ASX gold miners are printing cash – who's in line to join them in 2025?

ASX gold juniors have seen big rerates as they head into production
The latest Aussie gold producer, Black Cat Syndicate, has more than doubled in three months
A number of other ASX gold juniors are looking to join it in 2025. Who’s next?

The Australian dollar gold price is trading at a record high of more than $4300 an ounce, setting local producers up for a cashflow bonanza.

Canaccord Genuity expects the Aussie dollar gold price to average $4058/oz this year, up from 2024’s average price of $3617/oz.

The broker has now updated its long-term gold price forecast by 5.3% to $4456/oz.

Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) recently achieved first gold production, first from Kal East in October and then from Paulsens just before Christmas.

The company has enjoyed a re-rate over that period, with the stock more than doubling over the past three months.

Who will be next to join the gold production ranks in 2025?

Meeka Metals (ASX:MEK)

The largest of the potential ‘class of 2025’, Meeka is working on producing first gold from its refurbished Murchison gold project in WA by mid-year.

An updated feasibility study last month confirmed remaining start-up capital of $46 million, which is fully funded.
Meeka expects to produce 544,000oz of gold at all-in costs of $2247/oz over 10 years, with peak annual gold sales of 76,000oz in the fifth year of operations.

Using a $4100/oz gold price, the project would generate undiscounted pre-tax free cashflow of $1 billion, with every $100/oz increase in the gold price to increase that figure by $52m.

The project has a net present value of $616m and internal rate of return of 180%.

In a Christmas Eve update, Meeka said plant expansion work was progressing and civil works were underway for the new administration complex.

Open pit mining is expected to begin in March, followed by first ore in April.

Last week, the company reported “bonanza” results of 6m at 26.47g/t gold from 59m, including 1m at 154.5g/t at Turnberry and 23m at 26.73g/t from 38m, including 10m at 52.79g/t at St Annes, which it said could potentially improve the open pit production outlook.

Western Gold Resources (ASX:WGR)

Minnow Western Gold Resources has been busy getting its ducks in a row to enter production at its Gold Duke project, outside Wiluna in WA.

Gold Duke has a resource of 3.25Mt at 2.1g/t gold for 214,000oz of gold, including 26,000oz at 1.91g/t gold at the recently updated Gold King deposit.

In September, WGR released a scoping study outlining a target mining inventory of 447,000t at 2.55g/t to produce 34,000oz of gold.

Based on a gold price of $3500/oz, the operation would cost $2.1-2.5m and generate an estimated undiscounted accumulated cash surplus of $38.1m, rising to $55m when using a $4000/oz gold price.

The company recently confirmed it was in discussions with multiple plant owners in the region. The closest – less than 50km away – is Wiluna, which continues to operate despite the collapse of owner Wiluna Mining Corporation in mid-2022.

WGR believes it can be in production within 7-8 months of signing a toll treatment deal.

As part of its transition into production, WGR recently appointed mining engineer and experienced mine manager Cullum Winn as managing director.

Just before Christmas, the company raised $720,000 at a premium to continue to advance the project.

And on Wednesday, SSH Group was appointed as the preferred contractor under a deferred payment arrangement.
The stock has burst into 2025, up more than 65% since the start of January.

New Murchison Gold (ASX:NMG)

NMG, previously known as Ora Gold, cemented its path to production last month when it signed an ore purchase agreement with ASX 200 producer Westgold Resources.

It follows a strategic alliance formed by the pair in May 2024, which saw Westgold take a substantial stake in NMG.

NMG’s Crown Prince deposit is just 33km from Westgold’s 1.8Mtpa Bluebird plant at Meekatharra. Crown Prince has a resource of 2.2Mt at 3.9g/t gold for 279,000oz.

NMG is aiming to start open pit mining at Crown Prince by mid-year with Westgold agreeing to purchase 30,000-50,000t of ore per month over at least two years.

Westgold will pay spot prices based on the contained gold in each ore parcel minus processing costs and a capital recovery charge.

Argonaut forecasts first gold in the September quarter with total production of 162,000oz over a 2.5-year period at all-in sustaining costs of around A$950/oz. It expects NMG to receive around 70-75% of the prevailing spot gold price.

Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX)

Vertex owns the high-grade Reward gold mine at Hill End, New South Wales, just 40km from Australia’s largest gold mine, Newmont’s Cadia.

Vertex’s ground has historically produced more than 1.8Moz of gold. Reward has a resource of 419,000t at an eye-watering 16.7g/t gold for 225,000oz of gold.

Last year, Vertex acquired a 110,000tpa Gekko gravity gold plant and kicked off commissioning in recent weeks with an ore sorter to be installed this month.

In the company’s most recent update, it reported first gold was on track before the end of January Vertex will initially process 50,000t of stockpiles while it develops the Reward underground mine.

Excluding the processing of stockpiles, a February 2024 pre-feasibility study forecast gold production of 49,890oz over two years at an AISC of $1833/oz. At a gold price of $3000/oz, the project would generate gross revenue of $150 million and pre-tax free cashflow of $41 million.

On Christmas Eve, Vertex secured $5.1 million via convertible loan financing to fund work at Reward.

Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ)

Horizon approved the development of its Boorara project in Kalgoorlie in July 2024. The $450,000 development is being funded by mining contractor Hampton Transport Services and will be repaid via project cashflow.

The development will see Horizon mine four open pits containing 1.24Mt at 1.24g/t gold for 49,500oz over 14 months. Since then, the company has amassed a stockpile of 54,380t, which has been hauled to Norton Gold Fields’ nearby Paddington mill for processing. Horizon announced first gold on Tuesday.

Boorara is expected to generate $30m of cashflow based on a gold price of $3600/oz. Mining is also underway at the Phillips Find project, via a joint venture with BML Ventures, with processing to begin at the Greenfields mill next month.

Horizon has also completed economic studies on the Cannon and Penny’s Find projects, which it says are awaiting final investment decisions. On Friday, Horizon announced a two-tranche private placement to Golden Crane Holdings to raise $9.62 million to continue development.

The company is in the process of merging with Poseidon Nickel, which will give it access to the mothballed 2.2Mtpa Black Swan plant, unlocking a broader 1.8Moz resource base.

Native Mineral Resources (ASX:NMR)

NMR only acquired its Queensland gold assets in November but has wasted no time in accelerating plans to get into production.

The company is paying $18.9m over 33 months, plus a 2% production royalty, for the Far Fanning and Blackjack projects in the Ravenswood-Charters Towers region.

Far Fanning has a resource of 2.3Mt at 1.84g/t gold for 138,000oz of gold, while the 340,000tpa Blackjack plant is on care and maintenance. NMR raised $3.46 million at a premium in November to fund refurbishment work.

On Tuesday, NMR reported it was ramping up the refurbishment of Blackjack and was on track to pour first gold in the September quarter. The company has already completed 3681 hours of work, including ball mill inspections, site establishment, safety and readiness planning and regulatory engagement and compliance.

A 14-strong plant refurbishment team is preparing to mobilise, while the main office block is expected to be delivered later this month, with installation, network cabling, CCTV, access control and security systems targeted for full completion by the first week of February.

NMR has appointed key personnel and is being assisted by contractors including Ausenco and Cadia Systems.

Adelong Gold (ASX:ADG) and Great Divide Mining (ASX:GDM)

In October, Adelong agreed to farm out 51% of its namesake project in NSW to Great Divide.

Adelong has historically produced more than 800,000oz of gold and has a current resource of 188,000oz at 3.21g/t gold.

GDM will oversee the refurbishment of the Adelong gold plant with a deadline of achieving first gold production by November.

The company was founded by the Queensland-based Ryan family, who have owned and operated large-scale rural enterprises and civil and mining earthmoving projects.

GDM is still completing due diligence and is yet to outline its plans for the Adelong project.

If it is satisfied with the DD process, GDM will acquire an initial 15% of the project for $300,000 and move to 51% on the achievement of first gold production.

Adelong completed a scoping study in 2022, outlining capital costs of $11.88m for a five-year operation to produce 81,082oz of gold.

The study determined the project would generate gross project cashflow of $81m, though the study was based on a gold price of $2650/oz, at least 60% lower than the current spot price.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Western Gold Resources and Vertex Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.