3 ASX stocks that beat the market on Monday

While it was nice to see a gain yesterday, shareholders in these businesses had even more reason to smile

Mike King

Mike King is a Fool.com.au Investment Analyst and Writer. He caught the investing bug more than a decade ago, at a time when the U.S. had invaded Iraq and fear reigned in the markets. His initial success as the markets took off encouraged his passion and thirst for knowledge. With 13 years behind him at one of Australia's largest domestic banks, Mike's passion for stocks led him to join a boutique funds management firm, where he stayed for four years. A seven-year stint in equity research at one of the largest investment banks in the world followed that, giving Mike a thirst to pursue his passion further. Mike holds a Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning. His passion is to help retail investors invest better, and that passion was one of his primary reasons for joining The Motley Fool Australia in late 2011. Mike has written thousands of articles since joining, including for Fairfax Media, Yahoo!7, Ninemsn and has also appeared on ABC's The Business. You can see all of Mikes' holdings here

Published May 22, 2012 2:02 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) rose 27 points, or 0.7% to 4,073.6, reversing some of last week's carnage in which the index plummeted 5.6%. Investors are pouring back into junior mining companies, so it's no surprise that the top three performers yesterday were all resource stocks.

Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR) rose 10.9% to close at $2.64 following a 5% rise on Friday. Shares in Silver Lake touched $3.87 in December 2011 and has seen its shares fall by almost 40% since. At one stage, shares were trading just above $2. Silver Lake is targeting production of 100,000 ounces of gold in the 2012 financial year, rising to 300,000 ounces in 2014. The company has no debt, no hedging and had $97m in cash and bullion at the end of December 2011.

Independence Group NL (ASX: IGO) added 9.3% to end the day at $3.63. A year ago, the company's shares were trading at $6.32. Fears that commodity prices are heading lower saw Independence Group's shares hit a low of $3.27 last month. The company has two producing nickel, copper and zinc mines. It is on target to start producing gold from its 30% holding in the Tropicana project in late 2013, as well as having several other projects in progress.

Alacer Gold Corp. (ASX: AQG) gained 8.4%, closing at $6.21. Alacer's share price has rallied from a low of $4.95 just last week, but still a long way from its 52-week high of $12.30. The company has an interest in a gold mine in Turkey, which produced 185,000 ounces of gold in 2011, its first year of production. Alacer owns two gold operations in Australia at Higginsville and South Kalgoorlie. It also has a 49% interest in the Frog's Leg mine, 20kms west of Kalgoorlie. The company's mines produced 421,000 ounces of gold in 2011 and the company is aiming to ramp up production to over 800,000 ounces by 2015.

Other notable risers include Gryphon Minerals Limited (ASX: GRY), up 7.7% to 70 cents, following a rise of 6.6% on Friday, and Saracen Minerals Limited (ASX: SAR) up 6.5% to close at 49 cents.

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Motley Fool contributor Mike King owns shares in Saracen. The Motley Fool's purpose is to help the world invest, better. Take Stock is The Motley Fool's free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Click here now to request your free subscription, whilst it's still available. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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