S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold stock, Capricorn Metals Ltd (ASX: CMM), has been on fire this past year.
As we head into the lunch hour on Thursday, shares are up 0.9%, trading for $14.32 apiece.
That sees the Capricorn Metals share price up an eye-popping 129.8% over 12 months, blowing away the 7.3% one-year gains delivered by the ASX 200.
And it's even well ahead of the very impressive 104.9% gains achieved by the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold Index (ASX: XGD) over the year, with most Aussie gold miners enjoying strong tailwinds from the record setting gold price.
Gold remains slightly off its record today. The yellow metal closed up 1.7% overnight to US$4,195 per ounce, according to data from Bloomberg.
But the surging gold price isn't the only thing that's been lifting Capricorn Metals shares.
On Tuesday, the ASX 200 gold stock closed up 4.0% after reporting a material increase in its gold resources.
This led the team at Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) to increase its price target on the miner by 8%.
Here's what's happening.
Image source: Getty Images
ASX 200 gold stock boosts mineral resource
Capricorn Metals hasn't been resting on its laurels. Since releasing its maiden resource estimate in July 2025 at its Mt Gibson Gold Project's Orion South mine, the ASX 200 gold stock has undertaken 13,000 metres of exploratory drilling.
And that drilling has resulted in a 31% increase in the Orion South underground Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE). The MRE increased to 9.5Mt at 2.9g/t gold, for a total of 895,000 ounces of gold.
Drilling continues apace.
"Capricorn is committed to a strategy of growing the resource, delivering ore reserves and completing the work to validate our belief that Mt Gibson will become a long mine life open pit and underground mining operation," Capricorn Metals executive chairman Mark Clark said on the day.
What's Macquarie's take on Capricorn Metals shares?
In a new report on the ASX 200 gold stock, released yesterday, Macquarie noted:
CMM has released an updated UG MRE for Orion South, which has increased to 9.5Mt at 2.9g/t for 895koz (+31% since the Maiden UG was released in July 2025 and at a A$2,500/ oz gold price). The MRE covers 1.2km of strike length and >8km of MGGP, with the resource remaining open at depth. Infill drilling remains the key focus near term ahead of a PFS (due "end of FY26").
On the earnings front, the broker noted, "Earnings changes: Incremental production from Orion South drives a +13% EPS changes in FY30E and ~24% avg longer term (at steady state)."
While Macquarie maintained its neutral rating on Capricorn Metals, the broker increased its 12-month price target by 8% to $14.00 a share.
That's about 2% below where the ASX 200 gold stock is trading today.
