Gold shines in ASX slump

Gold stocks were the lone bright spot on the Australian share market yesterday, with several gold mining companies rebounding after momentary dips.

Gold Road Resources surged 9.43 per cent on Monday after entering into a scheme of arrangement with US gold giant Gold Fields.

The proposed takeover sparked a wave of investor interest, pushing the stock to the top of the ASX leaderboard for the day.

Under the arrangement, Gold Fields is set to acquire Gold Road Resources, its 50:50 joint venture partner for the Gruyere gold mine in Western Australia, for approximately $3.7 billion.

Under the terms of the scheme implementation deed, Gold Road shareholders will receive a fixed cash consideration of $2.52 per share for each Gold Road share.

Gold Road is currently De Grey Mining’s largest shareholder, holding approximately 17.26 per cent of the company’s issued capital. It was announced on Monday that Northern Star had finalised its acquisition of De Grey.

If Gold Fields successfully acquires Gold Road, it will consolidate its ownership of Gruyere, which is expected to produce 325,000–355,000 ounces (oz) of gold in 2025, despite lower production delivered for the March 2025 quarter.

Meanwhile, Evolution Mining rose by 2.14 per cent on Monday. The gold miner posted a strong March 2025 quarter performance, highlighting a robust production base and a strong growth trajectory.

Evolution achieved record mine cashflow with $600 million generated across the three months. Net mine cash flow was up 15 per cent to $303 million, with the company benefiting from higher gold and copper prices.

Evolution delivered production according to plan, with 179,778oz of gold and 19,450 tonnes (t) of copper produced across its operations.

The company’s production guidance for the 2024–25 financial year (FY25) remains unchanged, currently sitting at 710,000–780,000oz of gold and 70,000–80,000t of copper at an AISC of $1475–1575/oz.