Precious metals are naturally materialising commodities that have high monetary value due to their rarity, durability, intrinsic properties, and diverse uses.
In part two of this feature series, Mining.com.au digs deep into the other coinage metal in this suite of precious metals – gold and all its lustre.
Part one covers the ebbs and flows of the silver market, uncovering emerging trends and the silver surfers unlocking value around the world. It mentions other precious metals such as iridium, palladium, platinum, osmium, rhodium, and ruthenium.
This time around, the focus is on the plethora of junior gold mining companies Mining.com.au is monitoring closely, which are vying to uncover the next big gold deposit.
“Make no mistake, we’re in a gold bull market,” legendary natural resource investor Rick Rule recently told this news service.
In a wide ranging July 2025 interview with Mining.com.au, the globally renowned investor details how the market is embarking on a bull market reminiscent of the one enjoyed in the early part of the 1990s.
“Bull markets follow predictable patterns,” says Rule.
Mining.com.au is following these companies (among a plethora of others). The below are just a few selected with interesting news flow.
Emerging gold standard
Aguia Resources (ASX:AGR) is an emerging gold player focused on the development of its portfolio of wholly owned assets in Brazil and Colombia.
In late July 2025, the company identified visible gold and continuity of mineralised structures underneath current work at its Santa Barbara Project in Colombia.
Seven diamond drillholes spanning 756.4m have been completed within a greater 25 drillhole plan, with the first five assays intersecting down dip of the targeted system.
Although many junior explorers are vying for capital in a risk-averse market, Executive Chairman Warwick Grigor understands that companies must differentiate themselves from peers and competitors.
And one way to do that is by adopting a self-funding model.
Recently speaking to Mining.com.au in a wide-ranging interview, Grigor says the goal is to avoid going back to the market to raise funds, “though it would be foolish to say this will never happen”.
During the past quarter, Aguia raised funding via a $1.5 million placement and share purchase plan that raised $650,000. A further $3 million was raised in a convertible loan instrument.
The company is planning to develop the depth extensions of the Santa Barbara and Mariana vein systems. Separate declines will be developed to access the vein systems below the current workings.
The exploration drilling now underway confirms the continuation of the vein system up to 40m below the current workings. It remains open at depth.
A decline to the Mariana vein system is being developed. Exploration drilling below the Mariana adit level has started and is poised to be completed ahead of the decline reaching the vein system.
Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY) is one of the top three movers in the Deloitte WA Index Top 100 in terms of market capitalisation growth for the year ending 30 June 2025.
The company’s market capitalisation had surged by 866% to the end of June. The index reports Western Australia as experiencing a five-speed economy, with true commodity highs and lows.
Antipa, which sees potential for its Minyari Dome project to be a standalone gold development asset in Western Australia, is one gold junior to be enjoying the highs.
Managing Director Roger Mason says the results received at the start of August deliver a steady stream of new discoveries that highlight the broader potential of Minyari.
“The outstanding intercepts at Minyari South and GEO-01 reinforce our view that Minyari Dome has the potential to support a significant, long-life standalone gold development, with additional ounces still to be uncovered,” Mason says.
In July, Mining.com.au reported Antipa is raising $40 million to advance the Minyari Gold-Copper Project in Western Australia towards a Prefeasibility Study (PFS).
Upon completion, Antipa will have accumulated a cash balance of around $74 million, strengthening its resource growth and discovery program of the project.
Aruma Resources (ASX:AAJ) has been targeting gold and gallium surface geochemical anomalies at its Terceira prospect at its Saltwater Project in Western Australia.
Terceira hosts a geochemical gold anomaly with a strike length of 300m and a width of 60m, and a gallium or arsenic anomaly spanning 800m by 120m, as reported by Mining.com.au in February.
The company is hoping to refine exploration targets at the Spinifex Dome and Trinity Dome, with historical aeromagnetic data currently being reprocessed.
Aureka (ASX:AKA) is continuing to grow its gold inventory across the Irvine and Tandarra projects in Victoria, as part of its ongoing diamond drilling programs.
