The returns are impressive. But there are some much smaller, little-known ASX shares with 12-month returns that are significantly higher.

And they're earning their investors an outrageous amount of money.

Sunrise Energy Metals Ltd (ASX: SRL)

Sunrise develops and applies ion-exchange technology for the extraction of valuable metals. It does this for the mining industry and for wastewater purification and recycling. 

Its water business segment focuses on water technologies to filter, separate, and purify polluted waters for drinking, agriculture, recreation, and industrial use. Meanwhile, its metals segment provides extraction techniques for a range of resources, including base and precious metals, as well as radioactive elements such as uranium. 

Last month, the company announced that its Syerston scandium deposit is currently the world's largest and highest-grade source of mineable scandium.

At the time of writing, the company's ASX share price is 10.57% higher for the year to date. But it's an outstanding 3,516.67% higher than this time 12 months ago. 

The company has good growth prospects, too. Scandium, which is used in aerospace alloys, fuel cells, and advanced electronics, has a very limited global supply. If Sunrise is able to ramp up production at its Syerston site, it could well become a major global supplier. At present, the company is largely in its development stage.

African Gold Ltd (ASX: A1G)

African Gold is an exploration company focused on acquiring, exploring, and developing high-grade gold assets in West Africa. It focuses specifically on the Côte d'Ivoire and Mali. 

The miner is focused on drilling and growing its resources. It also undertakes technical studies at projects like the Didievi Gold Project.

At the time of writing, the company's shares have jumped 39.39% for the year to date. They're also up an extraordinary 1,433.33% over the past 12 months.

African Gold recently announced it has entered into a binding scheme implementation deed with Canadian-based gold miner, Montage Gold Corp (TSE: MAU). Under the agreement, Montage will acquire 100% of the shares in the ASX gold stock that it does not already hold. In exchange, African Gold shareholders will receive 0.0628 new Montage shares for every African Gold share held on the record date of the share scheme.

The company is firmly focused on growth with plans to expand and ramp up exploration at its existing projects.

Elsight Ltd (ASX: ELS)

Elsight develops and commercialises a secure, AI-powered connectivity platform for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones, and robotic systems, called Halo. 

Its technology enables uninterrupted, real-time command and control. It does this by aggregating multiple data links (using 5G, LTE, satellite, RF) for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations for defence, public safety, and commercial sectors.

Unsurprisingly, amid a ramp up demand for defence systems amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, the ASX defence stock's value has soared. For the year to date, Elsight shares are already up 69.01%, and they're a huge 1,600% higher than this time last year.

Elsight recently announced that it has appointed 5 senior business development leaders across key global markets. These include new appointments in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Asia. Management said it is designed to expand the company's go-to-market execution as demand for connectivity solutions in defence and unmanned systems programs grows.

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African Gold shares closed yesterday trading for 31.5 cents. In late morning trade on Tuesday, shares are changing hands for 52 cents apiece, up 65.1%.

For some context, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 0.1% at this same time.

Today's outperformance is par for the course for African Gold shares, which are now up a blistering 940% since this time last year.

And investors who bought the ASX gold stock in June 2024, when it was trading for a mere 2 cents per share, will now be sitting on 10-bagger plus gains of 2,525%.

Yep, that's no typo.

Atop the soaring gold price (at US$4,225 per ounce, the yellow metal is up 60% in 12 months), here's what's grabbing ASX investor interest today.

ASX gold stock rips higher on takeover news

The African Gold share price is rocketing after the company announced it has entered into a binding scheme implementation deed with Canadian-based gold miner, Montage Gold Corp (TSE: MAU).

Under the agreement, Montage will acquire 100% of the shares in the ASX gold stock that it does not already hold. In exchange, African Gold shareholders will receive 0.0628 new Montage shares for every African Gold share held on the record date of the share scheme.

The scheme has an implied value of approximately 50 cents per African Gold share. With shares having risen to 52 cents apiece today, investors may be thinking that an even sweeter deal could be on the horizon.

Montage is currently the largest shareholder of the ASX gold stock, holding 17.3% of all shares.

