Almasar Minerals’ ASX debut puts a fresh spotlight on Saudi Arabia’s push to attract international mining capital. With the IPO now completed and funding secured, the focus shifts to how effectively the company can convert its Arabian Shield tenure into drill-ready targets and, ultimately, discoveries.

Start with the facts as of this week. Spot gold is trading around US$4,025–4,050 per ounce (2 July 2026), having touched an eight-month low earlier in the week before recovering above US$4,000. That is roughly 28% below the record high of ~US$5,595–5,602 set on 28–29 January 2026 — and yet still about 22% higher than a year ago. Both of those numbers matter, and most commentary quotes only one of them.

Gold has corrected hard from a January 2026 record near US$5,589 to about US$4,200 by mid-June, yet almost every major bank still points higher over a 12-month view. The disagreement is about how high and by what road — and for ASX investors, the AUD gold price (near record) matters more than the USD headline.