When it comes to ASX-listed gold companies, investing in an up-and-coming explorer or developer that brings a project into production is a good strategy.
The key, of course, is finding the right company.
The team at Shaw and Partners think they're on to a winner with Golden Horse Minerals Ltd (ASX: GHM), which recently announced good exploration results from its Hopes Hill prospect.
So let's have a look at what they announced this week.
Image source: Getty Images
Strong drilling results
Golden Horse Minerals said that drilling, much of which was still being tested at the laboratory, had so far confirmed gold mineralisation at more than 110m below the historic Hopes Hill open-pit mine.
Grades from the recent drilling campaign included 7.1m at 2.5 grams per tonne of gold from a depth of 178.9m, and 4m at 3.1 grams per tonne of gold at 243m.
Meanwhile, at Hopes Hill North, the company reported "numerous near surface and wide gold intersections across multiple holes'' and the company said the drilling results indicated mineralisation extending beyond 700m from the existing pit.
A regional drilling program at the Hakes Find had also been completed, with results expected shortly, while the drill rig had since been mobilised to another target, Marionete.
Golden Horse Managing Director Nicholas Anderson said regarding the results:
It is great to be at the Stable in Southern Cross and see the first results of our aggressive +125km drill campaign begin to flow. With 3 RC and 2 Diamond drill rigs running and the sample labs packed tighter than a float on race day, we are expecting plenty of results to feed the members shortly. The aggressive selection to actively target conceptual open pit extensions to the north of Hopes Hill is paying dividends, with multiple broad intercepts highlighting the prospectivity of the immediate area and indeed the broader Southern Cross Greenstone Belt. We are trying to rein in our excitement for the Year of the Horse, however some brumbies refuse to be broken
Shares looking cheap
The Shaw and Partners team said the 125,000m drilling campaign for 2026 was "massive".
They added:
While Hopes Hill remains the flagship, the broader regional program aims to identify satellite deposits that could eventually feed into a centralised processing hub. By moving rigs to Marionete, GHM is maintaining a dual-track strategy: aggressively defining the main Hopes Hill resource while simultaneously testing new regional targets to build a larger project pipeline within their extensive tenement holding.
Shaw and Partners said Golden Horse Minerals was one of its preferred picks in the gold sector, and it has a price target of $1.50 on the shares, compared with just 66.5 cents currently.
Golden Horse Minerals was valued at $176.8 million at the close of trade on Thursday.
