While the stock markets entered a correction after the recent upward movement, with the Dow Jones losing over 2 per cent at the end of the trading week to 41,475 points, the gold price continues to soar from high to high. The Trump tariffs and the uncertain geopolitical situation continues to give precious metals wings. After gold stocks were unable to benefit in the first wave, they are now catching up and could continue to outperform the underlying asset.
Agnico Eagle – High flyer on an acquisition spree
While the world’s largest gold producers, Newmont and Barrick Gold, are still far from their historic highs, Agnico Eagle is going from strength to strength. The number three among the majors has seen its share price rise by almost 40 per cent this year alone to a current USD 107.36. The upward momentum means that Agnico shares are currently overbought, and a pullback to the upward trend established since March 2024 at USD 90.98 is not unlikely.
Agnico Eagle is currently using the undervaluation of other gold companies for acquisitions. As part of a private placement, 20,770,000 units of Cartier Resources, a Canadian-based exploration company, are to be subscribed at a price of CAD 0.13 per unit or a total price of CAD 2,700,100. Cartier’s principal activities are the acquisition and exploration of mining properties in Quebec. The Company is advancing the development of its flagship Chimo mine project and exploring its other projects, Fenton, Wilson, Cadillac Extension, and Dollier.
Agnico Eagle currently has a total of 97,022,944 common shares and 7,000,000 warrants entitling it to acquire the same number of common shares, representing approximately 26.6 per cent of the issued and outstanding common shares on an undiluted basis. Following the closing of the Private Placement, Agnico Eagle is expected to own 117,792,944 Common Shares, 20,770,000 offering warrants, and 7,000,000 existing warrants. This represents approximately 27.7 per cent of the issued and outstanding common shares on an undiluted basis and approximately 32.2 per cent of the common shares on a partially diluted basis.
Desert Gold Ventures – It is getting hotter
The exploration company Desert Gold (TSXV:DAU) is also a potential takeover candidate, given the location of its flagship project. The 440-km2 property, known as the SMSZ project, is surrounded by producing mines of major gold players such as Barrick Gold, B2Gold, Allied Gold, and Endeavour Mining. Due to the current regulatory changes in West African Mali, the potential for strategic partnerships and M&A activities is growing.
To date, more than 23 gold zones have been identified on the property. The resource base currently stands at 1.1 million ounces, comprising 310,300 ounces of gold in the proven and indicated mineral resource and 769,200 ounces in the inferred mineral resource. CEO Jared Scharf aims to almost double this figure to 2 million ounces through targeted exploration. A 30,000-meter drilling program is planned for the current year to expand gold zones. In addition, a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) is expected in the near future. Should this yield positive results, demand for the Desert Gold Ventures property will likely increase significantly.
Currently, the market capitalization of the Canadian company is CAD 15.92 million at a price of CAD 0.065. In its latest study, the analyst firm GBC AG issued a price target of CAD 0.42, representing a potential of around 560 per cent at the current price level.
Harmony Gold – Entering the copper market
The market capitalization of South Africa’s largest gold producer is around USD 8.95 billion. Due to the sharp rise in the price of gold, Harmony Gold was able to report significant earnings increases at the halfway point in fiscal 2025. The Company’s net profit rose to USD 421.6 million in the six months to December, beating both its own forecasts and analysts’ estimates.
With increased demand due to climate change and the switch to clean energy, Harmony Gold is now planning to enter the copper production industry. The strategy involves building a copper mine in Queensland, Australia.
Harmony CEO Beyers Nel emphasized that future copper production is a high priority. So far, no costs for the project are known, but the mine is expected to produce up to 60,000 tons of copper per year for at least 15 years.
Last Friday, Harmony shares reached a new all-time high of USD 14.06, but, like Agnico Eagle, are now in the overbought range.
Both the world’s third-largest gold producer, Agnico Eagle, and South Africa’s number one, Harmony Gold, reached new historic highs but are now in the overbought zone. The analysts at GBC AG see the exploration company Desert Gold as a candidate for significant multiplication.
Conflict of interest
Pursuant to §85 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), we point out that Apaton Finance GmbH as well as partners, authors or employees of Apaton Finance GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “Relevant Persons”) may hold shares or other financial instruments of the aforementioned companies in the future or may bet on rising or falling prices and thus a conflict of interest may arise in the future. The Relevant Persons reserve the right to buy or sell shares or other financial instruments of the Company at any time (hereinafter each a “Transaction”). Transactions may, under certain circumstances, influence the respective price of the shares or other financial instruments of the Company.
In addition, Apaton Finance GmbH is active in the context of the preparation and publication of the reporting in paid contractual relationships.
For this reason, there is a concrete conflict of interest.
The above information on existing conflicts of interest applies to all types and forms of publication used by Apaton Finance GmbH for publications on companies.
Risk notice
Apaton Finance GmbH offers editors, agencies and companies the opportunity to publish commentaries, interviews, summaries, news and the like on news.financial. These contents are exclusively for the information of the readers and do not represent any call to action or recommendations, neither explicitly nor implicitly they are to be understood as an assurance of possible price developments. The contents do not replace individual expert investment advice and do not constitute an offer to sell the discussed share(s) or other financial instruments, nor an invitation to buy or sell such.
The content is expressly not a financial analysis, but a journalistic or advertising text. Readers or users who make investment decisions or carry out transactions on the basis of the information provided here do so entirely at their own risk. No contractual relationship is established between Apaton Finance GmbH and its readers or the users of its offers, as our information only refers to the company and not to the investment decision of the reader or user.
The acquisition of financial instruments involves high risks, which can lead to the total loss of the invested capital. The information published by Apaton Finance GmbH and its authors is based on careful research. Nevertheless, no liability is assumed for financial losses or a content-related guarantee for the topicality, correctness, appropriateness and completeness of the content provided here. Please also note our Terms of use.
This is third-party provided content issued on behalf of Desert Gold Ventures, please see full disclaimer here.
(Top image source: pixabay.)
