Happy days for gold as investors continue to flee markets

Gold continues to be the darling of investors fleeing the continued market uncertainty with prices staying above the $US1,700/oz mark since the middle of last week.

Thanks to the favourable (for companies with gold assets at least) exchange rate, the Australian price for gold is currently at $2,693.86 per ounce.

And the outlook remains bullish.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led central banks around the world to inject cash into their economies in a bid to calm markets with the predictable result of devaluing their currencies, sending investors scrambling to protect their money by buying gold.

Analysts have thrown out increasingly outlandish predictions about how high gold prices could go with TD Securities saying it could hit $US1,900 per ounce in three months, while the Bank of America is shooting for some pie in the sky numbers, lifting its 18-month price target from $US2,000 per ounce to $US3,000 per ounce.

More fantastic claims that gold could hit up to $US20,000 have been rubbished by experienced stockbroker Guy Le Page, who said it might be taking things a little too far.

What seems certain is that there are more gains ahead, with more stimulus programs to prop up the economy likely.

ASX small cap gold companies

Navarre Minerals (ASX:NML) has grown the Resolution lode at its Stawell Corridor project in western Victoria after drilling hit further shallow gold mineralisation.

The top intersections from the first eight holes of its ongoing diamond drilling program are 7.7m at 5.6 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 141.8m and 3.9m at 4.4g/t gold from 154.8m within a broader zone of 18.7m at 3.4g/t gold.

Navarre says this indicates that the lode channel is thickening and plunging gently towards the south.

Additionally, gold mineralisation has now expanded beyond 300m depth and remains open down-plunge to the south.

Alice Queen’s (ASX:AQX) reconnaissance drilling program at its Yarindury project in the Northern Molong Volcanic Belt within New South Wales’ Lachlan Fold Belt region has uncovered indicators of a potential porphyry system.

Three holes at the Woodlands anomaly returned chalcopyrite-bornite patches and shoshonitic rocks.

Chalcopyrite is a mineral often associated with gold and copper deposits while shoshonitic (high potassium) rocks are often associated with many epithermal and porphyry style gold deposits worldwide.

The company is in the process of preparing new targets for further testing within the Woodlands prospect.

Meanwhile, Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) has received a New South Wales’ government grant of up to $255,000 towards the direct costs of drilling at its West Wyalong and Loch Lilly gold-copper projects in the Lachlan Orogen.

The award, the highest funding from a group of companies chosen to receive the New Frontiers Cooperative Drilling Grant, will be used to help cover the costs of its now expanded drilling program.

Argent previously identified six new copper-gold porphyry targets at West Wyalong.