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Gold rush hits fever pitch as fundies spruik 100pc gains.

Australian money managers are rushing to opennew gold funds to capitalise on the record rally in the precious metal, withsome so bullish that they are tipping the shares of cashed-up gold miningcompanies to double from here this year.

The euphoria has hit fever pitch after gold prices burst through$US3000 an ounce for the first time late last week, extending a rally that has pushed the price up by more than 14 per cent in 2025 and 40 per cent in the past year. Bullion hit a fresh record above $US3010 an ounce on Tuesday afternoon.

While gold stocks haven’t kept up with theblistering rally in the metal price because of lingering cost pressures, thattrend has started to reverse. The New York Stock Exchange Arca Gold MinersIndex has jumped 30.8 per cent this year while the ASX-listed gold minersversion is up 29 per cent.

The momentum has prompted Collins St AssetManagement to re-open its gold-focused Special Situations Fund to newinvestors, albeit only until April 15, because of the “overwhelming demand andinterest” from clients who missed out on its initial launch. The fund hasboasted a net return of more than 40 per cent since its inception in April2023, bolstered by a nearly 80 percent surge in the past 12 months. Collins St co-founders Michael Goldberg and Vasilios Piperoglou are expecting even better returns over the coming year as they search for new gold miners to invest in. “If one were to pick the better quality small- to mid-caps, which we nodoubt have, and assuming the gold price stays strong, the potential upside … is50 to 100 per cent,” the duo said in a video promoting the fund.


Hedge fund L1 Capital is equally bullish, telling clients that its freshly launched gold fund will target the mid-cap space in Australia and North America, where it believes some stocks offer 50 to 100 per cent upside.
L1 is using a long/short strategy for the fund. On the long side, it will hold eight to 12 companies such as West Australian producer Westgold Resources and Canada-based Eldorado Gold. The short book can take positions in physical gold and equities to mitigate the risk of lower prices.
“We see many opportunities for dramatic outperformance across the very diverse mid-cap gold space,” L1’s joint managing director Raphael Lamm said in a video update.
High-profile family office Victor Smorgon has also opened a second gold fund, as revealed by The Australian Financial Review last week, which is targeting returns of more than 50 per cent during its 18-month lifespan.
Portfolio manager Cameron Judd started deploying capital for the new fund on Monday after running Victor Smorgon’s Resources Gold Portfolio since it launched in May 2020.
While the original fund has surged 37.7 per cent in the 2025 financial year-to-date, Judd expects the new strategy – which will own just 10 to 12 stocks – will easily eclipse those returns.
“[It’s] a carefully selected portfolio of global gold mining stocks, offering
exceptional upside reward for a very low level of downside risk,” he said.
Judd expects the gold rally still has further to run as US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs increase the risk of stagflation – when high inflation and rising unemployment combine for negative economic growth – which could lift prices to $US3600 an ounce.
Investment banks are equally bullish. Macquarie last week lifted its top-end price target to $US3500 an ounce, while Bank of America also sees bullion rising to that level over the long run.
The optimism has trickled down to investors, who have been net buyers of physically backed gold exchange-traded funds this year, reversing four years of selling.