Agnico Eagle, Desert Gold, and Harmony Gold – 3 Favorites for the gold boom

Agnico Eagle – High flyer on an acquisition spree

While the world's largest gold producers, Newmont and Barrick Gold, are still far from their historic highs, Agnico Eagle is going from strength to strength. The number three among the majors has seen its share price rise by almost 40% this year alone to a current USD 107.36. The upward momentum means that Agnico shares are currently overbought, and a pullback to the upward trend established since March 2024 at USD 90.98 is not unlikely.

Agnico Eagle is currently using the undervaluation of other gold companies for acquisitions. As part of a private placement, 20,770,000 units of Cartier Resources, a Canadian-based exploration company, are to be subscribed at a price of CAD 0.13 per unit or a total price of CAD 2,700,100. Cartier's principal activities are the acquisition and exploration of mining properties in Quebec. The Company is advancing the development of its flagship Chimo mine project and exploring its other projects, Fenton, Wilson, Cadillac Extension, and Dollier.

Agnico Eagle currently has a total of 97,022,944 common shares and 7,000,000 warrants entitling it to acquire the same number of common shares, representing approximately 26.6% of the issued and outstanding common shares on an undiluted basis. Following the closing of the Private Placement, Agnico Eagle is expected to own 117,792,944 Common Shares, 20,770,000 offering warrants, and 7,000,000 existing warrants. This represents approximately 27.7% of the issued and outstanding common shares on an undiluted basis and approximately 32.2% of the common shares on a partially diluted basis.

Desert Gold Ventures – It is getting hotter

The exploration company Desert Gold is also a potential takeover candidate, given the location of its flagship project. The 440-km2 property, known as the SMSZ project, is surrounded by producing mines of major gold players such as Barrick Gold, B2Gold, Allied Gold, and Endeavour Mining. Due to the current regulatory changes in West African Mali, the potential for strategic partnerships and M&A activities is growing.

To date, more than 23 gold zones have been identified on the property. The resource base currently stands at 1.1 million ounces, comprising 310,300 ounces of gold in the proven and indicated mineral resource and 769,200 ounces in the inferred mineral resource. CEO Jared Scharf aims to almost double this figure to 2 million ounces through targeted exploration. A 30,000-meter drilling program is planned for the current year to expand gold zones. In addition, a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) is expected in the near future. Should this yield positive results, demand for the Desert Gold Ventures property will likely increase significantly.

Currently, the market capitalization of the Canadian company is CAD 15.92 million at a price of CAD 0.065. In its latest study, the analyst firm GBC AG issued a price target of CAD 0.42, representing a potential of around 560% at the current price level.

Harmony Gold – Entering the copper market

The market capitalization of South Africa's largest gold producer is around USD 8.95 billion. Due to the sharp rise in the price of gold, Harmony Gold was able to report significant earnings increases at the halfway point in fiscal 2025. The Company's net profit rose to USD 421.6 million in the six months to December, beating both its own forecasts and analysts' estimates.

With increased demand due to climate change and the switch to clean energy, Harmony Gold is now planning to enter the copper production industry. The strategy involves building a copper mine in Queensland, Australia.

Harmony CEO Beyers Nel emphasized that future copper production is a high priority. So far, no costs for the project are known, but the mine is expected to produce up to 60,000 tons of copper per year for at least 15 years.

Last Friday, Harmony shares reached a new all-time high of USD 14.06, but, like Agnico Eagle, are now in the overbought range.

Both the world's third-largest gold producer, Agnico Eagle, and South Africa's number one, Harmony Gold, reached new historic highs but are now in the overbought zone. The analysts at GBC AG see the exploration company Desert Gold as a candidate for significant multiplication.