The price of gold has risen by 28.3 per cent year-to-date (YTD), touching an all-time-high, because an increasing subset of global investors is spooked by US President Trump’s tariffs and their threat of inflation and recession, making near-term earnings forecasts more art than science when it comes to sourcing growth and adding the next stock to your portfolio.
This content has been prepared as part of a partnership with junior gold stocks Lahontan Gold Corp. and Minaurum Gold Inc., and is intended for informational purposes only.
The metal’s millennia of history as a store of value and shield against economic uncertainty is understandably attractive at the moment, having posted an 80 per cent return since 2020 through post-COVID inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing atrocities in Israel, supercharging companies across the supply chain to bring ounces to market and capitalize on record demand.
This tailwind makes it the right time for investors to turn their attention to gold explorers, developers and producers outperforming their target commodity thanks to value-added operations.
In the latest edition of Stockhouse’s Weekly Market Movers, I’ll consider two junior gold stocks that have achieved this feat and what their underlying operations say about momentum moving forward.
Lahontan Gold
First up, we have Lahontan Gold, market capitalization C$37.27 million, a junior stock tracking four attractive gold and silver exploration properties in Nevada’s prolific Walker Lane. Here’s a breakdown:
- The 26.4-square-kilometre past-producing Santa Fe mine project houses 1,539,000 ounces of gold equivalent indicated (48,393,000 tons grading 0.92 grams per ton (g/t) gold and 7.18 g/t silver), as well as 411,000 ounces of gold equivalent inferred (16,760,000 tons grading 0.74 g/t gold and 3.25 g/t silver), representing approximately US$7 billion in the ground. The project is being advanced to production slated for early 2027.
- The West Santa Fe project, only 13 kilometres away, features oxides at surface and a historical database that outlines a gold and silver deposit between 0.5 and 1 million ounces.
- The Moho mine contains a multi-vein system with historical grades up to 25 g/t gold and 300 g/t silver.
- The Redlich project, for its part, is highlighted by its historical 16.5-million-ounce silver equivalent resource and thick zones of disseminated gold-silver mineralization.
Lahontan has spent the past year enhancing the value proposition behind Santa Fe’s more than 1.9 million ounce resource, beginning with a preliminary economic assessment in December 2024 detailing a US$200 million after-tax net present value at US$2,705 gold and US$32.60 silver.
This was followed by permitting progress in March and August, a C$2.1 million capital raise in April, and the discovery of extensive shallow mineralized areas during phase-I drilling at Santa Fe announced in September, including 89.9 metres grading 0.23 g/t gold.
The company offered the market plenty of catalysts to boost shareholder value, and it has happily taken notice, boosting Lahontan Gold stock (TSXV:LG) by 333 per cent YTD, with shares last trading at C$0.13.
Should gold prices hold and management carry on demonstrating meaningful progress towards production, making the flagship US$7 billion Santa Fe resource ever more tangible to the market, the stock will likely continue to climb.
Kimberly Ann, Lahontan Gold’s founder, president and chief executive officer (CEO), joined Stockhouse’s Ricki Lee to discuss Santa Fe’s phase-I drilling results. Watch the interview here.
Minaurum Gold
Last up in this week’s look at outperforming junior gold stocks is Minaurum Gold, market capitalization C$148.70 million, an Americas-focused explorer developing its permitted Alamos silver project in Sonora, Mexico, the highlight in its more than 95,000-hectare portfolio of district-scale gold, silver, copper and zinc projects across the country.
The company intends to deliver a maiden resource estimate from Alamos in 2025 backed by an average grade of 356 g/t silver equivalent over more than 45,000 m of drilling from 2017-2024.
Year-to-date, management has improved the prospects for Alamos’ resource through high-grade drilling in an ongoing 10,000 metre program, including 0.5 m of 13,955 g/t silver equivalent in February, 10.20 m of 453 g/t silver equivalent in May and 0.45 m of 536 g/t silver equivalent in July.
Supported by a C$9.2 million capital raise, also closed in July, Minaurum added drill rigs the following month to optimize the harvesting of exploration upside from Alamos’ multiple mineralized zones, including Promontorio, Europa-Guadalupe and Travesia, confident in discovering more mineralization.
Given Alamos’ high grades, numerous exploration leads across the portfolio (see slide 7 of the September 2025 investor presentation), as well as a decorated leadership team, which has discovered 300 million ounces of silver and 63 million ounces of gold combined for the likes of MAG Silver, Silvercrest, Osisko Mining and Anglogold Ashanti, investor enthusiasm about Minaurum’s imminent resource is on a decidedly upward trend.
Minaurum Gold stock (TSXV:MGG) is up by 77.63 per cent YTD, with shares last trading at C$0.34.
Darrell Rader, Minaurum Gold’s president and CEO, spoke with Ricki Lee about the catalysts behind Alamos’ new drill rigs. Watch the interview here.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next week for a new edition of Weekly Market Movers, where I delve into companies that sat down with Stockhouse for an interview over the past week. Here’s the most recent article, in case you missed it.
Join the discussion: Find out what investors are saying about these junior gold stocks on the Lahontan Gold Corp. and Minaurum Gold Inc. Bullboards and check out the rest of Stockhouse’s stock forums and message boards.
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