African Gold's independent directors unanimously support the scheme and recommend that African Gold shareholders and African Gold option holders vote in favour.

Under the deal, African Gold option holders will receive 0.0628 Montage options for every African Gold option they hold.

What is management saying?

Commenting on the takeover bid for the ASX gold stock, African Gold CEO Adam Oehlman said: "This transaction represents a compelling outcome for African Gold shareholders at this stage of the company's evolution."

Oehlman continued:

It validates the scale, quality and strategic positioning of the Didievi Gold Project and provides our shareholders with continued exposure to the upside through ownership in a larger, well-capitalised Côte d'Ivoire-focused gold company.

The board believes this proposed combination delivers scale, balance sheet strength and development expertise that materially de-risks Didievi and enhances its path toward production.

Montage CEO Martino De Ciccio added:

This significantly accretive transaction builds on the momentum generated thus far to advance our strategy of creating a premier African gold producer and delivering value for both Montage and African Gold stakeholders.

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These include the the world's biggest gold miner Newmont Corporation CDI (ASX: NEM) and other leading ASX 200 gold stocks such as Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST).

Below them, a cohort of mid-tier miners are working to boost their output and challenge the leaders.

And further down the ladder is a crowded field of small explorers, each hoping to transform a discovery into a producing asset.

However, the journey to production is long and fraught with risk for most explorers.

In reality, many won't make it.

But the few that do can sometimes deliver spectacular returns for investors.

Now, the gold price has surged by about 41% over the past year to hit record highs in September.

In turn, prominent ASX 200 gold stocks have been riding the gravy train.

Newmont shares have jumped by about 50% in the past twelve months, whilst Northern Star has notched up a 29% gain.

And Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) has been the standout with its share price more than doubling in value.

But even these impressive returns have been outshone by three little-known gold explorers.

Here's how these skyrocketing ASX gold stocks are working to transform their projects into mines.

Many Peaks Minerals (ASX: MPK)

Shares in Many Peaks have ballooned by 363% in the past year to reach $0.88 apiece at the close of business on Thursday.

The company is an early-stage explorer operating four gold projects in the West African nation of Côte D'Ivoire.

Recent efforts have centred on its Ferké and Odienné projects, with exploration drilling has served up a series of encouraging gold intercepts.

These results point to the potential for significant mineralised systems lurking beneath the ground.

That said, the prospect of mining gold appears a distant prospect for this ASX gold stock.

Many Peaks is yet to define a mineral resource estimate for either project, let alone conduct economic modelling.

In other words, proving up a gold deposit that could be mined economically remains some time away.

African Gold Ltd (ASX: A1G)

African Gold is another explorer focused on Côte d'Ivoire.

Its share price has stormed 638% higher in the past twelve months to reach $0.30 per share at Thursday's close.

The company is advancing its Didievi gold project where a mineral resource containing 989,000 ounces of gold has recently been defined.

African Gold recently kicked off the largest drilling campaign in its history, designed to grow the existing resource base and to test high-priority regional targets.

Management sees potential for Didievi to host a multi-million-ounce gold deposit.

The group's near-term focus is on delivering a resource update, alongside preliminary metallurgical and economic evaluations.

For now, the prospect of mining appears to be well down the track for this ASX gold stock.

Medallion Metals Ltd (ASX: MM8)

Medallion's share price has surged by 675% in the past twelve months to $0.47 per share at yesterday's close.

In essence, the group is advancing its Ravensthorpe gold project in Western Australia towards production.

The project already hosts a resource containing 1.6 million ounces of gold equivalent.

A preliminary economic evaluation for Ravensthorpe outlined a 5.5 year mine life, with expected annual production of about 70,000 ounces of gold.

Medallion is now progressing the works needed to bring Ravensthorpe closer to mining.

These include updated resource estimates, metallurgical testing, relevant permitting, and financing.

A final investment decision is planned for later this year.

Should management give the green light to build a mine, first gold pour is targeted for the fourth quarter of next year.

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That stock is African Gold Ltd (ASX: A1G), which has returned from a trading halt with a bang this morning.

At the time of writing, the gold explorer's shares are up 106% to 9.7 cents.

