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The Australian - Made the Grade: Check out this list of the top 20 ASX gold hits of 2025

By Bart Bogacz

• Gold reached record highs on dozens of occasions throughout 2025, helping to push leading ASX gold miners higher

• This bullish sentiment also fuelled exploration for the metal, with ASX-listed companies reporting spectacular drill hits throughout the year

• Mining visualist MinerDeck has compiled a list showing the top 20 gold intercepts from 2025, dominated by Western Australia

2025 was a record-breaking year for gold, with prices surging to fresh all-time highs on several dozen occasions.

Overall, bullion rocketed by more than 60% during the year. It has since climbed even further, recently topping US$4600 per ounce for the first time in history.

The rally ignited exploration appetite, prompting a swarm of ASX-listed miners, developers, and explorers to fire up the drill rig in search of treasure.

And 2025 delivered a flood of standout gold hits within Australia and beyond.

Data visualiser MinerDeck has compiled a list of the most spectacular gold intercepts from last year based on the gram-metre metric.

That enables investors to compare drill hits of vastly different grades and widths, a simplified way to assess how promising a discovery could be.

What does a gram-metre result mean? We can take some pointers from gold and silver investing influencer Don Durrett.

In his book How to Invest in Gold and Silver, Durrett outlined a back-of-the-envelope classification of what constitutes a “good” drill hit by multiplying g/t with width.

Anything over 50 gram-metres is considered good, with 100-200 “really good”, 200-500 “excellent”, and anything beyond that “stellar”.

MinerDeck has applied the gram-metre metric to capture the most impressive 20 gold drilling highlights on the ASX of 2025.

The breakdown

As always, a note of caution is warranted.

One swallow does not make a summer, and individual drill results should be interpreted in context rather than in isolation.

Some of the intercepts on this list come from established producers targeting high-grade zones or extensions within well-defined orebodies.

Others reflect earlier-stage exploration, where results can be more speculative but potentially transformative.

In essence, the list includes companies of all shapes and sizes.

It features ASX 200 gold mining giants such as Genesis Minerals (ASX: GMD) and Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS) – both with market caps of more than $8 billion.

At the other end of the spectrum, up-and-coming explorers such as Redcastle Resources (ASX: RC1) also made the grade.

Western Australia dominates

Overall, 12 of MinerDeck's 20 listed intercepts came from WA, including the top 5.

The best hit was recorded by New Murchison Gold (ASX: NMG), where drilling below the planned Crown Prince open pit at its Garden Gully gold project near Meekatharra intercepted 1.64m at 3090g/t gold.

Emerging explorer Redcastle Resources also turned heads at its namesake project near Leonora, operated under a JV with BML ventures.

Here, grade-control drilling delivered an “exceptional” high-grade assay of 1m at 3650g/t gold from just 15m at the Redcastle Reef deposit. Mining operations are expected to begin as soon as this quarter at the RBJV.

Grades that high are typically excluded in resource estimations by a top-cut due to their nuggetty and unpredictable nature, but they point to the richness of the deposit – zoom out and the broader intercept contains an eye-popping 7m at 527g/t.

Ora Banda (ASX: OBM) took third place on the podium after resource definition drilling near its Sand King deposit intersected multiple mineralised lodes.

Results included a standout 2276 gram-metre intercept.

Sand King forms part of the company’s Davyhurst gold project in the Eastern Goldfields of WA.

So far, Ora Banda has defined a mineral resource totalling 2.1Moz of gold at the project, which is in line to produce 140-155,000oz in FY26.

Meanwhile, Horizon Minerals (ASX: HRZ) clocked in a 1692 gram-metre hit at its Burbanks project near Coolgardie, taking fourth spot on the list.

Established gold producer Pantoro (ASX: PNR) rounded out the top five with a 1456 gram-metre interval at its Norseman gold project.

Other Western Australian gold stocks to feature include Black Cat Syndicate (ASX: BC8), with a 1.6m interval grading 624g/t at its Paulsens gold operation in the Pilbara.

Meeka Metals (ASX: MEK) intersected high-grade gold at its 1.2 million ounce Murchison gold project, with drilling returning 23m at 26.7g/t.

Antipa Minerals (ASX: AZY) also delivered a spectacular strike at its wholly owned Minyari Dome gold-copper project in the Paterson province.

It intercepted 33m at 15.8g/t gold for 521 gram-metres, falling within Durrett’s definition of Stellar.

With 3.3Moz of gold equivalent ounces, Antipa is set to release a PFS in February wrapping fresh numbers around Minyari Dome, which sits around 35km from Greatland Resources' (ASX:GGP) Telfer gold mine.

Beyond Western Australia

Outside of WA, Falcon Metals (ASX: FAL)  flew higher after reporting a 1.2m intercept grading 543g/t gold at its Blue Moon prospect, directly north of the Bendigo goldfield in Victoria.

Its share price rocketed by more than 500% between early July and the tail end of September.

In the Northern Territory, Tanami Gold (ASX: TAM) delivered a 1020 gram-metre intercept at its Central Tanami project, operated under a JV with Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST), which has announced plans to sell its half-share to MGX Resources (ASX: MGX) in a $50m deal.

Beyond our shores, Africa moved into focus with three intercepts inside the top 20.

ASX 200 miner West African Resources (ASX: WAF) reported 44m at 25.8g/t gold from resource definition drilling beneath the current ore reserves at its Sanbrado gold operations in Burkina Faso.

WIA Gold (ASX: WIA) returned a 600 gram-metre hit at its 2.12 million ounce Kokoseb gold project in Namibia.

And Many Peaks Minerals (ASX:MPK)  serve up 75m at 6.11g/t gold at its flagship Ferké gold project in Côte d’Ivoire.

Strickland Metals (ASX: STK) was the sole representative in Europe, with extensional drilling at its 7.4 million ounce gold equivalent Rogozna project in Serbia delivering a 632 gram-metre interval.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Redcastle Resources, Antipa Minerals and Ora Banda Mining are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

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