Gold Digger: A weekly recap of the news driving ASX small cap gold stocks

Gold punched through $US1,600/oz on January 8 — the highest in eight years — as Middle East tensions flared.

“We’ll see $US2,000/oz by the end of the month/quarter/year no worries,” people probably said.

At the moment $2,000/oz doesn’t seem that fanciful, but prices have softened marginally over the past week as US — [insert country here] tensions ostensibly wane. Gold loves drama.

Local goldies can’t complain though. $US1,600 equals ~$2,300 Australian, which equals fat profits for local producers who, on average, report all in sustaining costs (AISC) of between $1,000/oz and $1,400/oz.

READ: Our biggest producers are swimming in green as gold breaches $US1600/oz

BIG MOVERS

It was a pretty balanced week for our basket of ASX-listed gold stocks – 43 went up, 57 went down, and 40 didn’t move.

The start of January is generally a slow/boring period for company news, but don’t worry – that’s about to change. Holiday time is officially over.

Ambitious ~$3.6m market cap Dampier Gold (ASX:DAU) was #1 mover this week, up 47 per cent after finalising an exploration joint venture with Torian Resources (ASX:TNR).

Dampier — which wants to be a producer within three years — can earn a 25 per cent interest in the Credo Well project near Kalgoorlie by spending $500,000 over the next 15 months.

“Dampier has undertaken a detailed technical analysis of the Credo Well project and has identified a number of priority targets which it will test with detailed drilling,” Dampier chairman Malcolm Carson says.

“Your directors are excited about the potential for an early discovery of a commercially viable gold resource on the Credo leases and is now in a position to implement its exploration strategy for Credo and related drilling programs.”

Then there’s uranium play/former shell company Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU) which announced plans to buy the historic Bullarto South and Blackwood gold projects back in December.

READ: The Tale of Cauldron and the “largely forgotten” Blackwoods Goldfield

Only now — following discussions with the ASX regarding compliance — has the explorer retracted some late November/early December statements “in relation to the current value of historic production, historical exploration results, and commercial objectives”.

The share price leapt 32 per cent in response.

There must be a lesson here somewhere.

NOW READ: Money Talks: The future looks bright for these 3 stocks as gold runs hot

Here’s the best performing ASX small cap gold stocks for the period January 6 — January 13 [intraday] >>>

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