2024 has been a storybook year for gold. Coming off a record-setting December 2023, markets were range bound as they awaited important interest rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve.
As March started, messaging from the central bank became clearer. The Fed was confident it was done raising rates and cuts could be expected in 2024. Gold took off, setting the quarter’s high of US$2,264.52 per ounce on March 31, with momentum continuing to set an all-time high of US$2,426.56 per ounce on April 12.
Despite gold’s solid performance at the end of 2023 and continued high prices in 2024, it didn’t translate to gold stocks. They saw little movement through the first 10 weeks of the year. It wasn’t until after gold’s dramatic breakout that some of the major gold stocks saw some upward momentum.
Year-to-date gain: 200 percent; market cap: C$10.57 million; current share price: C$0.03
Contact Gold is a gold exploration company that is working to create a district-scale gold property in Nevada, US.
Shares of Contact gold reached a quarterly high of C$0.03 on March 6.
Year-to-date gain: 192.31 percent; market cap: C$103.2 million; current share price: C$0.36
Falco Resources is a gold exploration and development company operating within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Québec, Canada. Its flagship asset is the Horne 5 project, which consists of 67,000 hectares of land in the Noranda Mining Camp and includes 13 historic gold and base metals mining sites.
The deal will also establish a technical committee to ensure that operations at Horne 5 do not interfere with Glencore’s Horne smelter. Additionally, Glencore will gain the right to require remediation, suspension or risk mitigation in order to protect its Horne smelter. Glencore will also have the right to a seat on Falco’s board of directors.
The share price for Falco reached a quarterly high of C$0.37 on March 28.
Year-to-date gain: 150 percent; market cap: C$33.71 million; current share price: C$0.05
PPX Mining is a precious metals company that is focused on its Igor project, which contains the operating Callanquitas underground mine, located in the Otuzco province of Northern Peru.
PPX shares reached a quarterly high of C$0.60 on March 13.
Year-to-date gain: 135.71 percent; market cap: C$42.68 billion; current share price: C$0.495
Sun Peak Metals is a gold exploration company operating in the Arabian Nubian Shield in Ethiopia. Its flagship Shire project consists of six exploration licenses covering an area of 1,450 square kilometers in the northern part of the country. Early work by Sun Peak has revealed approximately two dozen gold and copper targets at the site.
Sun Peak’s share price hit a high of C$0.54 for the quarter on March 12.
Year-to-date gain: 134.78 percent; market cap: C$75.8 million; current share price: C$0.54
Bluestone Resources is a gold exploration and development company operating out of Guatemala. Its flagship property is the Cerro Blanco gold project, located near the town of Asunción Mita 160 kilometers from Guatemala City.
Shares of Bluestone reached a quarterly high of C$0.59 on January 18.
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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