Why is this ASX gold stock rocketing?

Investors have been fighting to get hold of African Gold's shares this morning following the release of results from recent drilling at the Blaffo Guetto prospect on the company's Didievi Gold Project in Cote d'Ivoire.

The company notes that this drilling program was designed to test possible extension of the gold lodes and to infill previous drilling on gold controlling structures of the prospect with a view to increasing the scale and categorisation of the existing inferred resource.

According to the release, assay results from the recently completed diamond drilling returned a spectacular, wide, high-grade intercept of 65.0m at 5.6 g/t of gold from 177m.

Management also notes that the drillhole included shallow intercepts of 9.0m at 1.7 g/t of gold from 23m and 28m at 1.1 g/t of gold from 77m.

Importantly, the deeper intercept has confirmed that the gold mineralisation extends outside of the existing resource envelope and remains open at depth. This bodes well for future drilling and points to a much larger than inferred mineral resource.

'A spectacular result'

The ASX gold stock's managing director, Phillip Gallagher, appeared to be delighted with the drilling. He said:

65.0m at 5.6 g/t of gold from 177m is a spectacular result from the recent diamond drilling program on the Blaffo Guetto prospect. Excitingly, it is an extension of previous mineralisation and remains open at depth, plus it has extended our target area which this diamond drilling was designed to test. This is a fantastic result that has shown that the resource modelling that the design of this diamond drilling program was based on is proving to be accurate.

Gallagher notes that the results suggest there's potential for the Didievi Project to be home to a multi-million ounce deposit. He adds:

Along with the Blaffo Guetto prospect, the Didievi Project has other exciting prospects that remain substantially untested, including the Kouassi and Akissi Prospects to the north of Blaffo Guetto and the 11km long Poku gold trend located to the south-west. As the discovery of the new quartz porphyries at Blaffo Guetto demonstrate, there is also the potential for new discoveries across the project area. These fantastic drilling results today strengthen our belief that the Didievi Project has the potential to be a multi-million ounce deposit.

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At the time of writing, shares in the gold miner were trading for 35.8 cents each – up 74.39%. At one point today, shares exploded to an all-time high of 43 cents, which is an astronomical 110% increase on the previous day's close.

Today's positive price rise comes after the company announced "high-grade" gold assay results from one of its mines and a capital raise.

Let's take a closer look at today's news.

The African Gold share price is flying

In a statement to the ASX, African Gold confirmed "high-grade" assay return samples at its Didievi Gold Project in Côte D'Ivoire. Highlights include:

• a 10m wide ore at 123g of gold per tonne including 2.0m at 613g of gold per tonne
• a 17.4m wide ore at 17g of gold per tonne including 1.0m at 216g of gold per tonne

According to the company, the BG system at Didievi is currently over 1.5km x 1km and open. It has identified a number of new lodes as part of the recent drilling program. This announcement may be one reason the African Gold share price is rising.

As well, the company announced it would launch a rights issue to raise approximately $3.9 million. African Gold will undertake a 2 for 7 non-renounceable rights issue at 15 cents per share. The company says the funds will be used to cover the costs of the offer and then for capital works.

Management commentary

African Gold CEO and Exploration Manager Glen Edwards said:

We recently announced some spectacular broad, high-grade intercepts from our recently completed drilling programs at our Didievi Gold Project in Côte d'Ivoire.

Historically, it hasn't been recognised that a high-grade gold component existed at Didievi however artisanal miners have been collecting free gold on the margins of the deposit. The historical drilling was assayed by fire assay (the most common assay method) which picked up some very high grades. As part of the QA/QC of our current drill program we ran screen fire assays over the higher-grade intervals.

African Gold share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the African Gold share price has increased 157%. Year to date, the company's value has appreciated 33.33%. It has vastly overperformed the price of gold.

In 12 months, the yellowish metal's market price has decreased 7.65%. While since the start of 2021, it is 5.22% lower. It is currently trading at around US$1,800 per troy ounce. Looking ahead, Trading Economics is forecasting the price of gold to marginally increase by the end of the quarter before falling to around US$1,740 per troy ounce in a year's time.

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