At Irvine, drilling is testing the down-plunge extension of the Resolution shoot. Initial results have confirmed mineralisation of the inferred resource.
Aureka has also identified mineralisation across multiple gold intercepts at Comstock beyond its maiden resource estimate at the St Arnaud Project, Victoria as part of an ongoing diamond drilling program.
The company is following up on its inferred mineral resource with mineralisation intercepting down dip, associated with pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, and sphalerite inside of the sheared stylolitic quartz veins.
Managing Director James Gurry says Aureka is looking forward to advancing St Arnaud with upcoming results from the ongoing program.
Speaking to Mining.com.au in June, Managing Director James Gurry calls St Arnaud Aureka’s “near-term producer project” with a history as rich as the state’s gold mining history in which it is situated.
“It’s an open pit that boomed when it was mined into the 1990s,” Gurry says.
The St Arnaud Gold field was mined from the mid-1850s to the early 1900s, producing about 400,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 15 grams per tonne. The most significant production was from the Lord Nelson Shaft which reached a depth of 786m2.
Bulls and bullion
Vancouver-based Borealis Mining (TSX-V:BOGO) in August 2024 poured first gold at its namesake mine in Nevada.
The gold was poured at the company’s adsorption, desorption, and refining (ADR) plant on site to produce doré bars weighing 651 troy ounces containing 21.968% gold and 20.169% silver, for about 143 troy ounces of gold and 131 troy ounces of silver.
This was achieved through stripping of 2.5 of 10 carbon columns, which were loaded from residual leaching with a highly dilute cyanide solution.
Borealis’ plan has been to strip the remaining 7.5 carbon columns and then introduce fresh cyanide to a section of the leach pad which has previously not been leached.
This is expected to result in a higher gold percentage doré compared to the material generated through residual leaching. The doré will then be processed and refined off site in Salt Lake City for sale to market.
Vice President, Exploration Iain Campbell says he’s never seen an exploration project with so much historical data to learn from and so much exploration potential to exploit.
“The site hasn’t seen serious exploration since the ‘80s when all of the current deposits were discovered. Since then, the only real exploration has been proximal to already discovered deposits with little to no work done to follow up on anomalous holes and never before drilled structures,” Campbell says.
“This deposit needs a driven, ambitious and courageous operator and it now has one. The fact that we have a fully permitted heap leach operation, ADR facility, power, water, and a skilled workforce means we can go from the drillbit to doré bars faster than 99% of our competitors.”
Cosmo Metals (ASX:CMO) is expediting gold, antimony, and copper exploration across its Bingara and Nundle projects in New South Wales, following receiving commitments in late July to conduct a $2 million placement.
Managing Director Ian Prentice says having completed the acquisition of the Bingara and Nundle projects in April 2025, the company looks forward to maintaining momentum of its systematic focused exploration with the collection of new data alongside compilation of previous explorers’ data.
“To date this work has defined a number of large-scale high conviction targets which haven’t seen modern exploration in over 30 years, if ever,” Prentice says.
In April, Cosmo expanded its portfolio to include gold, antimony, and copper projects in the New England Orogen, which stretches from north of Newcastle in New South Wales all the way up the Queensland coast towards Townsville.
“To date this work has defined a number of large-scale high conviction targets which haven’t seen modern exploration in over 30 years, if ever”
“Now with a heightened awareness of the prospectivity of the southern part of the New England Orogen for antimony – a critical/strategic mineral – exploration activity is really starting to step up in that part of the world,” Prentice says.
Meanwhile, in North America Canadian explorer Element79 Gold (CSE:ELEM) is gearing up to hit the ground running in Nevada, as well as eyeing other opportunities in the US’ leading gold-producing state.
In June, Element79 struck a deal with a privately held third party to acquire the Gold Mountain Project in Nevada, with the acquisition closing on 1 August 2025.
CEO James Tworek says the acquisition drives a corporate shift back to a Nevada-focused strategy, where the firm has significant past successes.
The 284-hectare Gold Mountain Project is drill-ready, with permits in hand, enabling Element79 to start drilling soon. It also consolidates the company’s position within a well-known and highly prospective region, with meaningful upside potential, Tworek adds.
