The gold sector is having a good finish to the week thanks to a rebound in the price of the precious metal.
This has led to the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index rising by a sizeable 1.8% in morning trade.
Two under-the-radar ASX gold shares that are rising more than most today are listed below.
Let's see what is putting a rocket under their shares on Friday:
Kingsgate Consolidated Limited (ASX: KCN)
The Kingsgate Consolidated share price is up over 11% to $1.76.
Investors have been bidding this ASX gold share higher today in response to an update on its Chatree gold mine in Thailand.
According to the release, Plant 1 at the gold mine has now been permitted to operate following a successful inspection by the Department of Primary Industries and Mines.
The company advised that full commissioning of Plant 1 will commence immediately, followed by a ramp up to full operations.
Kingsgate's managing director and CEO, Jamie Gibson, described this approval as an "incredibly important milestone." He commented:
This is an incredibly important milestone for our company and represents the final piece in the puzzle in the journey to rebuild the Chatree Gold Mine. With both plants now operational, we are excited about unlocking Chatree's full potential.
Kingsgate Consolidated shares are now up 25% over the last 12 months. This would have turned a $10,000 investment one year ago into $12,500 today.
Southern Cross Gold Ltd (ASX: SXG)
The Southern Cross Gold share price is up almost 14% to $3.05.
Surprisingly, this is despite there being no news out of the Victorian Goldfields based gold explorer.
However, it is worth noting that its shares have been on fire over the last 12 months amid excitement over the company's 100% owned flagship project at Sunday Creek. The company describes this as "the best new grassroots discovery in Australia with a globally leading high-grade hit rate for this stage of the project's development."
Excitement has been so high that the ASX gold share is now up 460% since this time last year. This would have turned a $10,000 investment into over $55,000 today.
However, it is worth noting that there are a couple of leading brokers that appear to believe its shares are now fully valued. Shaw and Partners has a buy rating and $2.61 price target on its shares, whereas Bell Potter has a speculative hold rating and $2.05 on them.
