ASX Midday hot stocks: Gold miners crunched

ASX continues to slide, dropping 1.5% by midday

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 June 24, 2013 12:14 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has dropped 1.4%, wiping out almost all of the gains for 2013, and has fallen more than 4% since Thursday last week. Again, resources and gold stocks are taking a hammering, with gold investors rushing for the exits.

Here's why these three stocks are hot right now.

Medusa Mining Limited (ASX:MML) has fallen 15.7% to $1.337. Medusa is focused on low-cost production in the Philippines, with a 5-year plan to increase production to 400,000 ounces of gold a year. It recently hit a snag in its expansion plans with the company managing the expansion of its Co-O Mill expansion sliding into receivership. There must now be doubts about Medusa's ambitious plan, given it expects to produce between 70,000 to 80,000 ounces of gold in this financial year.

Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) has dropped 12.9% to 67.5 cents. Perseus refers to itself as one of Africa's most aggressive gold explorers, but may have to temper that statement as gold hovers below US$1,300 an ounce. Perseus holds a 90% interest in the producing Edikan gold mine in Ghana as well as two other fairly advanced gold projects, also in Africa. With production costs of around US$1,132 an ounce, Perseus is operating at very thin margins, with the March quarter sliding into a loss.

Cudeco Limited (ASX:CDU) fell 8.9% to 2.41. The copper explorer is in the process of developing its Rocklands Group copper project in Queensland, with processing infrastructure currently being built. However, the company is under pressure with copper prices falling to just over US$3/lb, from $3.70/lb back in March 2013.

In the market for high yielding ASX shares? Get "3 Stocks for the Great Dividend Boom" in our special FREE report. Click here now to find out the names, stock symbols, and full research for our three favourite income ideas, all completely free!

More reading

Motley Fool writer/analyst Mike King doesn't own shares in any companies mentioned.

Automatic Renewal

By taking up this offer, you will also be enrolled in our auto-renewal program, which is our way of making your ongoing subscription easier by ensuring uninterrupted service. Don't worry, though – you're not locked in, and can cancel your auto-renewal at any time before each 'anniversary' date without question or penalty.