Element79 is now mapping out the 2025 program for its existing Nevada-based project Elephant.
June and July have marked a pivotal period for US-focused Felix Gold (ASX:FXG) where a large volume of technical data has been arriving, enabling integration of all workstreams to define the optimal production pathway.
Felix says this is feeding into resource modelling, mine planning, and economic studies, forming the technical basis for its first mine permit application, targeted for H2 2025.
During Q2 2025 the company completed a two-tranche placement to raise $17 million, closing with $16.4 in cash reserves.
Golden retrievers
Back in Australia, Great Boulder Resources (ASX:GBR) is planning a high-impact discovery drilling program at the Side Well Gold Project in Western Australia, after identifying multiple new targets.
A second drill rig is due to be onsite later in August, which allows the company to expedite progress on current programs as well as start first-pass drilling on the new targets identified.
Great Boulder conducted an induced polarisation survey which identified the targets north of existing resources at Mulga Bill and Ironbark.
Managing Director Andrew Paterson says the company is looking for greenfields gold targets to add to its prospect pipeline.
“We now have shallow chargeable IP anomalies in several areas which require drill testing, and a second drill rig heading to site in late August,” Paterson says.
A reverse circulation rig has completed a resource definition program at Eaglehawk and Mulga Bill. The rig is now completing exploration and resource definition drilling at Side Well South.
Deals and dollars
Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ) in early August signed a binding tenement sale agreement with Yandal Resources (ASX:YRL), executing the sale of its portfolio of assets in the Western Australian Goldfields.
Commenting ahead of the company’s presentation at this year’s Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum, Horizon says it will pay $2.81 million, already covering a $200,000 deposit to execute the sale agreement.
Horizon will be required to pay an additional $1 million cash on completion of the agreement, as well as $1.61 million in shares to Yandal.
This package offers a whole interest in around 77km2 area comprising the Gordons, Mt Jewell, Malone, and Mulgarrie gold projects, with 34 mining, prospecting, exploration, and miscellaneous licences.
CEO Grant Haywood says the assets are strategically located near its Black Swan processing facility.
“Our key focus is completing study work with the aim of generating a five-year life of mine plan processing through our Black Swan processing plant,” Haywood says.
Inca Minerals (ASX:ICG) in July rebranded after completing the takeover of public unlisted Australian exploration company Stunalara Metals in April, which expanded its portfolio to include new projects in Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia.
This included the “high-grade” Hurricane Gold-Antimony Project in North Queensland that has multiple undrilled gold and gold-antimony prospects identified from rock chip and grab sampling.
With the expanded portfolio comes a new name – Rokeby Resources (ASX:RKB) – which the company is now trading on the ASX.
CEO Trevor Benson tells Mining.com.au the team is very keen to increase the awareness of Rokeby as a company and its project in Queensland.
“Rokeby is a refocused new exploration story, and we believe the activities at the Hurricane Project should attract considerable interest, especially from Queensland investors,” he says.
Striking gold
In Africa, Many Peaks (ASX:MPK) has received assays with significant intercepts from both extensional and infill drilling of the Ouarigue prospect within the larger Ferké Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Results are from an additional six diamond drilling holes totalling 2,195m drilled from the campaign initiated in April 2025 that has been extended from a 6,000m to a 15,000m planned program.
Managing Director Travis Schwertfeger says “high-grade” gold intercepts at Ferké, including today’s 75m @ 6.11 grams per tonne continue to underpin the likelihood of a significant discovery in progress at the flagship project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Nexus Minerals (ASX:NXM) is currently collecting and submitting one metre samples at the laboratory to define a higher grade core, with results expected in August.
The company confirmed gold mineralisation previously identified at the Payns Prospect within the Wallbrook Gold Project after completing a 5,172m reverse circulation program.
Across 46 drillholes to follow up the footprint identified in a previous aircore program, Nexus confirmed mineralisation spanning 900m by 750m open north and south along strike, as well as down plunge.
The program returned results including 8m @ 7.99 grams per tonne gold from 40m, including 24m @ 2.8g/t gold, and 4m @ 4.24g/t gold from 56m.
