder has obtained “overwhelming evidence” to prove the asset’s resource is eligible for a substantial increase.
“The mineralisation is open in so many places and the under-explored nature of our project is highlighted by the spectacular course gold intersection recorded 250m below previous drilling at Mulga Bill late last year,” Paterson says.
“The more we grow the resource, the more value we create for our shareholders and the more options we have for future development scenarios.”
Alicanto Minerals (ASX:AQI) is also exploring Western Australia’s Goldfields region through its Mt Henry Project, where drilling is expected to begin shortly.
The upcoming program is designed to show the scale potential of Mt Henry and generate consistent exploration momentum. Step-out drilling will target strike and depth extensions to existing resources at the Selene and Mt Henry deposits in the first stage of the program, followed by testing of broader mineralised envelopes.
CEO Jeff Sansom says the emerging gold explorer is aware of Mt Henry’s growth potential, and the company is “moving decisively to unlock it”.
“Initial drilling will focus on priority areas within the existing resource base, targeting extensions to known mineralisation, and opportunities to grow and upgrade the current 915,000 ounce resource,” Sansom says.
“With the first diamond rig imminently mobilising, the program will scale to include a second diamond rig and a reverse circulation rig.
“With three rigs online by Q4 FY26, drilling intensity across the 16km mineralised corridor will increase materially as we test the broader system and expand the project’s resource base.”
Discoveries across the map
In the US, Mammoth Minerals (ASX:M79) entered into an option agreement to acquire the Imperial Gold Mine in Nevada, earlier in Q1.
Imperial was first developed during the 1920s, with limited production records indicating 10,000 tonnes ore mined at 0.5 ounces per tonne. Mining ceased at the beginning of the second world war.
Mammoth also owns the Excelsior deposit, located near the Imperial Mine in Nevada. Recently, the company validated its deposit model which provides consistency across what the mineralised zones are expected to provide.
Managing Director Glenn Poole says the thick, shallow intercepts seen from surface support the working geological model.
“The step-out drilling to the west has highlighted an expanding zone of mineralisation well beyond the previously completed drilling – not only providing confidence in the continuity of the mineralisation but also providing a new target we can immediately follow-up,” Poole adds.
Arizona Gold & Silver (TSX-V:AZS) is continuing to remain in a ‘strong’ financial position, while pursuing exploration activities across the Philadelphia Project.
At the beginning of 2026, the precious metals explorer received assays from drill core which extended the wide zone of gold mineralisation in the Perry discovery 110m north from hole PC25-156.
Some of the highlighted results included 4.33m @ 19.37 grams per tonne gold and 19.36g/t silver from 290.09m; 24.21m @ 6.28g/t gold and 7.18g/t silver from 285.85m.
Opawica Explorations (TSX-V:OPW) has been working to secure a drill contractor ahead of conducting 10,000m of high-priority targets within the Arrowhead Project in Canada.
Previous exploration at Arrowhead suggests that new mineralised veins at depth are present. The company intends to drill new targets using the latest geological survey technology.
CEO Blake Morgan says Arrowhead has its drill permits in place and is fully surrounded by Agnico Eagle (NYSE:AEM) and contiguous to its premier gold mine – La Rhonde Complex.
“With Gold at all-time highs there is a lot of interest in the assets Opawica Explorations holds,” Morgan says.
“Opawica is exploring joint ventures and or sale on its Bazooka Property.”
As previously reported, the company sees multi-million-ounce potential at Bazooka with the strategy being to move west and systematically test and drill along the 7km of the Cadillac-Larder Lake Fault Zone that hosts the project.
Over in Africa, Dalaroo Metals (ASX:DAL) has been conducting exploration activities including geological field mapping at the Goldridge Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
As reported, Dalaroo defined a 2.5km-long gold corridor at Goldridge, which is described as structurally controlled, hosting a width of 400m and forming part of a broader 9.5km-long gold anomalous zone.
The corridor represents a ‘high-priority’ drill target which will undergo systematic soil geochemical sampling to uncover northwest and southeast extensions, alongside structural mapping and trenching.
Goldridge is strategically positioned 35km from the 4.5 million ounce Tanda gold deposit and sits within the same fertile geological corridor that hosts multiple multi-million ounce discoveries.
Further south in Fiji is Alice Queen’s (ASX:AQX) Viani Gold Project, which hosts a low sulfidation epithermal system extending over 5km in strike.
A geochemical sampling program was conducted in March 2026 at Viani, which returned results including 4m @ 10.91 grams per tonne gold, including 1m @ 26.06g/t gold; 2m @ 13.69g/t gold, including 1m @ 26.83g/t gold; 3m @ 6.62g/t gold, including 1m @ 16.63g/t gold.
Alice Queen says the gold system remains open to the west-northwest and east-southeast and at depth.
Resources to revenue
Mid-tier gold producer Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ) is one of the many companies capitalising on the precious metals’ golden performance via its Western Australian Goldfields assets.
CEO Grant Haywood previously told this news service that the company has got a “really strategic asset” where Black Swan sits, compared to other mills in the Goldfields.
“We haven’t released our feasibility studies on Black Swan yet, but we’ve had people knocking on our door for over six months on getting an allocation to Black Swan and they know we’re not turning this project on until mid-2027,” Haywood says.
“That’s still a year-and-a-half away and people are already knocking down the door trying to get access to a plant because they know we’re building one, and therefore there’s a bit more infrastructure coming into the region.”
Horizon, which has a market capitalisation of $275.62 million, sees its Burbanks gold project as one of its cornerstone assets.
Boorara and Burbanks are the backbone of Horizon’s future feed strategy, with Haywood noting that together they make up roughly half of the company’s resource base.
Burbanks, in particular, stands out for its grade profile – narrow but high-grade, the kind of system the CEO describes as “a typical Coolgardie” system. It’s the sort of asset that can materially lift a production profile once it’s fully understood.
Earlier this quarter, Horizon returned a resource estimate for the company’s gold assets totalling 34.32 million tonnes @ 1.7 grams per tonne gold for 1.88 million ounces.
Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) is another company capitalising on the gold market, following improving its revenue from January 2026.
In February 2026, the company produced 85 ounces of gold from the Reward Mine in New South Wales, returning $608,429 in gross revenue – representing an increase from 70 ounces of gold in January.
For the gold sector, Q1 has set the tone for the year ahead. Investor demand is remaining strong, exploration is accelerating and producers are positioning themselves to benefit from what could become a significant gold cycle.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au, Alicanto Minerals & Mammoth Minerals
