ASX Resources Quarterly Wrap: Structural upward reset keeps gold bulls charging

• Gold watchers bullish with some predicting US$4,600/oz by mid-2026
• Rising gold prices boost exploration appetite with durable floor around US$3000/oz
• ASX companies in the space pushing hard on exploration of the precious metal

Even after pulling back from a record of US$4,381/oz, sentiment among gold watchers remains bullish, with some houses still pencilling in US$4,600/oz by mid-2026.

The conviction comes from a belief that the metal has undergone a structural upward reset as global capital rotates away from US treasuries, historically the default liquid safe haven.

With the US government layering on US$1.7 trillion in debt in three months, central banks are openly questioning whether treasuries can still be treated as risk-free.

This inability to reduce spending is expected to increase interest costs and is a likely reason why the US government wants a weaker US dollar, which could further strengthen gold prices.

A second camp believes the more important threshold has already been crossed, with a durable floor around US$3000/oz holding for the next couple of years.

As gold rises, so too does the risk appetite for gold exploration because the upside becomes more compelling.

Here are some ASX juniors progressing their gold projects via drill campaigns and exploration on the ground.

Bubalus Resources (ASX:BUS)

Bubalus started the September quarter with drills turning across the heart of the Victorian Goldfields, with a maiden program just 15km from Agnico Eagle’s Fosterville mine.

The first holes at the previously untested Crosbie North gold-antimony target followed months of geochemical and geophysical work that sharpened targeting across the broader Crosbie trend.

At Crosbie South, the company’s first pass landed gold in all five holes, including a peak of 50g/t over 0.2m with follow-up drilling now on the cards.

Elsewhere in Victoria, a review of historical work at the Wilson’s Hill project near Bendigo uncovered standout legacy intercepts of up to 8m at 23.83g/t Au, prompting plans to restart exploration there in Q1 2026.

Planning is also in the works for maiden drilling at the historical high-grade Avon Plains gold project in Q4 2025.

Beyond gold, a final access agreement at the Nolan’s East rare earth project in the Northern Territory is expected shortly, clearing the way for drilling to begin.

Trek Metals (ASX:TKM)

Trek has wrapped up its phase 2 drilling program at the Christmas Creek gold and rare earths project in WA, hitting more than 10,000m through multiple high-priority targets.

The first batch of RC assays out of the Martin prospect has not only held grade but pushed the mineralised zone further again, with results like 4m at 14.18g/t Au, including 2m at nearly 28g/t, and 3m at 6.17g/t coming ahead of expectations.

Step-out RC drilling at Zahn has also delivered, picking up significant intercepts along the interpreted mineralised contact that remains open for kilometres and is largely untested.

Meanwhile, diamond rigs cut into the same zones to provide structural clarity and the core has delivered visible gold across multiple intervals at Martin, with assays still to come.

The broader system is starting to take shape with the Bockhurst-Coogan-Jobs corridor now interpreted as a >10km intrusion-related copper-gold system.

On the corporate side, Trek progressed the divestment of the Hendeka–South Woodie Woodie manganese project with US-based AEFI entering a share exchange deal that would see the company list on the TSXV prior to exercising its acquisition option.

Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA)

Indiana has posted a strong September quarter, headlined by another round of solid drill results from the Minos project in South Australia.

Extensional RC drilling at the Minos prospect continued to hit gold along strike and at depth, with standout intercepts including 21m at 2.31g/t Au including 8m at 4.67g/t, 12m at 2.15g/t and 4m at 13.0g/t from 130m.

The mineralised footprint is now defined over 650m of strike and down to 380m below surface and still remains open with diamond drill results targeting high-grade plunges still to come.

Initial calcrete sampling across the wider Minos corridor returned strong gold anomalism over 2km, with peak values of 292ppb, while infill sampling at the Ariadne and Company Well prospects returned multiple 1,000ppb (1g/t) values.

Follow-up aircore drilling is underway, with ~7,000 metres planned to test these newly defined targets.

On the corporate front, Indiana closed the quarter with a cash balance of $35.3m after completing a 5c per share capital return in August and refreshed its leadership with Matthew Bowles appointed managing director and CEO and John Fitzgerald promoted to chief operations officer.

Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY)

Antipa spent the September quarter firing up the drill rigs and carrying out studies at its Minyari Dome gold-copper development project in WA’s Paterson region.

Phase 1 of the 2025 exploration program continued to deliver, with step-out drilling extending known mineralisation across several deposits and returning new high-grade hits.

Standout results included 520 gram-metre intersections at Fiama and the confirmation of a new shallow mineralisation system at Rizzo.

New-discovery drilling to the south of Fiama and Rizzo identified gold-copper zones, and broad-spaced aircore drilling north of Minyari outlined a 6km gold-copper anomaly across Reaper-Poblano-Serrano and AL01, which has now extended to more than 2km.

With momentum in hand, phase 2 of the 2025 program, a 25,000–35,000m mix of aircore, RC and diamond drilling, remains on track for completion by mid-December, subject to results and conditions.

In parallel, key PFS workstreams including metallurgy, environmental baseline and permitting progressed toward a targeted completion of the PFS.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Bubalus Resources, Trek Metals, Indiana Resources and Antipa Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.