Managing Director Andy Tudor says given the collective aircore and now reverse circulation composite results, Nexus remains confident the prospect will continue to build, “making a worthy addition to the Wallbrook Project with potential to add to the project’s gold resources”.
Gold on the silver screen
North Stawell Minerals (ASX:NSM) has the right connections, location and geology to accelerate its path to production.
The company has what it describes as “matched” mineralisation proximal to the Stawell Gold Mine in Victoria, which has produced over 5 million ounces since the 1980s and still has over 1.1 million ounces in underground resources.
Find out more in this special feature.
Pacgold (ASX:PGO) is a junior mineral explorer focused on the Alice River Gold Project which sits at the northern end of the Northeast Queensland Minerals Province.
The project comprises 30km of prospective gold targets within 377km2 of granted exploration permits and mining leases.
Pacgold is continuing its diamond drilling program at Alice River as the company progresses structural and metallurgical testwork.
The 25 hole for 2,700m drilling program will focus on metallurgical sampling and structural information from the Central, Southern, and Posie targets. The program will be conducted in specific zones of the maiden resource estimate.
PC Gold is on track for its initial public offering (IPO) on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in late August after clearing its minimum subscription threshold of $10 million.
The company is well-positioned to complete the full $15 million raise.
RIVI Capital has committed to convert US$3 million of deferred debt into equity agreement, which PC Gold notes underlines its conviction in the company’s growth potential.
Back in North America, Renforth Resources (CSE:RFR) has been working towards a mineral resource estimate at the Victoria property within the Malartic Metals Package in Québec, Canada, with internal modelling currently underway.
The work comes as the company may have a “motivated” suitor potentially seeking to take over the company.
As reported, Renforth is actively considering divesting its Parbec gold deposit in Québec, Canada, within the next six to 12 months ahead of a potential trade sale.
CEO Nicole Brewster tells Mining.com.au the Parbec gold deposit, within the famed Abitibi mining province, is beside Canada’s largest open pit gold mine, which is pivoting to move underground resulting in a ‘fill the mill’ strategy.
“They are also actively exploring next door, on both sides of our strike, for the first time in at least five years,” Brewster says.
“If they continue to have the success they enjoy locally finding new deposits on the major geological structure we both sit on, then their activity might make our property more attractive from an M&A perspective.”
Soma Gold (TSX-V:SOMA) is a producer and explorer focused on developing its assets in Antioquia, Colombia.
The company recently returned commitments to fully cover its C$15 million private placement ahead of mill expansion activities at El Limon.
The company is issuing 13.04 million units at an offer price of C$1.15 per unit, expected to close by 8 August.
As reported by Mining.com.au, Soma is looking to expand its El Limon mill by an additional 40% of tons capacity with funds, as well as installing an ore sorting infrastructure, exploration costs, and development costs of the Nechi mine in Colombia.
Sunshine Metals (ASX:SHN) is restructuring its board to transition to dominantly Queensland-based strategy and focus.
New executive appointments include Fred White who has been appointed, while Western Australia-based non-executive directors, Les Davis and Anthony Torresan, will step-down after a brief transition with White.
White is a metallurgist by background and has held senior production roles at Mt Isa with a lead-zinc focus. Paul Chapman will also serve on the board to assist with the commercialisation of the Liontown project until the Sunshine annual general meeting in November 2025.
Non-executive Chairman Alec Pismiris says White brings a wealth of experience and operational skills, which will be invaluable in implementing the shallow gold strategy.
Trojan Gold (CSE:TGII) is an Ontario-based prospect generator junior exploration company led by a team with expertise spanning the entire mining spectrum, from exploration to engineering, project financing, and permitting experience.
Listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the company has accumulated sizeable land positions in the Hemlo Gold Camp, Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Camp, and Shebandowan Greenstone Belt, representing significant mineral exploration potential.
Find out more in this special feature.
Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) has begun underground production at the Reward Gold Mine in New South Wales, with the first blast of gold producing ore on the Lady Belmore Reef.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Borealis, iStock & Mining.com.au
