ASX gold stocks have, as a whole, smashed the benchmark in 2023.
Since the opening bell on 3 January, the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) has gained a very respectable 5.5%.
Meanwhile, strong performance by the gold shares has helped drive the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold Index (ASX: XGD) up 22% over that same time.
Or four times the gains posted by the ASX 300.
ASX gold stocks have received some welcome tailwinds from a rising gold price.
On 3 January, the yellow metal was trading for US$1,839 per ounce. Today that same ounce is trading for US$1,982, up 5.1% in 2023.
While you won't hear many investors complaining about a 22% gain in only four months, that's nothing compared to the 130% year-to-date gains posted by this leading ASX 300 gold stock.
Any guesses?
If you said Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX: RSG), give yourself a gold star.
As you can see in the chart below, the Resolute Mining share price kicked off 2023 trading for 20 cents per share. Shares closed on Monday trading for 46 cents apiece.
What's driving the outperformance of this ASX gold stock?
Atop the rising gold price, the Resolute Mining share price has benefited from a series of successes this calendar year.
On 19 January the ASX gold stock reported a 58% increase in the Mineral Resource Estimate at its Syama North gold project, located in the Republic of Mali. The new MRE came in at three million ounces of gold at a cut-off grade of 1 gram per tonne of gold.
Resolute Mining shares got another boost later in January when the miner released its quarterly activity results.
Among the highlights that helped drive investor interest in the ASX gold stock, the miner reported a fifth consecutive quarter of increased production. That helped boost total gold production in 2022 to 353,069 ounces. This exceeded Resolute Mining's guidance of 345,000 ounces for the 12 months.
Why did the Resolute Mining share price really lift off in March?
The Resolute Mining share price was well into the green for 2023 by the end of February.
But shares in the ASX gold stock really took off in March.
That was driven by two primary factors.
First a promising update on the miner's Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates.
Resolute reported that its total Ore Reserves had increased to 4.6 million ounces of gold while its Mineral Resources increased to 11.2 million ounces of gold.
A second helpful tailwind in March came when Resolute Mining entered into the ASX 300 on 20 March. That had to do with the S&P Dow Jones Indices March quarterly rebalance. And it will have opened the door to more professional fund managers, limited to investing in larger stocks, to buy the ASX gold stock.
Which brings us into April.
Resolute Mining reported its latest quarterly results on 27 April.
And once again the miner managed to increase its gold production, up 1% from the prior quarter. Resolute also received a higher price for its gold while costs and net debt came down from the prior quarter.
The ASX gold stock finished the day up 4.6%.
