Insider Trades: Three directors piled into this ASX 200 gold miner last week

Welcome back to the Insider Trades Series – A weekly summary of on-market ASX 200 director transactions valued at more than $10,000. The trades have all taken place between 3 and 14 January. Directors have up to 5 business days to notify the ASX of their trades.

The volume of director transactions has been relatively low, reflecting dynamics as the holiday period, Trump's upcoming inauguration and trading restrictions for February reporting season. For the above period, we recorded no insider selldowns.

Top ASX 200 Insider Buys

Interesting Takeaways

Emerald Resources, operator of Cambodia's Okvau Gold Mine, has recently seen three of its Non-Executive Directors buy on-market. This follows a persistent underperformance (relative to other gold peers) after the stock suffered a sharp 5.9% selloff on September 16, 2024. This was driven by a minor wall slip at Okvau, which forced the company to draw on existing stockpiles to maintain its quarterly production targets. EMR said this move may push all-in sustaining costs above the guided range of US$810-880 an ounce.

Despite this setback, Emerald's operational track record remains solid, with its last two quarterly results showing production and costs aligned with guidance. However, the stock has notably lagged behind its peers over the past month, gaining just 2.0% compared to stronger performances from Northern Star (+14%), Evolution (+17%), and Ramelius (+7%). The recent insider activity suggests these directors may be spotting value in this period of underperformance.